For descriptions of summer scholarship projects available in the Nicotra lab for summer 2009/2010 click HERE

PhD Student Sought: Alpine Seed and Seedling Ecology. For more info click HERE

Main Research Interest
Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology

Background
I became fascinated by plant ecology as an undergraduate. Supervised by a very patient bird ecologist, I did a research project on intra-specific competition in a weedy herb. I followed this up by working as a research assistant with Fakhri Bazzaz at Harvard University, where I narrowed my focus and developed my interest in taking an evolutionary approach to studies of plant physiological ecology. This led me to my Ph.D. research on the ecological implications of breeding systems. I worked with Robin Chazdon at the University of Connecticut, but I was lucky to be able to do all my research in Costa Rica. When I finished my Ph.D. I moved to Australia where I did post-doctoral work with Mark Westoby at Macquarie University and Marilyn Ball at ANU. I joined the School of Botany and Zoology in 1999.

Research Interests
Research in my lab applies novel approaches in plant comparative ecology to the study of evolutionary ecology and ecophysiology to give insights into patterns and processes underlying plant function at multiple scales.

We are interested in links between plant reproductive ecology and ecophysiology. In Leigh et al (2006) we provided the 1 st evidence of greater male reproductive allocation in a dioecious plant species. In Thomson et al (2003,2004) we show how herbivoury effects reproduction and vegetative physiology.

We are also interested in phenotypic plasticity - the range of forms a given genetic individual can exhibit under different environments - and when and how it evolves and when it matters.

Projects underway in my lab at present examine:

• alpine seed and seedling ecology
• the evolution and functional significance of leaf shape in Pelargonium species
• the role of phenotypic plasticity in diversification
• phenotypic plasticity and invasability of weeds in Australia
• the conservation biology of Tibettan poppies
• Eucalypt responses to defoliation, frost and water stress
• reproductive ecology of Gynatrix pulchella
• determinants of leaf temperature in the field
• tolerance of extreme temperatures under drought

Selected and Recent Publications
Harrison, M.T., Edwards, E.J., Farquhar, G.D., Nicotra, A.B., Evans, J.R. 2009. Nitrogen in cell walls of sclerophyllous leaves accounts for little of the variation in photosynthetic nitrogen-use efficiency. Plant, Cell and Environment 32: 259-270.

Jones, C.S., Bakker, F.T., Schlichting, C.D., Nicotra, A.B. 2009. Leaf shape evolution in the South African genus Pelargonium L' Hér. (Geraniaceae). Evolution 63-2: 479-497.

Alcorn, P. J., J. Bauhus, et al. 2008. Growth response following green crown pruning in plantation-grown Eucalyptus pilularis and Eucalyptus cloeziana. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 38: 770-781.

Alcorn, P. J., J. Bauhus, D. S. Thomas, R. N. James, R. G. B. Smith, and A. B. Nicotra. 2008. Photosynthetic response to green crown pruning in young plantation-grown Eucalyptus pilularis and E-cloeziana. Forest Ecology and Management 255:3827-3838.

Barrett, L.G., Thrall, P.H., Burdon, J.J., Nicotra, A.B., Linde, C.C. 2008. Population structure and diversity in sexual and asexual populations of the pathogenic fungus Melampsora lini. Molecular Ecology 17: 3401-3415.

Bourne, M., Nicotra, A.B., Colloff, M.J., Cunningham, S.A. 2008. Effect of soil biota on growth and allocation by Eucalyptus microcarpa. Plant and Soil 305: 145-156.

Jones, C. S., F. T. Bakker, C. D. Schlichting, and A. B. Nicotra. in press. Leaf shape evolution in the South African genus Pelargonium L' Hér. (Geraniaceae). Evolution.

Nicotra, A.B., Cosgrove, M.J., Cowling, A., Schlichting, C.D., Jones, C.S. 2008. Leaf shape linked to photosynthetic rates and temperature optima in South African Pelargonium species. Oecologia 154: 625-635.

Alcorn, P.J.A., Pyttel, P., Bauhus, J., Smith, R.G.B., Thomas, D., James, R., Nicotra, A. 2007. Effects of initial planting density on branch development in 4-year-old plantation grown Eucalyptus pilularis and Eucalyptus cloeziana trees. Forest Ecology and Management 252: 41-51.

Dwyer, S.A., Ghannoum, O., Nicotra, A., von Caemmerer, S. 2007. High temperature acclimation of C4 photosynthesis is linked to changes in photosynthetic biochemistry. Plant, Cell and Environment 30: 53-66.

Nicotra, A.B., Hermes, J.P., Jones, C.S., Schlichting, C.D. 2007. Geographic variation and plasticity to water and nutrients in Pelargonium australe. New Phytologist 176: 136-149.

Leigh A, Close J, Ball MC, Siebke K, Nicotra AB (2006) Leaf cooling curves: measuring leaf temperature in sunlight. Functional Plant Biology 33:515-519

Leigh A, Cosgrove MJ, Nicotra AB (2006) Reproductive allocation in a gender dimorphic shrub: anomalous female investment in Gynatrix pulchella ? Journal of Ecology 94: 1261-1271.

Powles, J.E, T.N. Buckley, A.B. Nicotra & G.D. Farquhar. (2006) Dynamics of stomatal water relations following leaf excision. Plant Cell and Environment 29, 281-992.

Bauhus, J; van Winden, AP; Nicotra, AB. 2004. Above ground interactions and productivity in mixed-species plantations of Acacia mearnsii and Eucalyptus globulus. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 34: 686-694

Thomson, V.P., Nicotra, A.B., & Cunningham, S.A. (2004) Herbivory differentially affects male and female reproductive traits of Cucumis sativus. Plant Biology, 6, 621-628.

Nicotra, A.B., Hofmann, M., Siebke, K., & Ball, M.C. (2003) Spatial patterning of pigmentation in evergreen leaves in response to freezing stress. Plant Cell and Environment, 26, 1893-1904.

Nicotra, AB; Chazdon, RL; Montgomery, RA. 2003. Sexes show contrasting patterns of leaf and crown carbon gain in a dioecious rainforest shrub. American Journal of Botany, 90: 347-355 MAR 2003

Thomson, V.P., Cunningham, S.A., Ball, M.C., & Nicotra, A.B. (2003) Compensation for herbivory by Cucumis sativus through increased photosynthetic capacity and efficiency. Oecologia, 134, 167-175.

Ball, M.C., Wolfe, J., Canny, M., Hofmann, M., Nicotra, A.B., & Hughes, D. (2002) Space and time dependence of temperature and freezing in leaves of snow gum seedlings (Eucalyptus pauciflora). Functional Plant Biology, 29, 1259-1272.

Murray, B.R., Thrall, P.H., Gill, A.M., & Nicotra, A.B. (2002) How plant life-history and ecological traits relate to species rarity and commonness at varying spatial scales. Austral Ecology, 27, 291-310.

Nicotra, AB; Babicka, N; Westoby, M. 2002. Seedling root anatomy and morphology: an examination of ecological differentiation with rainfall using phylogenetically independent contrasts. Oecologia, 130: 136-145

Nicotra, AB; Chazdon, RL; Iriarte, SVB. 1999. Spatial heterogeneity of light and woody seedling regeneration in tropical wet forests. Ecology, 80: 1908-1926

Nicotra, AB. 1999. Reproductive allocation and the long-term costs of reproduction in Siparuna grandiflora , a dioecious neotropical shrub. Journal of Ecology, 87: 138-149

Current Research Group (information for students on how the lab works)

Post-doctoral fellow

• Gemma Hoyle, seed and seedling ecology (gemma.hoyle@anu.edu.au)

Visiting fellows

• Joanna M Jones (Kain): algal ecology (jo@jokain.net)
• Bertie Hennecke: invasive species (bertie@uow.edu.au)

PhD students

• Paul Killey: Silvicultural Application of Plant Functional Traits to Eucalyptus and Corymbia Plantations.
• Philip Alcorn: Crown and canopy dynamics in subtropical eucalypt plantations (Philip.alcorn@anu.edu.au)
• Hongyan Xie: Developing management tools for economically important medicinal plants (genus Meconopsi spp) in Hengduan Mountain Range, Eastern Tibet, China (hongyan.xie@anu.edu.au)
• Amy Davidson: Linking phenotypic plasticity to invasiveness through integrated measures of plant performance (amy.davidson@anu.edu.au)
• Katy Somerville (primary supervisor Marilyn Ball, RSBS) Freeze and drought tolerance in Acacia : The compromise between stem hydraulics and phyllode gas exchange characteristics.
• Simon Dwyer (primary supervisor Susanne von Caemmerer, RSBS): The temperature response of chloroplast electron transport limited photosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana (simon.dwyer@anu.edu.au)

Honours students

• Chris Karsten (co-supervised by Owen Atkin) Temperature effects on respiration and carbon gain in native plants are affected by plant nutrient status

Past Students & Visitors

• Rachael Hocking, Reproductive ecology of the reproductively anomalous shrub Gynatrix pulchella (Malvaceae): Why do some males fruit?
• Mason Campbell: Honours 2006, Phenotypic plasticity and the evolution of Pelargoniums
• Troy Favell (2008 Honours, co-supervised by Dave Rowell)
• Meredith Cosgrove (2008, co-supervised by Andrea Leigh and Saul Cunningham)
• Matthew Harrison (2006 Honours, co-supervised by John Evans, Everard Edwards and Graham Farquhar) matthew.harrison@rsbs.anu.edu.au
• Kelli Gowland: PhD submitted 2008, Orchid, fungal interactions (Kelli.Gowland@anu.edu.au)
• Andrea Leigh: The evolution of leaf shape in the Proteaceae (Andrea.Leigh@anu.edu.au) PhD 2008, now a lecturer at UTS Sydney
• Luke Barrett: Geographic variation in ecological and evolutionary dynamics within the Linum marginale / Melampsora lini host-pathogen association. (Luke.Barrett@csiro.au) PhD 2008, now a post-doctoral researcher at Dept of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, USA
• Anja Steinwendler (2006, honours co-supervised by Marilyn Ball and Beth Loveys, RSBS)
• Felicia Pereoglou (2006) ARC New Zealand Network for Vegetation Function visiting on a Research Exploration Opportunity program
• Mark Bourne, (2005, Honours, co-supervised by Saul Cunningham CSIRO Entomology)
• David Duncan, PhD, 2000-2004. Submitted February 2004. Jointly supervised with Saul Cunningham, CSIRO Entomology David now works as a scientist at ARI
• Julia Powles (2004) Honours, co-supervised by Tom Buckley and Graham Farquhar, RSBS. Julia went on to complete her law degree at UWA
• Danielle Medek (2003, RSBS) Honours, co-supervised by Marcus Schortenmeyer. Danielle went on to a PhD in RSBS and has recently begun a Post-Doc on tolerance of temperature extremes under drought
• Alison Skinner (2003) Honours, co- supervised Julian Ash. Alison worked for a while at CSIRO before beginning a PhD at Charles Sturt Uni.
• Jacob Hermes (2003) Jacob completed honours in November 2003. He has a manuscript in review and now works at ComCare
• Aaron van Winden (2001, SRES) Honours, co-supervised by Juergen Bauhus. Aaron's work has resulted a publication in Canadian Journal of Forest Research. He is now employed at NSW State Forests.
• Vivien Thomson. (2001) honours. Viv's honours work resulted in two publications. She went on to a research assistant position at Macquarie Uni. She is currently employed at AFFA.
• Catherine Pohlman, (2000) honours. Cathe went on to do a PhD at JCU

Possible Honours Projects
Honours projects in my lab could involve many aspects of plant functional or physiological ecology. See the honours web page for more information. Potential projects include studies of:

• Phenotypic plasticity and invasive plants
• Seed and seedling ecology of Alpine plants
• ecological implications of breeding systems in plants
• evolution of leaf shape and size (especially in the genus Pelargonium)
• impacts of herbivoury on growth and carbon gain in Eucalyptus
• tolerance of temperature extremes under drought

Courses Taught
I convene and teach a portion of Plants: Genes to Environment (Biol2121). I also teach part of Biol1009: Diversity of Life and Plants and Global Climate Change (Biol3125), and Population Ecology (Biol2131).

Other affiliations
I am the deputy convenor of the ARC New Zealand Network for Vegetation Function (http://www.bio.mq.edu.au/ecology/vegfunction/)

I am a member of the Ecological Societies of Australia and America and the Australian Society of Plant Scientists.