My postdoctoral work at the Australian National University concentrated on the effects
of elevated carbon dioxide on photoinhibition of eucalypt seedlings. My guiding principle
was that global warming will have its largest impact at temperature extremes rather than
temperature means. We (Dr. Marilyn Ball and myself) designed experiments to determine
how eucalypts exposed to high and low temperature stress would respond to increased
atmospheric CO₂ concentrations using chlorophyll fluorescence as a measure of plant
stress. These studies involved the use of both growth chambers and field based open top
chambers. We determined that seedlings in the future might have increased photoinhibition
under elevated CO₂ if also exposed to temperature or light stress. Currently, I have no
plans to continue with chamber studies here at SOU, but the field of global change has
always interested me and I hope to continue with some aspect of this research in the future.