Two Plant talks by Ülo Niinemets & Anne Bjorkman

Programme:

10:00-10:45: Talk 1 by Professor Ülo Niinemets
10:45-10:50: 5 min. break
10:50-11:35: Talk 2 by Anne Bjorkman

TALK 1: HOW PLANTS COPE WITH STRESS UNDER GLOBAL CHANGE

Abstract:

Globally changing climate is associated with more frequent and severe abiotic and biotic stress episodes, and increased occurrence of stress combinations. How plants respond and acclimate to sequential and co-occurring stresses with varying severities and duration is in the focus of contemporary plant stress biology, but we are still far from predicting plant performance in future conditions. The elevation of ambient CO₂ concentration ([CO₂]) alters profoundly both plant primary and secondary metabolism with consequent modifications in plant sensitivity to different stresses and their combinations.

There is conclusive evidence that elevated [CO₂] improves plant heat and drought resistance, but studies on elevated [CO₂] impacts on plant herbivory resistance have yielded controversial results. In addition, plant species strongly vary in their sensitivity and response magnitude to global change-driven increases in stress prevalence. This variation results from interspecific differences in investments in constitutive and stress-induced defenses, changes in defenses investments upon [CO₂] elevation and associated trade-offs.

This talk first introduces the basic concepts of stress response, acclimation and resistance, and summarizes the characteristic phenotypic responses to drought, heat and herbivory stresses. Then the presentation considers the impacts of interactive stresses on plant phenotype and finally looks at the direct and indirect influences of elevated [CO₂] on stress response and acclimation. The presentation further highlights the suites of chemical, physiological and structural plant traits that underly the interspecific variability in stress resistance and lists the priority fields for future experimental studies. The talk emphasizes that gaining insight into vegetation performance in future climates requires characterization of interspecific differences in stress responses, and mechanistic understanding of how elevated [CO₂] affects plant stress responses.

Speaker

Professor Ülo Niinemets is Head of the Department of Environmental and Agricultural Plant Biology at the Estonian University of Life Sciences and member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on plant responses and acclimation to environmental stress, from novel crops to carbon gain and trace-gas exchange across scales. Ülo Niinemets' work has helped establish plant stress as an important component of Earth-system science and highlighted stress-induced plant volatiles as a key link between the biosphere, atmospheric chemistry and climate. He is internationally recognized for his work on plant functional traits and stress-induced volatile emissions and their role in biosphere–atmosphere interactions. He is a two-time recipient of an ERC grants.

TALK 2: CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE WARMING FOR ARCTIC PLANT BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING

Speaker

Anne Bjorkman is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Gothenburg and a plant and global-change ecologist studying how climate change reshapes Arctic and alpine vegetation. She has played a leading role in developing the Tundra Trait Team, a major synthesis of plant functional traits across the tundra biome, which has enabled influential large-scale studies of how tundra plant form and function are changing with climate warming. Anne Bjorkmans research combines long-term monitoring, field experiments and large-scale data synthesis to understand vegetation change and its consequences for tundra ecosystems. She is a Wallenberg Academy Fellow.