Wildflowers such as poppies and lupine mix strategies to survive drought: some risky and others conservative, both above-ground and below. Research from the lab of Jennifer Funk of the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.
UC Davis researchers developed a tool to predict forest survival under drought by linking rainfall to tree growth and carbon reserves. It helps identify when forests hit tipping points and guides climate and conservation efforts.
Jennifer Funk, an associate professor of ecology in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis, has received a $481,274 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to improve the understanding of how rangeland plants respond to drought conditions.
Brassica plants, such as broccoli, produce metabolites that benefit humans (flavor, anti-cancer defenses), benefit the plant (attacking insects) and, in new research, defend against drought. Dan Kliebenstein’s lab examines drought tolerance in Arabidopsis.
