The role of plants in a changing environment

Plants don’t make a lot of noise, so we often take them for granted. But plants are not only the origin of all higher life on earth, they also fulfil a myriad of other tasks - from influencing our climate to stabilising our soils and making our planet look so wonderfully unique. However, human action has fundamentally changed the conditions under which plants grow – the CO2 in the air is soon to be doubled, nitrogen inputs have gone up many times, temperatures have increased and droughts have become more frequent. And all of these changes have happened well within the lifespan of a single tree.

In his inaugural professorial address, Professor Sebastian Leuzinger will explore the world of plants, viewed from the perspective of a single stoma (a leaf pore), a tiny organ that is pivotal for the functioning of our planet, yet few of us will ever have heard of it. He will present examples of his research spanning from the physiology of a single leaf to the global carbon cycle.

About the speaker

Professor Leuzinger grew up in Switzerland, where his father, a dedicated ornithologist, introduced him early on to the wonders of nature. He studied biology at the University of Basel and at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, where his first degree was in coral reef ecology. After working as a science teacher on a superyacht, he eventually returned to Switzerland to take up an MSc in statistics and a PhD in plant ecology under Christian Körner, who remains his mentor and collaborator to this day.

Sebastian is a Professor of Ecology within the School of Science at Auckland University of Technology. He is on the science steering committee of iLEAPS, a global research project on plant-atmosphere interactions, and an editor of ‘Frontiers in Functional Plant Ecology’.