To grow or to store: Do plants hedge their bets?

该项目旨在解决有关多年生植物功能的一个长期存在的问题：光合作用吸收的碳中有多少立即用于生长，有多少保留下来以应对未来的压力？这个问题对我们理解植物如何应对严重干旱等逆境很重要，但目前缺乏数据和理论模型阻碍了我们回答这个问题的能力。通过将新的数据分析和建模工具应用于最近的实验结果，该项目计划测试有关植物如何在生长和储存之间分配碳以应对压力的假设。来自该项目的见解可能会为更好地管理澳大利亚脆弱的生态系统奠定基础。

This project aims to resolve a long-standing question about the function of perennial plants: how much of the carbon taken up by photosynthesis is used immediately for growth, and how much is kept in reserve as insurance against future stress? This question is important to our understanding of how plants respond to stresses such as severe drought, and yet lack of data and theoretical modelling currently hampers our ability to answer it. By applying novel data analysis and modelling tools to recent experimental results, the project plans to test hypotheses for how plants allocate carbon between growth and storage in response to stress. Insights from the project may underpin better management of Australia’s vulnerable ecosystems.