Dr. Roland Pieruschka

Our understanding of plant processes has been revolutionized by genetics and molecular biology. The impact of dynamic and spatially heterogeneous environments that determines the performance of specific genotypes in the field is much less understood, because physiological methods did not keep up with the pace of the developments in molecular biology. There is an increasing need for trait characterization through phenotyping of macroscopic structures and functions at the whole-plant level, in particular in dynamic environments. My research activities encompass:

• Characterization of plant functional traits related to water and carbon fluxes in the laboratory and field,
• Development of methods and approaches for mechanistic, high throughput and field phenotyping on the single plant and stand level.