As of October 2021, Ian has taken up a new position at the Hawkesbury Institute of Environment at Western Sydney University. At HIE Ian has two roles: Professor of Plant Functional Ecology, and Chief Scientist. He retains a position at Macquarie University as Honorary Professor, and will maintain a small research group there as well.
Ian will start to build the group at HIE over coming months. More details coming soon!
Life on islands has sparked the imagination of generations of scientist. Islands often feature species communities distinct in their appearance to those on the mainland and many island species evolved unusual and interesting forms and functions. For instance, plants being herbaceous on the mainland evolve to become woody after colonising distant islands or forge unusual ecological ties, such as flower pollination by lizards.
In our recent paper – led by Julian Schrader and co-authored by Ian Wright – we reviewed the literature and discussed how islands plant communities are often functionally different to their mainland counterparts and why. We condensed the existing knowledge in a set of 33 hypotheses that we hope can serve as “roadmap” for future studies.
To understand differences between mainland and island communities, we argue that the classic research field of island biogeography (the study of species occurrences and diversification on islands) needs to be partnered with functional ecology. Excerpt:
“Functional island biogeography is an emerging discipline lying at the interface of ecology, biogeography and evolutionary biology that has great potential further to enhance the reputation of islands as evolutionary and ecological laboratories and research models. We define functional island biogeography as the study of ecological and evolutionary processes that shape the structure, diversity and functioning of island assemblages, as viewed specifically through the lens of functional traits and plant ecological strategies.”
Read this paper: Schrader, J., Wright, I.J., Kreft, H., & Westoby, M. (2021). A roadmap to plant functional island biogeography. Biological Reviews, 1–20. doi:10.1111/brv.12782
We recently spent a week collecting data within the Wombeyan Karst Conservation Reserve on the edge of the Blue Mountains. This site is just one in our series where we explore variation in plant functional traits across a range of soil conditions. It was important that we finish sampling soon, while temperatures are still suitable for data collection.
We sampled within temperate woodland forests in what’s known as a karst environment, as described in the last post. While on site, we measured rates of photosynthesis across a range of plant species inlcuding eucalypts and acacias. We also extracted cores from the trees, in order to estimate how much sapwood and heartwood they contain. We had some very curious visitors as well! (Photos courtesy of research assistant Whylie Walton and PhD candidate Shubham Chhajed pictured on left.)
We rely heavily on volunteers for these trips. If you’d like to get involved, get in touch with andrea.westerband at mq.edu.au.
We recently spent several days collecting data within the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve, an ecologically, socio-economically, and aesthetically valuable area located on the western edge of the Blue Mountains.
We sampled within temperate woodland forests in a karst environment. Karst is a term which describes the landforms produced by the long-term flow of water across rocks, most commonly, limestone and dolomite. Over time, these flows produce caves, gorges, and other surface features, and act as important refuges for plants and below-ground organisms.
Like other Southern Hemisphere continents, there are limited areas in Australia with karst regions. Luckily for us, NSW, with over one hundred areas of limestone and other carbonate rocks spread across the state, plays a major role in conserving Australia’s scarce karst heritage. This site is one of several we will visit over the next several months.
While on site, we measure rates of photosynthesis across a range of species. This information will allow us to better understand how plants optimise photosynthesis by balancing nitrogen costs and water costs.
We rely heavily on volunteers for these trips. If you’d like to get involved, get in touch with andrea.westerband at mq.edu.au.
Finally, the Wright Lab managed to all get together and celebrate the end of a very tough year!
Congratulations to Ian for winning the prize for Excellence in Biological Sciences in the 2020 NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering! These awards recognise excellence in science and engineering, and reward leading researchers for cutting-edge work that has generated economic, environmental, health, social or technological benefits for New South Wales.
For more information about the prizes, follow this link
In our recently published paper, led by postdoc Dong Ning, we tested the general hypothesis that acclimation/adaptation within species, and selection among species, combine to create predictable relationships between plant functional traits and environmental factors across 705 species from 116 sites. The paper is co-authored by Ian Wright, Colin Prentice, and colleagues, and uses data from a broad north-south transect in Australia that runs from temperate woodlands in the south, through extensive semi-arid and arid lands in the centre to tropical savannas in the north.
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance plots used in this research
This work provides theoretical and empirical unifying explanations for relationships between key traits and site environment. Excerpt from the paper:
“Leaf area, the leaf economics spectrum (indexed by LMA and Narea), and χ (from stable carbon isotope ratios) varied almost independently among species. Across sites, however, χ and LA increased with mean growing-season temperature (mGDD0) and decreased with vapour pressure deficit (mVPD0) and soil pH. LMA and Narea showed the reverse pattern. Climate responses agreed with expectations based on optimality principles.”
In addition, we quantified the proportion of geographic trait variation accounted for by within-species acclimation/adaptation versus species turnover, providing new insight into eco-evolutionary processes. Excerpt:
“Within-species variability contributed <10% to geographic variation in LA but >90% for χ, with LMA and Narea intermediate”
Figure 4. Trait gradient analysis of key leaf traits. [see paper for full caption]
In short, our results represent a significant advance in fundamental plant ecology, which will be key to constructing a new generation of global vegetation models with a basis in continuous trait variation, instead of discrete plant functional types.
Dong N, Prentice IC, Wright IJ, Evans BJ, Togashi HF, Caddy-Retalic S, McInerney FA, Sparrow B, Leitch E, Lowe AJ. 2020. Components of leaf-trait variation along environmental gradients. New Phytologist 228:82-94.
Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16558
Yuki Tsujii, a postdoc in our lab, has been awarded a three-year fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), including salary and research support. The research support (ca. $15,000-20,000 per year) will be used for a leaf phosphorus economics study across Australia and worldwide. He will collaborate with researchers from Kyushu University, in Japan, to complete this project.
Congrats Yuki!!
For more information, visit: https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-pd/index.html
Congratulations to Shubham, a PhD student in the lab, who has been awarded the Milthorpe Memorial Award in Biological Sciences. The funds will be used to carry out Shubham’s dissertation research, which investigates variation in photosynthesis and hydraulic traits under the lens of least cost theory.
Great work, Shubham!
Additional information about the award:
The Milthorpe Memorial Award in Plant Biology is supported by a bequest to the Department of Biological Sciences by the family of Fred Milthorpe. Professor Milthorpe was a plant physiologist in the classical sense, influencing a generation of plant scientists here and abroad. His research revealed underlying biological processes that are critical to forestry, agriculture and horticulture. His philosophy was to make discoveries by inspiring postgraduate students and ECRs to be curious about their research questions and thoughtful about how they execute them.
This award offers the recipient $2500 towards research costs in plant biology.
On Wednesday, August 12th, Oscar gave a virtual research seminar during the monthly Sydney Plant Ecophysiology Group meeting. During his talk, Oscar discussed how to model the balance between water costs and nitrogen costs, and to explore the coordination between morphological and physiological traits in terms of how they effect these costs. There was a great turn-out, and some interesting discussions as well! Great job, Oscar!
Seminar title: “Multiple-resource acquisition costs drive global coordination between plant physiology and structure“
The Wright Lab (Western Sydney University) 