PRF/M: Plant Senescence and Ecosystem Function

整个植物和植物器官的衰老在生理学上已经有了适度的了解。PI将开始一个为期9个月的项目，在一个领先的生理和生态研究中心（华盛顿卡内基研究所和斯坦福大学生物科学系）进行为期3个月的实习，学习衰老生理学，测量衰老植物内外的氮运动，研究了两种实验性叶片衰老对植物生产力的影响。短期生产力测量将使PI接触到当前测量光、光合作用和呼吸作用的技术。接下来，PI将在哥斯达黎加的一个野外站呆六个月，在那里PI将使用在卡内基获得的知识和技术进行实地实验。目标生物将是常绿多年生植物，这是一组对设计可持续农业系统和了解热带森林动态至关重要的植物。如果这项研究成功，科学家们将能够通过操纵光和灵魂养分来加速或延缓植物的衰老。

Senescence of whole plants and of plant organs os moderately well understood physiologically. The PI will begin a nine-month program away from the home institution with a three- month internship at a leading center for physiological and ecological research (Carnegie Institute of Washington and Stanford University"s Department of Biological Sciences), learning senescence physiology, measuring nitrogen movement within and out of senescing plants, and investigating the consequences of two kinds of experimentally induced leaf senescence on plant productivity. The short-term productivity measurements will expose the PI to current techniques for measuring light, photosynthesis, and respiration. Next, the PI will spend six months at a field station in Costa Rica, where the Pi will use the knowledge and techniques acquired at Carnegie to conduct field experiments. The target organisms will be evergreen perennial, a group of plants that is crucial to the design of sustainable agricultural systems and to the understanding of tropical forest dynamics. If successful, this research will enable scientists to accelerate or delay plant senescence by manipulating light and soul nutrients.