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Martijn Slot is a plant ecophysiologist currently working
as CTFS - ForestGEO post-doctoral researcher in Klaus Winter’s lab at STRI. Martijn obtained his
PhD from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in the summer of 2013. His
research focuses on understanding responses of tropical woody plants to climate
change, and the consequences of climate change in the tropics.
Before coming to STRI, Martijn studied plant responses
to environmental conditions in a wide range of environments and ecological
ways, using a range of techniques. He evaluated Scots pine seedlings in
central Siberia, analyzed species differences of lowland tropical forest
species in Bolivia, and used dendrochronology of oak stems and roots in the
Swiss Alps.
In the past several years, Martijn has primarily worked on
temperature effects on tropical trees and lianas. As an experiment, Martijn warmed leaves in a tropical forest canopy to evaluate the capacity for thermal
acclimation of leaf respiration. By collaborating with biogeochemists and
modelers, results of his research have been used to improve the capacity of
global models to simulate the carbon cycle under realistic climate change
scenarios.
Martijn is now addressing questions regarding the
responses of growth, photosynthesis and respiration of tropical tree species to
increased temperatures, and how these responses are affected by source-sink
relationships.