讲座简介

How are physiological processes in trees—from leaves to stem rings—integrated, and can we capture this integration in a unified modelling framework? This lecture will explore how process representation, combined with optimality principles, can bridge leaf‑level gas exchange, xylem hydraulic transport, and stem ring formation. Drawing on recent advances in hydraulic vulnerability, phloem sucrose transport modelling, and the coordination between carbon uptake and water loss, the speaker will demonstrate how optimality assumptions offer a powerful lens for predicting tree structure–function coordination under water stress. The lecture will also discuss how embedding these mechanisms into next‑generation vegetation models can improve our ability to project forest resilience and mortality risk under intensifying drought and climate change.

主讲人简介：

Professor Maurizio Mencuccini is an ICREA Research Professor at the Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) in Spain, and Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He received his B.Sc. in Forestry in 1992 and his Ph.D. in Plant Environmental Biology in 1995, both from the University of Florence, Italy. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, USA. He joined the University of Edinburgh in 1997, where he rose through the ranks to become a Personal Chair in Forest Science in 2011. In 2012, he moved to Spain as an ICREA Research Professor and has since led a research group at CREAF. His research centres on forest carbon and water cycles, tree hydraulic architecture, phloem physiology, and drought‑induced mortality, with a strong emphasis on integrating field measurements, physiological modelling, and remote sensing. He has published over 250 peer‑reviewed papers in leading journals, including Nature, Science, and PNAS, and has been a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (top 1% in plant and animal sciences) since 2018. He is widely recognized among the top Italian scientists in the natural sciences. He currently serves as Editor‑in‑Chief of Tree Physiology, Associate Editor of Current Forestry Reports, and on the editorial boards of New Phytologist and Plant, Cell & Environment.