Publications by authors named "D P Kumarathunge"
Understanding how canopy-scale photosynthesis responds to temperature is of paramount importance for realistic prediction of the likely impact of climate change on forest growth. The effects of temperature on leaf-scale photosynthesis have been extensively documented but data demonstrating the temperature response of canopy-scale photosynthesis are relatively rare, and the mechanisms that determine the response are not well quantified. Here, we compared leaf- and canopy-scale photosynthesis responses to temperature measured in a whole-tree chamber experiment and tested mechanisms that could explain the difference between leaf and crown scale temperature optima for photosynthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith the adverse effects of climate change, selecting the best tolerant varieties to drought stress is highly necessary to sustain the yield and productivity of agricultural crops including tree crops. However, classical drought tolerance selection studies of tree crops have several limitations due to their relatively long lifespan. In this study, we propose a method to identify stable high-yielding trees under changing soil moisture conditions using yield data of existing elite tree populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Plant traits, which include various characteristics like morphology and physiology, play a crucial role in how plants interact with their environment and impact ecosystems, making them essential for research in areas like ecology, biodiversity, and environmental management.
- The TRY database, established in 2007, has become a vital resource for global plant trait data, promoting open access and enabling researchers to identify and fill data gaps for better ecological modeling.
- Although the TRY database provides extensive data, there are significant areas lacking consistent measurements, particularly for continuous traits that vary among individuals in their environments, presenting a major challenge that requires collaboration and coordinated efforts to address.
Understanding how tree growth is affected by rising temperature is a key to predicting the fate of forests in future warmer climates. Increasing temperature has direct effects on plant physiology, but there are also indirect effects of increased water limitation because evaporative demand increases with temperature in many systems. In this study, we experimentally resolved the direct and indirect effects of temperature on the response of growth and photosynthesis of the widely distributed species Eucalyptus tereticornis.
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