Evolution of cold and heat tolerances of grasses (Poaceae)

There are several opportunities for analysing how cold and heat tolerances vary and evolve in relation to geographic, climatic, phylogenetic and trait data. There are about 11,000 species of grasses in the world, and they are found on every continent including Antarctica in incredibly diverse environments, ranging from tropical savannahs and desserts to some of the coldest places on Earth, such as high alpine meadows and arctic tundras.

Key questions about how and when grasses adapted to these diverse environments remain unanswered. Projects may be at macroevolutionary scales, spanning up to 100 million years of evolution, or focus on individual species, e.g. those that have adapted to geothermally warmed soils in Iceland. Projects involve ecological/evolutionary data analyses but can also involve molecular laboratory work or greenhouse experiments. Some experience with and enthusiasm for working in R is good, as is an interest in and basic understanding of how to interpret phylogenetic trees. Projects can span from 15-60 ECTS. 

Starting literature:

Global variation in the thermal tolerances of plants

Drought tolerance as an evolutionary precursor to frost and winter tolerance in grasses

Increased heat tolerance of geothermal plants at the cost of reduced performance under cooler conditions

Contact

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