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: A better understanding of tree responses to environmental change for productive and resilient forests – From molecular to leaf, species and ecosystem levels.
The importance of photosynthesis and carbon uptake in defining the extent and scale of predicted future global environmental change is a major theme of our research. We investigate interactions of temperature, photoperiod, water availability and biotic stresses, and how metabolic imbalances caused by these stresses are used as signals for the regulation of primary carbon and isoprenoid metabolism of trees.
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 trees 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
We are hiring Postdocs and grad students
4 Postdoc and 5 PhD student positions studying structure and function of trees using drone-based remote sensing The FastPheno project is soliciting applications for several postdoctoral and fully funded grad student positions. The project aims to develop and use the next generation high-throughput drone-based phenotyping platform and observe forest dynamics, identify trees resilient to climate change impacts and to ensure…
Exciting paper published today in Nature Plants!
The Nature Plants paper “Chlorophyll a fluorescence illuminates a path connecting plant molecular biology to Earth-system science” was published today. Following a workshop held at the Hyytiälä Forestry Research Station in 2019, Albert Porcar-Castell from the University of Helsinki took the lead on this work. Finally it is here – I think this paper gives an exciting overview on the…
Bridget wins CSPB/SCBV award for outstanding oral presentation
Congrats Bridget on the award for best oral presentation at the 2021 CSPB/SCBV Annual General Meeting! Bridget presented her work on climate change impacts and the effect of warming and drought on the timing of cold acclimation in different white spruce genotypes. In her talk she showed first results from her Ph.D. thesis project. This included data on growth, photosynthesis and…
Drone pilot training for Ensmingerlab
Flying a drone in Canada requires an exam, flight training and final certification. Siyu, Erik and Ingo just completed their certification, they are now drone pilots! The photograph shows our instructor Harish Jadeja with Erik and Siyu during the flight training at the Koffler Scientific Reserve.
Maia Dall’Acqua joins the lab as an NSERC USRA student for the summer
Welcome Maia! She will join the lab and support our activities on the SpruceUp project. Maia is a student at the University of Toronto, but she has already worked for the SpruceUp project during summer 2020 in the Cooke lab at the University of Alberta. We are excited to have her join the lab as an NSERC USRA student. This…
