Isoprene emissions from Ice Age, present and future tropical trees: fluxes and mechanisms
Lead Research Organisation:
Lancaster University
Department Name: Environmental Science
Abstract
In order to understand how the Earth system works, and in particular to understand how the Earth's climate may change in the future, it is important to study the Earth's history, as well as thinking about the future. One fact that influences climate is the interaction between plants and the atmosphere. Some plants produce chemicals that can change the chemical composition of the atmosphere, and we think that the amount of these chemicals produced by plants may be affected by the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We know that during the last Ice Age, carbon dioxide concentrations were much lower than at present, and we also know that carbon dioxide concentrations are rapidly rising, so in this project we will grow plants under 'Last Ice Age' conditions of CO2 and temperature and under 'double CO2' conditions and test how much of these chemicals are produced. We will also study why CO2 has this effect on plants, and this will help us predict what might happen in the future as CO2 concentrations continue to rise.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Charles Hewitt (Principal Investigator) | |
Malcolm Possell (Researcher) |
Publications
Hewitt C
(2011)
Quantification of VOC emission rates from the biosphere
in TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry
Hewitt C
(2011)
Ground-level ozone influenced by circadian control of isoprene emissions
in Nature Geoscience
Laothawornkitkul J
(2008)
Discrimination of plant volatile signatures by an electronic nose: aA potential technology for plant pest and disease monitoring.
in Environmental science & technology
Laothawornkitkul J
(2009)
Biogenic volatile organic compounds in the Earth system.
in The New phytologist
POSSELL M
(2011)
Isoprene emissions from plants are mediated by atmospheric CO2 concentrations ISOPRENE-CO2 RESPONSE
in Global Change Biology
Possell M
(2010)
Effects of fosmidomycin on plant photosynthesis as measured by gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence.
in Photosynthesis research
Vickers CE
(2010)
Genetic structure and regulation of isoprene synthase in Poplar (Populus spp.).
in Plant molecular biology