Dryland Plant Ecophysiology Lab

Venn diagram of major strategies used to cope with heat stress with examples of species expected to specialize in heat tolerance/acclimation (yellow circles), heat avoidance through drought-deciduousness (green circles), and heat avoidance through homeothermic leaf cooling (blue circles).

High #temperature acclimation of #photosystem II in land plants

#TansleyReview by @bposch.bsky.social et al.

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

@hultinelab.bsky.social #PlantScience #photosynthesis

High‐temperature acclimation of photosystem II in land plants The effect of high temperature on plant performance and survival is a topic of great interest given the ongoing rise in global heatwave frequency, duration, and intensity. The temperature at which ph....

New paper led by @bposch.bsky.social out in @newphyt.bsky.social . We reviewed evidence, mechanisms, and consequences of high temperature acclimation of leaf heat tolerance: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Check out our new Tansley Review on leaf heat acclimation in @newphyt.bsky.social, the result of a great collaboration with an even greater team! @martijnslot.bsky.social @seanmichaletz.bsky.social @nicolebison.bsky.social @luiza-aparecido.bsky.social @owenatkin.bsky.social @hultinelab.bsky.social

One day in the lab, we accidentally discovered that the spines of a cactus 🌵 straighten when exposed to fog. I was intrigued and so were my collaborators. How does this work and what can be gained from it? Here are some of the answers in our new preprint:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

47th New Phytologist symposium: Extreme Heat: extending the thermal limits of life
Hosted by the University of Cordoba, Span, June 2026
Stay tuned for updates!
www.newphytologist.org/symposia/47-...

Wondering where to submit your abstract for #AGU25
@agu.org annual meeting? Consider our cross-scale "Forest Physiological and Ecological Processes from Molecules to Ecosystems" organized session (#246685)! #EcoPhys

Heading to Oaxaca for #ATBC2025 ? Make sure you stop by our symposium for all things leaf temperature, heat tolerance, and tradeoffs across climate gradients 🌿💧🌡️

If you're doing research on the interaction between plants and high temperatures - anywhere from the molecular 🧬 to the biosphere scale 🌏 - consider submitting an abstract for our session at #AGU2025!! 🪴🌾

Submit an abstract to our #AGU2025 session "Heat and Microclimate Impacts on Plant Functioning: From Molecules to the Biosphere" (agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/pr...) @nicolebison.bsky.social @luiza-aparecido.bsky.social @bposch.bsky.social @agu.org @agubiogeosciences.bsky.social @gec-agu.bsky.social

a young saguaro cactus persisting on rocky ground, growing next to a cholla cactus.

Establishment patterns of #saguaro #cactus at the microsite scale help explain saguaro regeneration & distributions in heterogenous, regional habitats

New #AJB research by Peter Breslin, Charlotte Brown, Alberto Búrquez, Frank Reichenbacher et al.

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience

Check out this recently published paper by Seeley et al. in the Journal of Ecology illustrating how remote sensing reveals inter- and intraspecific variation in riparian cottonwood (Populus spp) responses to drought.
The paper can be found at: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Virtual Rally to Save the Cornerstone of Conservation Science · National Wildlife Federation We need YOU as we rally in support of critical federal government services at risk of being lost forever. The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area is responsible for many of the programs tha...

What do monarchs, trout, bison, black bears & YOU have in common? You're all supported by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area.

Join our Rally for the Cornerstone of Conservation Science!
May 22 | 12–1 PM ET
Rally with us: www.mobilize.us/nwf/event/79...

#ScienceForWildlife #ForPeopleAndWildlife

New paper published by Wilder et al. in the journal Global Change Biology reveals how recent anomalous drought and heat events are impacting native succulents in the Sonoran Desert. The paper can be accessed at: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Registration now open for the 2nd International Virtual Cactaceae Symposium: August 25-27, 2025.

www.ican-cactaceae.org/symposium

Bloomington Faculty Council adopts resolution to establish ‘Big Ten mutual defense compact’ The motion follows the Rutgers University Senate resolution for a defense coalition.

Resolution proposed by Indiana University and Rutgers University to establish a Big Ten mutual defense compact :
www.idsnews.com/article/2025...

We had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Kevin Hultine (@hultinelab.bsky.social) for his 3rd visit to our lab at the U!
Thanks Kevin for our your valuable contributions to our lab, especially mentoring my now PhD Candidate @rebeccasenft.bsky.social (uhul!), and expanding our riparian ecophys research!

Off and running: Lab member Madeline Moran passed her oral defense and has advanced to PhD candidacy! Stay tuned for future posts covering Madeline's research results on plant acclimation to heat exposure. Congrats Madeline!

Fully funded PhD in Plant Ecophysiology at UBC in Vancouver 🍁! Possible topics include leaf physiology, thermal ecology, microclimates, scaling, tree physiology, forest ecology & more. Start Jan/May/Sept 2026. michaletzlab.org
Please share!
#PlantEcoPhys #Ecology #Botany #PhDposition #GradSchool

A saguaro cactus standing over 20 feet tall, with over ten arms, some of them over 10 feet long and jutting out in all kinds of directions

Has to be up there as one of my favourite saguaros in the valley 🌵

#arizona #cacti #botany

Need a Monday pick-me-up?

Here's a throwback to 2022, when our field ecology program director Susan Bush had an extraordinary encounter with a huge band of coatimundis while working at our field site in Wet Beaver Creek, AZ

How many can you spot??

#coati #ecology #fieldwork #arizona

Need a Monday pick-me-up?

Here's a throwback to 2022, when our field ecology program director Susan Bush had an extraordinary encounter with a huge band of coatimundis while working at our field site in Wet Beaver Creek, AZ

How many can you spot??

#coati #ecology #fieldwork #arizona

Mapping the roots of saguaros at Saguaro NP. The DBG is partnering with SNP and the U of Wyoming to map the roots of saguaros. Knowing the distribution of saguaro roots reveals how sensitive they are to droughts, and to what extent these iconic plants engineer the water cycle of desert ecosystems.

It's always a pleasure to host @owenatkin.bsky.social! We had some great discussions about our ongoing efforts to understand and address the threat that extreme heat poses for plants around the world 🌡️ 🌿

Enjoyed chatting about our recent work on leaf cooling during extreme heat! If the clip has you curious, you can find the paper here www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Trees able to cool themselves down even in extreme Arizona heat, research shows Freemont cottonwoods found across Arizona can essentially sweat to cool themselves off.

DPEL in the news! Check out Brad Posch discussing how cottonwood trees stay cool in the summer heat: www.12news.com/video/news/r...

Leaf water fluxes during times of high and low water availability.

New in #NewPhytologist: Temperature governs the relative contributions of cuticle and stomata to leaf minimum conductance (shorturl.at/f9h7O) - Exciting work with #MichaletzLab PhD graduate #JosefGaren @ubcbotany.bsky.social @ubcbiodiversity.bsky.social @science.ubc.ca @newphyt.bsky.social

Come and be my colleague in Panama!
forestgeo.si.edu/forestgeo-st...

Monarch butterflies could get more government protection. Why it matters for Arizona Monarch butterflies, found throughout Arizona, could become one of the next species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The US fish and Wildlife Service is listing the monarch butterfly as a threatened species. Great article of how the listing matters to Arizona and the southwestern US: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

Check out this recently published paper by PhD candidate Marilynn Vazquez-Cruz on the evolutionary origin and climate niche space of succulent plants: doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#Botany #PlantScience

Huge congrats to @nicolebison.bsky.social for receiving a Best Presentation Award for her talk "The kinetic basis of photosynthetic heat tolerance" at the Australian Society of Plant Scientists Conference in Sydney, Australia! #ASPS2024 #MichaletzLab @ubcbotany.bsky.social @ubcscience.bsky.social