Alissar Cheaib

Our annual meeting hosted this year by @youngryel.bsky.social at Seoul National University, brought together our international team to share research updates, plan our next steps and train our ECRs in remote sensing. A very successful week. Read more 👇
research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/annu…

Thursday, August 14: I will present a poster titled "The power of traits: How population growth rate is shaped by leaf and plant traits across global environmental gradients" in LB 18-239 at 17:00 in the Exhibit Hall (poster)

The PhUnFETTy lab will have four presentations at #ESA2025. These will cover plant ecophysiology, trait ecology, eutrophication, water availability, mycorrhizae, demography, theory, modeling, and more!

Check out the flyer and replies below for more details. Hope to see you in Baltimore!

Curious about when leaf nitrogen needs are met under dry soils, and how plant carbon economics respond to drought&nutrient stress? 🌿🏵🌧 come see my poster showing our work @nickgregsmith.bsky.social at #ESA2025 tomorrow (Wed) in P29_Climate change, Poster 039!

Wednesday, August 13: @alissarcheaib.bsky.social will present "The satisfaction of leaf nitrogen demand under drought is modulated by soil nitrogen availability and drought severity" in PS 29-039 at 17:00 in the Exhibit Hall (poster)

This work (w/ @alissarcheaib.bsky.social) explores the power of traits to predict plant population growth as expected from components of Eco-evolutionary optimality theory. The results are new and exciting and I would love to chat with y'all about them!

LEMONTREE at ESA 2025: Exploring Trait-Based Ecology, Resource Economics & Global Change - Lemontree Members of the LEMONTREE team are heading to the Ecological Society of America (ESA) conference in Baltimore to present new research on vegetation dynamics, climate extremes, and carbon cycle modellin...

It's almost time for #esa2025 and we've got @nickgregsmith.bsky.social, @eaperkowski.bsky.social @alissarcheaib.bsky.social and Snehanjana Chatterjee heading there to present their LEMONTREE research.
For more info on their talks head over to the blog...
research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/le...

The lab has new 2025 pubs on topics including:

- CO2 acclimation
- C4 trait spectra
- Stem respiration
- Phosphorus allocation
- Predicting plant communities
- Acclimation timescales

(full links in replies)

Check out more in a blog on the lab website here! www.smithecophyslab.com/news#mid2025...

Types of phytopathogens (viruses, bacteria, and fungi) invade plant organs. Pathogens can invade the aboveground organs, the phyllosphere (leaves, stems, branches, and fruits), the roots or rhizosphere, the vascular system (phloem and xylem), or the endosphere. Phytopathogens can be biotrophic feeding on living host cells, necrotrophic feeding on dying host cells, and hemibiotrophic with an initial biotrophic phase and a later necrotrophic stage.

Alissar Cheaib and Nabil Killiny review how pathogens disrupt photosynthesis, from tissue destruction to chlorosis, and how plants adapt. Understanding these interactions is essential for #sustainableagriculture and ecosystem health. ☀️🌱 Learn more: doi.org/10.1094/MPMI... @alissarcheaib.bsky.social

C4 photosynthesis, trait spectra, and the fast‐efficient phenotype It has been 60 years since the discovery of C4 photosynthesis, an event that rewrote our understanding of plant adaptation, ecosystem responses to global change, and global food security. Despite six...

We have a new paper out from our Powell Center C4 working group: "C4 photosynthesis, trait spectra, and the fast-efficient phenotype"

The @newphyt.bsky.social Tansley Review led by Russ Monson explores what we know about the C4 trait spectra

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Check out this blog post summarizing our recent paper on leaf and whole plant responses to elevated CO2!

How Does Nitrogen Shape Plant Responses to Elevated CO₂? - Lemontree Discover how nitrogen shapes plant responses to elevated CO₂ in this new study using eco-evolutionary optimality theory. Learn how nitrogen demand regulates leaf-level photosynthesis, while nitrogen a...

🌿 New blog post! How does nitrogen shape plant responses to rising CO₂? In short: leaf-level responses are driven by nitrogen demand, while whole-plant growth is constrained by nitrogen supply. Read more: 🔗 research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/ho... @eaperkowski.bsky.social @nickgregsmith.bsky.social

Soil resource acquisition strategy modulates global plant nutrient and water economics Natural selection favors growth by selecting a combination of plant traits that maximize photosynthetic CO2 assimilation at the lowest combined carbon costs of resource acquisition and use. We quant...

📣📖New paper out in @newphyt.bsky.social🌿
"Soil resource acquisition strategy modulates global plant nutrient and water economics" by @alissarcheaib.bsky.social @nickgregsmith.bsky.social & @eaperkowski.bsky.social
🔗 Read it here: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #EEO #LEMONTREE

Soil resource acquisition strategy modulates global plant nutrient and water economics Natural selection favors growth by selecting a combination of plant traits that maximize photosynthetic CO2 assimilation at the lowest combined carbon costs of resource acquisition and use. We quant...

Thrilled to see our article out! In @newphyt.bsky.social. We show how plant nutrient acquisition strategies modulate the carbon costs of nutritient acquisition relative to water acquisition.
Thanks @nickgregsmith.bsky.social for your constant support !
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Soil resource acquisition strategy modulates global plant nutrient and water economics Natural selection favors growth by selecting a combination of plant traits that maximize photosynthetic CO2 assimilation at the lowest combined carbon costs of resource acquisition and use. We quant...

Excited to share a new PhUnFETTy lab paper led by @alissarcheaib.bsky.social titled "Soil resource acquisition strategy modulates global plant nutrient and water economics" out today in @newphyt.bsky.social. Check it out here:

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The Crucial Role of Climate and Nitrogen in Leaf Nitrogen Dynamics - Lemontree A recent publication in Ecology Letters published as part of the LEMONTREE project investigates the dynamics of nitrogen allocation.

To find out why leaf nitrogen demands matter, check out our latest blog!
research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/th...
@alissarcheaib.bsky.social @nickgregsmith.bsky.social @eaperkowski.bsky.social

Soil Nitrogen Supply Exerts Largest Influence on Leaf Nitrogen in Environments with the Greatest Leaf Nitrogen Demand Accurately predicting carbon–nitrogen cycle coupling in Earth System Models (ESMs) requires understanding the drivers of leaf nitrogen response to soil nutrient supply. We found that leaf nitrogen de...

Congratulations to the team led by @alissarcheaib.bsky.social on their new paper in Ecology Letters on soil nitrogen and leaf nitrogen demand. Our blog will be out next week but you can check out the full paper here:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@nickgregsmith.bsky.social

Thank you for your unconditional support in getting this work done!

Really excited to see this out! We show that the responsiveness of leaf #nitrogen to soil nitrogen #fertilization is highest where leaf nitrogen demand is greatest.

We put together a short blog on the paper here: www.smithecophyslab.com/news.html#ch...

A quick synopsis also in the thread below...

Soil Nitrogen Supply Exerts Largest Influence on Leaf Nitrogen in Environments with the Greatest Leaf Nitrogen Demand Accurately predicting carbon–nitrogen cycle coupling in Earth System Models (ESMs) requires understanding the drivers of leaf nitrogen response to soil nutrient supply. We found that leaf nitrogen de...

Leaf nitrogen demand matters! Thrilled to share our new paper, just published in Ecology Letters @nickgregsmith.bsky.social. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Mechanistic insights into plant community responses to environmental variables: genome size, cellular nutrient investments, and metabolic tradeoffs Affecting biodiversity, plants with larger genome sizes (GS) may be restricted in nutrient-poor conditions. This pattern has been attributed to their greater cellular nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)...

We have a new paper out in @newphyt.bsky.social led by Erika Hersch-Green linking genome size with nutrient use and physiology

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it's forever."

- Carl Sagan, in Cosmos (1980)

Visualisation of our galactic cluster 💫😲💫✨💫🌌💫

NASA