Evan Perkowski

🌳 Sugar maples sacrifice nitrogen use efficiency for greater water use efficiency while keeping photosynthesis steady. This field test of least-cost theory has big implications for land carbon models. Blog 👇
research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/tr...
@eaperkowski.bsky.social @nickgregsmith.bsky.social

Super glad to see this work finally out after a seemingly endless review process. This paper improved greatly from these reviews and I’m grateful for reviewers that provide thorough and constructive feedback.

We also find that nitrogen-water use tradeoffs were not modified by soil pH, indicating that previous studies that note effects of soil pH on nitrogen-water use tradeoffs may really be demonstrating implicit soil nutrient effects on these tradeoffs

We show that trees maintained photosynthesis rates across a nitrogen fertilization gradient by trading less efficient nitrogen use for more efficient water use, providing strong support for nitrogen-water use tradeoffs predicted from first principles of photosynthetic least-cost theory

Increasing nitrogen availability increases water use efficiency and decreases nitrogen use efficiency in Acer saccharum” Abstract. Photosynthesis links terrestrial carbon, water, and nutrient cycles. Photosynthetic least-cost theory suggests that plants optimize photosynthesi

🚨New paper alert! 🚨

“Increasing nitrogen availability increases water use efficiency and decreases nitrogen use efficiency in Acer saccharum” is now in press at Tree Physiology!

@nickgregsmith.bsky.social @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/treephys/adv...

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…

At 5pm today at #esa2025, @alissarcheaib.bsky.social will present her poster: 'The satisfaction of leaf nitrogen demand under drought is modulated by soil nitrogen availability and drought severity".

This research highlights that water-nutrient interactions must be jointly considered in models.

This pm at #esa2025, @snehanjanac.bsky.social will present her work: "The influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on plant resource use economics" in session COS-Mycorrhizae 2 (3.30-5pm).

This work examins how AMF affect plant resource use strategies under different water & nutrient regimes👌🌿

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)

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)

Wednesday, August 13: @snehanjanac.bsky.social will present "The influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on plant resource use economics" in COS 122-02 in BCC 339

Come check out my talk this afternoon where I’ll try to make sense of N and P effects on leaf and whole plant traits! Starts at 14:00 in BCC 349. See ya there!

Today at #esa2025: @eaperkowski.bsky.social is presenting his talk:

"Global response patterns of plant functional traits to combined nitrogen and phosphorus addition are driven by additive individual effects of nitrogen and phosphorus addition"

Session: COS – Physiological Ecology 1. 1.30-3pm.

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!

See you all at #ESA2025! Finally got a Monday afternoon talk slot 😁

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...

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....

The Response of Carbon Uptake to Soil Moisture Stress: Adaptation to Climatic Aridity Written Summary: Plants need water to grow, but plants in arid climates generally use water more conservatively even in wet conditions and adjust their carbon uptake as soil moisture declines. We use...

🌿 New research by @giulimeng.bsky.social reveals how plants in arid climates adjust carbon uptake as soil moisture declines. A new empirical function improves predictions of water stress impacts on ecosystems & models!🔗Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@globalchangebio.bsky.social

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

Check out our new paper! 2025 has already been quite the productive year for the lab!

This work was also a contribution to the @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social group. I am super proud of the work and am glad it's finally out for all to read and engage with!

(6/6)

This work helps resolve the longstanding question as to whether nitrogen supply or demand drives plant responses to eCO2, showing that nitrogen demand regulates leaf-level responses to eCO2 and nitrogen supply constrains whole-plant responses

(5/6)

Whole-plant responses to elevated CO2 were enhanced with increasing nitrogen fertilization, supporting the large body of work indicating that nitrogen limitation constrains whole-plant responses to elevated CO2. Inoculation played no role in modifying whole-plant responses to elevated CO2 (4/6)

We found strong evidence suggesting that leaf-level photosynthetic responses to elevated CO2 were not modified by nitrogen fertilization or inoculation treatments. Instead, results indicate strong support for photosynthetic acclimation responses expected from eco-evo optimality theory (3/6)

We grew soybean seedlings under full-factorial combinations of two CO2, two inoculation (presence/absence of nitrogen-fixing bacteria), and nine nitrogen fertilization treatments to assess the role of nitrogen demand, availability, and acquisition strategy on plant responses to elevated CO2 (2/6)

Nitrogen demand, availability, and acquisition strategy control plant responses to elevated CO2 Abstract. Plants respond to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations by reducing leaf nitrogen content and photosynthetic capacity – patterns that corresp

Very excited to share that our (Zinny Ezekannagha and @nickgregsmith.bsky.social) new paper, "Nitrogen demand, availability, and acquisition strategy control plant responses to elevated CO2", is now in press at @jxbotany.bsky.social

Link: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

(1/6)

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

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...

Omg um… hi everyone?? I log into BlueSky for the first time in a few months and follower list has kind of gone off the charts?

Guess I should probably post a bit more frequently then, huh?

Interested in how and where trees move water? I'm hiring a plant ecophys postdoc to study hydraulic redistribution in Indiana forests. If you'll be at AGU and want to discuss, please reach out!
jobs.carnegiescience.edu/jobs/postdoc...