CAREER: Improving understanding and prediction of photosynthetic acclimation to global change

Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX

Investigators

Abstract

Land plants regulate the largest transfer of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the Earth’s surface through the process of photosynthesis. Because carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere is the primary driver of ongoing climate change, it is critical to understand how plants, and photosynthesis in particular, will respond to future conditions as these responses will dictate the rate and magnitude of future climate change. Despite their sensitivity to plant processes, the climate models include simplistic representations of plants. Model representation of plant functioning mirrors student understanding of these processes, as exemplified by the simplistic way in which they are represented in popular press and textbooks. This project will quantify long-term plant responses, including acclimation, to ongoing global change and will use findings from the lab and field to improve climate models. The research program will be integrated with an education program focused on student exploration of the interrelationships between plants and climate change. Hands-on research experiences for students will help to develop the next generation of scientists. This research will use an integrated model-experiment approach to define the mechanisms underlying photosynthetic acclimation responses and their impact on larger ecological processes. First, it will quantify the effect of soil nutrients and nutrient acquisition on photosynthetic acclimation and the resulting impact on whole-plant functioning. This will test the general hypothesis that soil nutrient demand alters photosynthetic trait responses to soil nutrient availability. Second, the project will determine what plants acclimate to and how long acclimation takes. This will address the general hypothesis that less resource conservative species will acclimate faster than more resource conservative species. Third, the project will quantify the impact of photosynthetic acclimation on community- and ecosystem-scale processes. It will test the hypothesis that the response of individual physiology can substantially alter larger ecological processes by testing refined theory in multiple models. The research will be integrated with an education program that will develop two course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). The first will teach non-majors the role of plants as regulators of the global climate using semi-independent research projects. The second CURE will refine a majors-level CURE, providing opportunities for students to participate in the main research funded by this project by developing, carrying out, and disseminating independent spin-off projects. The CUREs will specifically target underrepresented minority students at TTU, a Hispanic Serving Institution, as a means to increase diversity in the fields of plant physiological and global change ecology. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.