You are here: Home / Faculty of Agriculture and Environment / Staff / Find a staff member

Dr Tarryn Turnbull

Summary

I work out in the bush on Australian native plants; examining physical, structural and physiological mechanisms they employ to grow in our dry, bright environment.

Research interests

My research interests include:

  • Assessing the ubiquity of photosynthetically active radiation (Q) being only ‘visible light’ amongst plants of different life forms;
  • Determining what physiological traits a plant must exhibit in order to use wavelengths not included in Q for photosynthesis;
  • Quantifying carbon gain and water loss by eucalypts as they regenerate from fire by sprouting – influence of tree and leaf structure;
  • Examining the influence of structural and physiological features on within-leaf light environment and photosynthesis.

Background

I have Bachelor degrees in Forest Science (Hons) and Science from the University of Melbourne (1999). After working as a Forest Ecologist for a couple of years I returned to the UoM to complete a PhD titled “Photosynthetic responses to light, nitrogen, phosphorus and pruning of Eucalyptus in south-eastern Australia” under the supervision of Mark Adams and Charlie Warren (2006). I have been a plant physiologist since then, first as a post-doc at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and now as a Research Fellow in Ecophysiology at the University of Sydney.

I have successfully co-supervised two Honours students at UNSW (both graduating with first-class honours) and am currently cosupervising two PhD students at the University of Sydney.

Recent publications

  • Merchant A, Buckley TN, Pfautsch S, Turnbull TL, Samsa G & Adams MA (2012) Site specific acclimation to short term environmental variation is reflected in leaf and phloem-sap carbon isotopic abundance of field grown Eucalyptus globulus (Labill). Physiologia Plantarum, 146: 448-459.
  • Buckley TN, Turnbull TL, Pfautsch S, Gharun M, Adams MA (2012) Differences in water use between mature and post-fire regrowth stands of subalpine Eucalyptus delegatensis R. Baker. Forest Ecology and Management, 270: 1-10.
  • Kruse J, Turnbull TL & Adams MA (2012) Disentangling respiratory acclimation and adaptation to growth temperature by Eucalyptus. New Phytologist, 195: 149-163.
  • Buckley TN, Turnbull TL & Adams MA (2012) Simple models for stomatal conductance derived from a process model: cross-validation against sap flux data. Plant Cell and Environment, 35: 1647-1662.
  • Pfautsch S, Keitel C, Turnbull TL, Braimbridge MJ, Wright TE, Simpson RR, O'Brien JA & Adams MA (2011) Diurnal patterns of water use in Eucalyptus victrix indicate pronounced desiccation-rehydration cycles despite unlimited water supply. Tree Physiology, 31: 1041-1051.
  • Buckley TN, Turnbull TL, Pfautsch S & Adams MA (2011) Nocturnal sap flow in Australian subalpine forests and woodlands is indicative of nocturnal transpiration and negatively correlated with soil moisture, Ecology and Evolution, vol 1: 435-450.
  • Turnbull TL, Warren CR & Adams MA (2007) Novel mannose-sequestration technique reveals variation in sub-cellular orthophosphate pools do not explain effects of P nutrition on photosynthesis in Eucalyptus globulus seedlings. New Phytologist 176, 849 - 861.
  • Turnbull TL, Kelly N, Adams MA & Warren CR (2007). Within-canopy nitrogen and photosynthetic gradients are unaffected by added fertiliser in field-grown Eucalyptus globulus. Tree Physiology 27, 1607-1617.
  • Turnbull TL, Adams MA & Warren CR (2007) Increased photosynthesis and metabolism after partially defoliating Eucalyptus globulus is not attributed to increased allocation of leaf nitrogen to photosynthetic enzymes or pigments. Tree Physiology 27, 1481 – 1492.

Contact

Email: