Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0344310

Funded Activity Summary

Ecophysiological limitations that affect water and carbon balance within large tree canopies: a comparative investigation. Supply of water to forest canopies is a major control of hydrological, atmospheric and biotic processes that impinge on groundwater stability, catchment yield, the fate of pollutants and plant productivity. Fundamental aspects of water transport and distribution within plant tissues remain obscured by conflicting experimental data and conflicting theoretical models that describe physiological functioning. Potential hydraulic constraints to the exchange of water and carbon between leaf and atmosphere require investigation before accurate models and informed decisions can be made with respect to the role of forests in biosphere-atmosphere processes. I will use large trees to investigate physiological and morphological determinants of hydraulic function and consider relationships between tree size, water requirements and water supply. This project will foster comparative analyses of hydraulic functioning in large angiosperm and conifer species to elucidate universal principles that relate form to function and explain relationships between trees and their environment.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 20-06-2003

End Date: 21-06-2005

Funding Scheme: Discovery Projects

Funding Amount: $60,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Landscape Ecology | Ecological Applications | Global Change Biology | Plant Physiology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

Forestry | Native forests | Biological sciences |

Other Keywords

Biological sciences | Ecological Applications | Forestry | Global Change Biology | Landscape Ecology | Native forests | Plant Physiology

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