Tribute to Martyn M. Caldwell

You can read here a tribute to the life and research career of Martyn M. Caldwell who died earlier this year, in a piece written by Paul Barnes, Steve Flint and myself for the UV4Plants special issue of Physiologia Plantarum.  In addition to his personal qualities, Martyn made a  great contribution to plant ecophysiology and in particular understanding the ecological effects of UV radiation.

Martyn M Caldwell

Barnes, PWRobson, TMFlint, SDMartyn M. Caldwell, 1941–2021, in memoriamPhysiologia Plantarum2021173663– 665https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.13422

Light after Death: Marta Pieristè’s PhD defence

Marta Pieristè successfully defended her PhD dissertation, “Light after Death: the importance of spectral composition in litter decomposition processes” on Tuesday 16th June 2020 at 10:30 a.m. EET Finland.  You can relive the PhD defence using the following video linkMarta Pieristè PhD defence

In addition to the Thesis Summary, the dissertation is composed of three published papers and one manuscript below:

  • Pieristè Neimane et al. (2020) Ultraviolet radiation accelerates photodegradation under controlled conditions but slows the decomposition of leaf litter from forest stands in southern Finland. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. PLAPHY5920 146, 42–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PLAPHY.2019.11.005
  • Pieristè et al., (2019) Solar UV-A radiation and blue light enhance tree leaf litter decomposition in a temperate forest by accelerating photodegradation rate. Oecologia, 191(1), 191-203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04478-x
  • Pieristè et al., (2020) Sunlight affects the microbial functional structure of beech leaf litter. Plant & Soil, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04557-6
  • Pieristè et al., (manuscript – embargoed) The crucial role of blue light as a driver of photodegradation in terrestrial ecosystems on the global scale: a meta-analysis.
Litter-boxes in the beech forest during the decomposition experiment in Rouen.

As a joint PhD between Normandie Universite Rouen and the University of Helsinki, Marta’s Examination was be conducted by:

Opponents: Prof Laura Llorens Guasch, University of Girona (Spain) and Dr Stephan Hättenschwiler, CNRS Montpelier (France).

Pre-examiners:  Prof Christiane Gallet, University Savoie (France) and Dr Tarja Lehto, University of Eastern Finland (Finland).

Custos : Prof Kurt Fagerstedt, University of Helsinki (Finland).

President: Prof Matty Berg, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

To meet the requirements of the co-tutelle PhD, the defence commenced with a 50 minute presentation – followed by 20-30 minutes of questioning by each examiner in turn.

UNEP EEAP panel preparing 2020 update

UNEP have put together a video explaining the work of the UNEP panels that assess ozone depletion, UV-B radiation and their interaction with climate change.

The UNEP Environmental Effects Assessment Panel in New Zealand

In late September, the UNEP Environmental Effects Assessment Panel met in Alexandra, New Zealand, home of Richard McKenzie, for our annual assessment of new research into the environmental effects of ozone depletion, UV radiation, and their implications with respect to climate change.

This year Janet Bornman, Paul Barnes, Carlos Ballaré, Sharon Robinson and myself were particularly tasked with understanding how plant-level effects on biodiversity and key ecological processes scale-up to the ecosystem level.  We also focussed on crosscutting themes affecting not only terrestrial ecosystems, but mankind and the entire global environment.

A traditional Pōwhiri – Māori welcome – for the UNEP panel.

The capacity for us to address ozone depletion through the successful implementation of the Montreal Protocol, which limited the production of ozone depleting chemicals, can be seen as a flagship example of our capacity to address global environmental problems through concerted international action.  In this respect, one of the panel’s responsibilities in future reports will be to provide quantitative comparisons of how our environment differs today from what it would have looked like without the Montreal Protocol.

The World Avoided – Projection of the UV index in March 2065 with (left) and without (right) the implementation of the Montreal Protocol – from Barnes et al., (2019) Nature Sustainability 2, 569–579 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0314-2

Herlin Foundation Funding for Twinkle Solanki

Congratulations to Twinkle Solanki who has received a year’s grant from the Herlin Foundation to continue her PhD “Improving estimates of carbon assimilation and light use by forests by scaling processes from the leaf to canopy levels”.

Pictorial representation of measurements of irradiance and leaf optical properties at vertical gradients of the forest canopy

This means that all of our CanSEE PhD students have obtained competitive funding now for their doctoral work: Saara Hartikainen (Academy of Finland); Craig Brelsford (Doctoral Programme in Plant Sciences of the University of Helsinki); Marta Pieriste (Region of Normandy); David Israel (Finnish Cultural Foundation) and Twinkle Solanki (Herlin Foundation), as well as post doc Titta Kotilainen (Academy of Finland, Key Funding).