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
Ensminger Lab at CSPB 2025 in Halifax, Nova Scotia 🌲🐋
From August 9–12, members of the Ensminger Lab travelled to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to participate in the Canadian Society for Plant Biologists’ CSPB 2025 Conference. This annual meeting brings together plant scientists from across Canada and beyond to share cutting-edge research, network, and explore the latest advances in plant biology. Nova Scotia’s capital, Halifax, provided a beautiful backdrop for the event, with…
Celebrating Grace Cheng’s Winning Seminar Series T-Shirt Design
🏆 Congratulations to Grace Vera Cheng, Winner of the 2025–2026 Seminar Series T-Shirt Design Contest at UTM! We are proud to share that our M.Sc. student Grace Vera Cheng has won the 2025–2026 Seminar Series T-Shirt Design Contest! 🎉
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…
