US-Germany Cooperative Research: Combined Imaging of Plant Growth and Photosynthesis from the Cellular to the Ecosystem Level

该奖项支持Uwe Rascher和哥伦比亚大学的学生与德国Foschungszentrum Juelich植物圈研究所的Achim Walter合作进行的研究。该研究将集中于光合作用和生长，作为决定植物和生态系统整体性能的关键过程。这两个过程都是动态的，在空间和时间上都是异质的，并且取决于一系列的环境因素。目前已经建立了不同器官生长过程之间的经验联系，并可用于植物组织不同层次之间的尺度划分。该项目的中心目标是评估不同模式物种冠层内动态生长分布的范围；分析不同环境因子对叶片生长分布的影响；测试生长、光合作用和环境参数波动之间的相关性；并确定光合能量获取与植物生长之间的分子和生理机制。该项目的第二个目标是在德国的一个研究所与哥伦比亚大学生物圈2号中心之间建立的国际合作中促进年轻研究人员的交流。目前，该小组研究植物和植物群落的生长和光合作用之间的相互作用，通过非破坏性的新型成像技术进行量化，并确定潜在的生理过程。

0340609RascherThis award supports Uwe Rascher and students from Columbia University in a collaboration with Achim Walter of the Institute of Phytosphere Research at the Foschungszentrum Juelich, Germany. The research will focus on photosynthesis and growth as key processes in determining the overall performance of plants and ecosystems. Both processes are dynamic, heterogeneous in space and time, and depend on a spectrum of environmental factors. Currently empirical connections between growth processes of different organs are established and can be used for scaling between different levels of plant organization. The central aims of this project are to evaluate the range of dynamic growth distributions within the canopy of different model species; to analyze leaf growth distributions as a function of various environmental factors; to test the correlations between fluctuations of growth, photosynthesis and environmental parameters; and to identify molecular and physiological mechanisms that mediate between photosynthetic energy acquisition and plant growth. A second aim of this project is to facilitate the exchange of young researchers within an established international cooperation between a research institute in Germany and Columbia University's Biosphere 2 Center. Presently, the group investigates interactions between growth and photosynthesis of plants and plant communities as quantified by non-destructive, novel imaging techniques and determines the underlying physiological processes.