Our research group investigates how plants respond to global environmental changes, including rising CO2, increasing temperatures, and shifting water availability. We integrate diverse observation streams — such as manipulation experiments, eddy covariance, and satellite data — with vegetation models and statistical methods to enhance our understanding and improve predictions of future ecosystem change.
We tackle a diverse range of questions that connect terrestrial ecosystems with climate, including:
- How will plants adapt to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration?
- Can we predict the timing and locations of tree mortality during droughts?
- To what extent can plants adjust their function in response to stress?
- How do past environmental conditions shape ecosystem resilience to droughts and heatwaves?
- How does plant function influence land-atmosphere feedbacks during climate extremes?
- How will plant responses to environmental change affect the hydrological cycle?
- How resilient are species distributions to climate change, and how will these distributions shift in the future?
- How effectively can nature-based forest restoration mitigate drought and heatwave impacts?
- Which species should we plant in our future landscapes and cities to enhance resilience to climate change?
Modelling is central tool used by our research group to understand, disentangle and project how climate change will shape future vegetation-atmosphere dynamics. Our group employs models of varying complexity, from simple (GDAY), to the more complex: stand (MAESPA), land surface (CABLE, JULES), dynamic vegetation (LPJ-GUESS; SDGVM) and coupled-climate (ACCESS) models.
“The method of science depends on our attempts to describe the world with simple theories: theories that are complex may become untestable, even if they happen to be true. Science may be described as the art of systematic over-simplification-the art of discerning what we may with advantage omit” - Karl Popper