Belinda Medlyn

Two PhD opportunities at the Australian National University and the University of Technology Sydney, working on thermal responses and thermal acclimation of C4 photosynthesis. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Intense heatwaves directly threaten crops and native species. Here’s what we can do Sustained extreme heat can damage, weaken and kill all living things, from wheat crops to koalas and fruit bats.

Extreme heat is fast becoming one of the biggest threats to global food systems. Our new piece in The Conversation looks at how intense heatwaves put crops and native species at risk — and what we can actually do about it.
🔗 theconversation.com/intense-heat...

Weighing the options: a test of alternative stomatal optimisation models at high temperatures Stomatal optimisation models centre upon a fundamental tradeoff for plants: opening stomata promotes carbon uptake, but closing stomata prevents water loss. However, stomatal opening can occur at hi...

So proud! Our brilliant PhD student Camille Sicangco's new paper just out in @newphyt.bsky.social : Testing stomatal optimisation models at high temperatures nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

HISTORIC HEAT IN AUSTRALIA
Climatic history is set to be rewritten with an absolutely deadly week:
Today 48.5C in South Australia,47.2 New South Wales,
45.3 Queensland,45.0 Victoria

‼️We might expect 7 CONSECUTIVE DAYS >46C in New South Wales and we can't rule out 50C.
A HELL

Yes, forest trees die of old age. But the warming climate is killing them faster The warming climate is killing Australia’s forest trees at a faster rate. This offers a glimpse of what may lie ahead for forests globally.

theconversation.com/yes-forest-t...

Our talented CSC student, Ruiling Lu, collated forest inventory data dating back to the 1940's from colleagues across the country. After accounting for stand dynamics, we still see a similar increasing trend in mortality in forests from Tassie to the NT, associated with increasing temps

Pervasive increase in tree mortality across the Australian continent Nature Plants - Eight decades of forest plot monitoring show a pervasive increase in tree mortality across Australia’s forest biomes driven by climate change, jeopardizing their role as...

New research from our group: A pervasive increase in tree mortality across the Australian continent - driven by rising temperatures
rdcu.be/eXSa7

Many congrats to the authors, especially lead authors Raphael Trouve and Sophie Yang, for their thought-provoking and discussion-generating articles! @natcomms.nature.com @newphyt.bsky.social

Continental‐scale empirical evidence for relationships between fire response strategies and fire frequency Theory suggests that the dominance of resprouting and seeding, two key mechanisms through which plants persist with recurrent fire, both depend on other traits and vary with fire regime. However, ...

Close runner-up
Yang, S., Ooi, M.K.J., Falster, D.S. and Cornwell, W.K. Continental-scale empirical evidence for relationships between fire response strategies and fire frequency doi.org/10.1111/nph....
Fantastic big-picture analysis testing hypotheses in fire ecology

Our winner is
Trouvé, R., Baker, P.J., Ducey, M.J. et al. Global warming reduces the carrying capacity of the tallest angiosperm species (Eucalyptus regnans). doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Really clever re-use of an old dataset to provide new insights into climate effects on forest dynamics

Journal club end of year voting party: Belinda, Vijay, Krish, Chris, Laura, Drew, Assaf, Sonam, Aaranya, Clare (on screen), Aakash, Erick, Beatrice, Davide, Amy

Time for #oneforjournalclub paper of the year! Drum roll please ..

Extreme Heat: extending the thermal limits of life

Save the date! 47th New Phytologist Symposium on 'Extreme Heat: extending the thermal limits of life'. Explore how extreme heat affects plants that underpin ecosystem productivity.
2-5 June 2026, Cordoba, Spain.
@newphyt.bsky.social

www.newphytologist.org/events/47-nps

Check out our latest updates!

🌱 New Phytologist #TansleyMedal application deadline
🌱 Upcoming New Phytologist Now webinar
🌱 An exciting announcement from Plants, People, Planet
🌱 Details of next year's New Phytologist Symposium on extreme heat

...and more:

📨 www.newphytologist.org/news/latest-...

PhD advert for Genomic and trait-based indicators of restoration success

Exciting PhD opportunity advertised by superstar colleague Prof. Rachael Gallagher "Genomic and trait-based indicators of restoration success" (collaboration with Botanic Gardens of Sydney). See attached image. Contact Rachael directly for more information (email in advert). Closes 30th Nov.

Yesterday we were treated to an inspirational seminar from Dr Laura Williams from @westsyduhie.bsky.social all about the importance of tree diversity, novel ways to quantify it and its consequences for how forests function. Good luck with the richly-deserved DECRA Laura!!! Ping @bmedlyn.bsky.social

Our global meta-analysis is finally out - we explore the most important influencer on C4 photosynthetic capacity using ~1700 C4 Aci curves! Data are freely available for the community.

NB Applicants must have working rights in Australia

One more! Here the stellar Laura Williams leads a review of detection + attribution of change in Australian vegetation. The upshot: with current monitoring, it's remarkably difficult to attribute effects of climate - which has important consequences for management

Dead Trees in a row at Currency Creek

The arboretum has been even more heavily affected by drought this year - sad to see, but fascinating from a research perspective

Drought sensitivity is climate‐adapted and consistently influenced by wood density and maximum height in eucalypts Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Drought sensitivity in eucalypts is climate‐adapted and consistently influenced by wood density - great work by PhD student Victoria Perez-Martinez at @deannicolle1.bsky.social Currency Creek Arboretum during the Tinderbox drought

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The Response and Recovery of Carbon and Water Fluxes in Australian Ecosystems Exposed to Severe Drought We examined flux data across a range of Australian ecosystems exposed to severe drought over two years (2018-19). The driest ecosystems experienced large productivity declines, but intermediate ecosy...

Analysis of eddy-covariance C and water fluxes during the Australian Tinderbox drought of 2017-2019 showed remarkable resilience and recovery in most Australian forest types. Great work from @clares-hydro.bsky.social and OzFlux community

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Forest Monitoring Company Description: Western Sydney University is a modern, forward-thinking, research-led institution at the heart of Australia’s fastest-growing and most economically significant region. With 11 cam...

Postdoctoral position in Forest Monitoring available. Know your way around spatial datasets? Join us to help monitor changes in Australia's precious forest estate! @westsyduhie.bsky.social
jobs.smartrecruiters.com/WesternSydne...

📢🌿Available #traits #FunctionalTraits PhD position in my group @westsyduhie.bsky.social, closes 30th Oct. Topics: “Climate adaptations in Australian native grasses”; OR “Plant resource economics”. Apply via WSU Online Portal. Eligibility and other key info here: wrightlab.wordpress.com/news/

Fabulous #PhD project opportunity on #Eucalypt diversity - super interesting project plus you get to work with the truly amazing Laura Williams

🌿 Eucalypt Australia is offering research grants of up to $50K to advance knowledge of eucalypts.

1-year ($25K) or 2-year ($50K) projects supported.
Open to Australia-based researchers with a strong track record.

Apply by Tues 12 Aug eucalyptaustralia.org.au/grants/
#LoveAGum #ozplants

Using in situ microrefugia to safeguard stringybark eucalypts from hot droughts Facilitating species persistence under climate change is a pressing issue. Refugia, places where the impacts of climate change may be less severe, can constitute the only option for in situ persisten...

How can we save threatened forests from climate change? Refugia can be an answer, but we need to monitor their effectiveness - Our paper out now, on whether topography is effectively buffering the vulnerable Red Stringybark eucalypt 🟥🌳 from hot droughts in South Australia 👉🏻 doi.org/10.1111/csp2...

#ESAus2025 abstracts are due this Friday! If you research vegetation #dieback, consider submitting to the 'Beyond the Brink–Navigating vegetation dieback and climate-succession' symposium chaired by Cal Bryant and @bmedlyn.bsky.social.

🧪🌏 #WildOz #ecology #ClimateChange

Symposium description:

Alpine forests face collapse without urgent reforestation, say scientists Bushfires and a lack of seed have created a "ticking time bomb" in Victoria's alpine and mountain ash forests, scientists are warning.

"It isn't that the alarm bells are about to ring. They already have & if these last 2 fires are not enough to scare the pants off you, I don't know what is."

VIC's mountain forests are on the brink of collapse due to frequent bushfires & lack of regeneration support.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06...

#oneforjournalclub

Long-leaved Box (Eucalyptus goniocalyx) Long-leaved Box from Arapiles VIC 3409, Australia on April 20, 2025 by Aaron Midson. Canopy browning on top of mt Arapiles (Durrite)

Cam, this is from the #DeadTreeDetective project on #inaturalist, near Arapiles. Would love to get more records from Victoria to map occurrence of canopy dieback
www.inaturalist.org/observations...