Throughout its history, the Earth has undergone numerous episodes of global warming and cooling. These processes can be seen as natural experiments, to which the plant fossil record provides evidence of how plants thrived under past environmental conditions.

How can we interpret past geochemical signatures and fossil plant morphology in terms of plant physiology and functions?

Using controlled experiments at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, I aim to test whether changes in transpiration rates inflicted as a response to high CO2 and temperatures, are reflected in vascular anatomy as well as in 2H of leaf water and leaf waxes of tropical trees.

Results are on their way!