Ensminger Lab
Molecular Plant Physiology,
Global Change Biology & Photosynthesis
Department of Biology
University of Toronto Mississauga
Research on the Biology of Trees, Global Change & Photosynthesis
Our goal: To better understand tree responses to environmental change for productive and resilient forests – From molecular to leaf, species and ecosystem levels.
We investigate the physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms that control photosynthesis, growth and resilience of trees to changing environmental conditions
We are located in the Department of Biology at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
Areas of Research
See the list of current projects and find more details about our ongoing research
Environmental stress physiology of plants
How do plants adapt and acclimate to environmental change?
Tomorrows forests
How will heat, drought and pests impact tree growth in the future? Will warming increase the forest carbon sink?
Response of photosynthesis and carbon metabolism to low temperature
Research in conifers to understand low temperature acclimation and freezing resistance
Lab News
Congratulations to Bridget K. Murphy on Her First First-Author Publication!
We’re excited to share that Bridget K. Murphy, PhD student in the Ensminger Lab, has just published her first first-authored paper in Plant Physiology! Her work, titled “Contrasting effects of warming and drought on autumn phenology of photosynthesis and growth in white spruce,” investigates how climate change-related stresses impact photosynthetic activity and growth timing in white spruce seedlings. 👏 Congrats, Bridget, on this important milestone in…
High-Precision GPS & Tree Height Measurements at the Pickering Field Site
This summer, our team launched a field campaign to collect high-precision GPS data and manual tree height measurements at the Pickering experimental site — a critical step toward understanding how microsite variability influences white spruce performance. The campaign was led by Emilie Isasa (Postdoctoral researcher), with fantastic support from Grace (MSc student), and Adam and Tianqi (ROP students). Thanks to their hard work, we’re building a robust spatial dataset to link microtopography,…
It’s cleanup time at the KSR site!
Bridget, Anchalya and Noelle, rolled up their sleeves for a big spring reset at the site. The mission? Carefully removing the spruce seedlings from the Spruce Up project to clear the way for exciting new experiments. Armed with gloves, tools, and plenty of good spirit, they tackled the task under the spring sun, because before new science can grow, sometimes…
Spring has finally arrived in Toronto!
With longer days and warmer temperatures, we’re excited to launch our next round of experiments. The team is getting ready to head back into the field and the greenhouse to continue exploring plant growth, physiology, and resilience in changing environments.🌳🌳 Stay tuned, new data, discoveries, and updates are on the way as the season unfolds!
FastPheno 2025: Reconnecting and Collaborating: Highlights from the FastPheno Meeting at Université Laval
We had the chance to reconnect in person for our annual FastPheno meeting, this time hosted at Université Laval in Québec City, Canada. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet face-to-face, exchange ideas, and share the latest advances across the project. The team discussed progress on assessing adaptive traits, exploring contrasting environments, improving data processing pipelines, and expanding the spruce database….
