The Plant Ecophysiology group’s long-term aim is to elucidate the interaction between plant and environment. The adaptive and stress responses of plants to changes in the environment can be molecular, biochemical, biophysical, physiological and/or developmental modifications, which are triggered by activation of signal perception/transduction pathways. The analysis of plant responses from the molecular/biochemical level up to the level of the intact plant, allows a fully integrated understanding of the plant-environment interaction.
The completion of the life cycle of plants depends on optimally adapting to the physico-chemical and biotic changes in the direct environment. The physico-chemical changes are for instance, changes in light quality, quantity and direction, harmful UV radiation, temperature, pressure, salinity, water and nutrient availability and the presence of air pollutants and xenobiotica, and the biotic changes can consist of competition, herbivory and infection with viruses, bacteria and fungi. Reactions of plants can be grouped into changes in developmental processes (relative investment in shoot vs. root growth, stem vs. leaf expansion, induction of flowering etc) or in changes in the biochemical pathways (increased investment in secondary metabolites to avert the negative effects of infections and herbivory, increase the production of osmolites to counter the effect of drought, and fine tune the assimilatory pathways to optimize nutrient utilization). The multitude of environmental demands on plant function and development necessitates the integration of signal perception and transduction. In the Plant Ecophysiology group the integrative response is becoming more and more the focus of research. In the past 7 years the responses to light, salinity, drought, air pollution, elevated CO2, UV, sulfur and nitrogen nutrition and the effect of temperature have been studied in integrated projects.
Assesment of research quality 1998-2004 [DOC]
