Coping with temperature extremes: morphological constraints on leaf function in a warmer, drier climate

There is an urgent need to understand how climate warming and associated increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations will affect evergreen vegetation in temperate climates. This multidisciplinary project, spanning biophysics to evolutionary ecology, will investigate how hydraulic traits of temperate, evergreen leaves affect their tolerance of seasonal variation in temperature extremes with change in atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Emphasis will be given to understanding how small diameter xylem conduits enhance frost tolerance and their hydraulic implications for the morphology and function of leaves that might constrain carbon gain under warmer temperatures, particularly in association with greater evaporative demand.