Research

The overall objectives of my research program are as follows:

• To understand mechanisms of plant responses to both rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and tropospheric ozone, with particular reference to photosynthesis and relating changes at the molecular and biochemical level to observations of whole systems in the field;
• To understand crop responses to global atmospheric and climate change.
• Establish the potential of mitigation of atmospheric change through the development of herbaceous energy crops.
• Advance the development of accessible mechanistic mathematical models relating environmental effects on photosynthesis to plant productivity (see: http://www.life.uiuc.edu/plantbio/wimovac/).
• To understand the limitations to C₄ photosynthesis and the adaptation of the process to cooler climates.

My lab integrates molecular and biochemical studies with physiological studies of photosynthesis, using state-of-the-art and custom built gas-exchange, fluorescence and controlled environment instrumentation. Much of the work involves developing and testing hypotheses on plant environmental responses under controlled conditions and then testing these in large scale multi-partner field facilities. The field facilities that we are currently using are:

• The Smithsonian Institution/NASA elevated CO₂ chambers on the vegetation of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida;
• The US-Forest Service/Michigan Technical University FACTS-II open-air CO₂ and ozone fumigation experiment in Rhinelander, Wisconsin; and
• The European Union Free-air CO₂ field enrichment experiment (POPFACE) at Viterbo in Italy.

The International journal: Global Change Biology (Blackwell Science; see: http://www.blacksci.co.uk/products/journals/gcb.htm) is edited from my laboratory.

Teaching

• Crop Sciences 431 - Plants and Global Change
• Plant Biology 432 - Photosynthesis

Professional Experience

• 1975-1987 Lecturer in Environmental Physiology, University of Essex, England, UK (with tenure 1978)
• 1987-1988 Senior Lecturer in Environmental Physiology, University of Essex, England, UK
• 1988-1990 Reader in Environmental Physiology, University of Essex, England, UK
• 1990-1998 Professor (full) in Environmental Physiology and head of Environment Biology research group, University of Essex, England, UK
• 1999-present Robert Emerson Professor of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

OTHER APPOINTMENTS:

• Leader, Working Group 1, European Union, COST 819 European Shared Action on the Response of Pastoral Systems to Atmospheric Change. (Nov. 1995-)
• Chief Editor, Global Change Biology, Blackwell Scientific Publications (1994 - )
• Visiting Professor, Center for the Study of Early Events in Photosynthesis, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. (Jan. 1993-Apr. 1993)
• Visiting Scientist, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, USA (Jan. 1992-Apr. 1993)
• Editor, Plants and Climate Change Section of Plant Cell & Environment, Blackwell Scientific Publications (1989 - )
• Gastprofessor, Institute of Plant Physiology, University of Vienna. (2nd Semester 1989)
• Visiting Fellow, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. (May-August, 1989)
• Expert, International Atomic Energy Agency/F.A.O. Amazonia I Project, Manaus, Brazil. (March - April, 1989; Nov. - Dec., 1990)
• Assessor; U.S - D.o.E. Review of Research Programmes on the impacts of Rising Atmospheric CO2
• Concentrations, Washington DC: (May 1991)
• Expert, United Nations F.A.O., Sri Lanka. (Jan. - Feb. 1987)
• Expert, United Nations Environment Programme, H.Q. Nairobi, Kenya. (Sept. 1982; April, 1985; Dec., 1987)
• Visiting Lecturer and Advisor for British Council, Department of Botany, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, India (July - Sept. 1979)

Education

• B.Sc.: Agricultural Botany, Reading University, England - 1972
• Ph.D.: Plant Sciences, Leeds University, England - 1976

Selected Publications

• Long S.P., Ainsworth E.A., Leakey A.D.B., Nosberger J. & Ort D.R. (2006) Food for thought: Lower-than-expected crop yield stimulation with rising CO₂ concentrations. Science, 312, 1918-1921.
• Long S.P., Ainsworth E.A., Leakey A.D.B., Ort D.R., Nosberger J. & Schimel D. (2007) Crop models, CO₂, and climate change - Response. Science, 315, 460-460.
• Ainsworth E.A., Davey P.A., Bernacchi C.J., Dermody O.C., Heaton E.A., Moore D.J., Morgan P.B., Naidu S.L., Ra H.S.Y., Zhu X.G., Curtis P.S. & Long S.P. (2002) A meta-analysis of elevated [CO₂] effects on soybean (Glycine max) physiology, growth and yield. Global Change Biology, 8, 695-709.
• Ainsworth E.A., Davey P.A., Hymus G.J., Drake B.G. & Long S.P. (2002) Long-term response of photosynthesis to elevated carbon dioxide in a Florida scrub-oak ecosystem. Ecological Applications, 12, 1267-1275.
• Ainsworth E.A. & Long S.P. (2005) What have we learned from 15 years of free-air CO₂ enrichment (FACE)? A meta-analytic review of the responses of photosynthesis, canopy. New Phytologist, 165, 351-371.
• Ainsworth E.A., Rogers A., Blum H., Nosberger J. & Long S.P. (2003) Variation in acclimation of photosynthesis in Trifolium repens after eight years of exposure to Free Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE). Journal Of Experimental Botany, 54, 2769-2774.
• Ainsworth E.A., Rogers A., Nelson R. & Long S.P. (2004) Testing the "source-sink" hypothesis of down-regulation of photosynthesis in elevated [CO₂] in the field with single gene substitutions in Glycine max. Agricultural And Forest Meteorology, 122, 85-94.
• Ainsworth E.A., Tranel P.J., Drake B.G. & Long S.P. (2003) The clonal structure of Quercus geminata revealed by conserved microsatellite loci. Molecular Ecology, 12, 527-532.
• Bernacchi C.J., Calfapietra C., Davey P.A., Wittig V.E., Scarascia-Mugnozza G.E., Raines C.A. & Long S.P. (2003) Photosynthesis and stomatal conductance responses of poplars to free-air CO₂ enrichment (PopFACE) during the first growth cycle and immediately following coppice. New Phytologist, 159, 609-621.
• Bernacchi C.J., Kimball B.A., Quarles D.R., Long S.P. & Ort D.R. (2007) Decreases in stomatal conductance of soybean under open-air elevation of [CO₂] are closely coupled with decreases in ecosystem evapotranspiration. Plant Physiology, 143, 134-144.
• Bernacchi C.J., Leakey A.D.B., Heady L.E., Morgan P.B., Dohleman F.G., McGrath J.M., Gillespie K.M., Wittig V.E., Rogers A., Long S.P. & Ort D.R. (2006) Hourly and seasonal variation in photosynthesis and stomatal conductance of soybean grown at future CO₂ and ozone concentrations for 3 years under fully open-air field conditions. Plant Cell And Environment, 29, 2077-2090.
• Bernacchi C.J., Morgan P.B., Ort D.R. & Long S.P. (2005) The growth of soybean under free air [CO₂] enrichment (FACE) stimulates photosynthesis while decreasing in vivo Rubisco capacity. Planta, 220, 434-446.
• Bernacchi C.J., Pimentel C. & Long S.P. (2003) In vivo temperature response functions of parameters required to model RuBP-limited photosynthesis. Plant Cell And Environment, 26, 1419-1430.
• Bernacchi C.J., Portis A.R., Nakano H., von Caemmerer S. & Long S.P. (2002) Temperature response of mesophyll conductance. Implications for the determination of Rubisco enzyme kinetics and for limitations to photosynthesis in vivo. Plant Physiology, 130, 1992-1998.
• Davey P.A., Hunt S., Hymus G.J., DeLucia E.H., Drake B.G., Karnosky D.F. & Long S.P. (2004) Respiratory oxygen uptake is not decreased by an instantaneous elevation of [CO₂], but is increased with long-term growth in the field at elevated [Co-2](1). Plant Physiology, 134, 520-527.
• Davey P.A., Olcer H., Zakhleniuk O., Bernacchi C.J., Calfapietra C., Long S.P. & Raines C.A. (2006) Can fast-growing plantation trees escape biochemical down-regulation of photosynthesis when grown throughout their complete production cycle in the open air under elevated carbon dioxide? Plant Cell And Environment, 29, 1235-1244.
• Dermody O., Long S.P. & DeLucia E.H. (2006) How does elevated CO₂ or ozone affect the leaf-area index of soybean when applied independently? New Phytologist, 169, 145-155.
• Farage P.K., Blowers D., Long S.P. & Baker N.R. (2006) Low growth temperatures modify the efficiency of light use by photosystem II for CO₂ assimilation in leaves of two chilling-tolerant C-4 species, Cyperus longus L. and Miscanthus x giganteus. Plant Cell And Environment, 29, 720-728.
• Geider R.J., Delucia E.H., Falkowski P.G., Finzi A.C., Grime J.P., Grace J., Kana T.M., La Roche J., Long S.P., Osborne B.A., Platt T., Prentice I.C., Raven J.A., Schlesinger W.H., Smetacek V., Stuart V., Sathyendranath S., Thomas R.B., Vogelmann T.C., Williams P. & Woodward F.I. (2001) Primary productivity of planet earth: biological determinants and physical constraints in terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Global Change Biology, 7, 849-882.
• Gielen B., Calfapietra C., Lukac M., Wittig V.E., De Angelis P., Janssens I.A., Moscatelli M.C., Grego S., Cotrufo M.F., Godbold D.L., Hoosbeek M.R., Long S.P., Miglietta F., Polle A., Bernacchi C.J., Davey P.A., Ceulemans R. & Scarascia-Mugnozza G.E. (2005) Net carbon storage in a poplar plantation (POPFACE) after three years of free-air CO₂ enrichment. Tree Physiology, 25, 1399-1408.
• Heaton E., Voigt T. & Long S.P. (2004) A quantitative review comparing the yields of two candidate C-4 perennial biomass crops in relation to nitrogen, temperature and water. Biomass & Bioenergy, 27, 21-30.
• Hymus G.J., Baker N.R. & Long S.P. (2001) Growth in elevated CO₂ can both increase and decrease photochemistry and photoinhibition of photosynthesis in a predictable manner. Dactylis glomerata grown in two levels of nitrogen nutrition. Plant Physiology, 127, 1204-1211.
• Hymus G.J., Dijkstra P., Baker N.R., Drake B.G. & Long S.P. (2001) Will rising CO₂ protect plants from the midday sun? A study of photoinhibition of Quercus myrtifolia in a scrub-oak community in two seasons. Plant Cell And Environment, 24, 1361-1368.
• Leakey A.D.B., Bernacchi C.J., Dohleman F.G., Ort D.R. & Long S.P. (2004) Will photosynthesis of maize (Zea mays) in the US Corn Belt increase in future [CO₂] rich atmospheres? An analysis of diurnal courses of CO₂ uptake under free-air concentration enrichment (FACE). Global Change Biology, 10, 951-962.
• Leakey A.D.B., Bernacchi C.J., Ort D.R. & Long S.P. (2006) Long-term growth of soybean at elevated [CO₂] does not cause acclimation of stomatal conductance under fully open-air conditions. Plant Cell And Environment, 29, 1794-1800.
• Leakey A.D.B., Uribelarrea M., Ainsworth E.A., Naidu S.L., Rogers A., Ort D.R. & Long S.P. (2006) Photosynthesis, productivity, and yield of maize are not affected by open-air elevation of CO₂ concentration in the absence of drought. Plant Physiology, 140, 779-790.
• Long S.P., Ainsworth E.A., Leakey A.D.B. & Morgan P.B. (2005) Global food insecurity. Treatment of major food crops with elevated carbon dioxide or ozone under large-scale fully open-air conditions suggests recent models may have overestimated future yields. Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 360, 2011-2020.
• Long S.P., Ainsworth E.A., Rogers A. & Ort D.R. (2004) Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide: Plants face the future. Annual Review Of Plant Biology, 55, 591-628.
• Long S.P. & Bernacchi C.J. (2003) Gas exchange measurements, what can they tell us about the underlying limitations to photosynthesis? Procedures and sources of error. Journal Of Experimental Botany, 54, 2393-2401.
• Long S.P., Zhu X.G., Naidu S.L. & Ort D.R. (2006) Can improvement in photosynthesis increase crop yields? Plant Cell And Environment, 29, 315-330.
• Mason C.F., Underwood G.J.C., Baker N.R., Davey P.A., Davidson I., Hanlon G., Long S.P., Oxborough K., Paterson D.M. & Watson A. (2003) The role of herbicides in the erosion of salt marshes in eastern England. Environmental Pollution, 122, 41-49.
• McKee I.F. & Long S.P. (2001) Plant growth regulators control ozone damage to wheat yield. New Phytologist, 152, 41-51.
• McLeod A.R. & Long S.P. (1999) Free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) in global change research: A review. In: Advances In Ecological Research, Vol 28, pp. 1-56.
• Miyazaki S., Fredricksen M., Hollis K.C., Poroyko V., Shepley D., Galbraith D.W., Long S.P. & Bohnert H.J. (2004) Transcript expression profiles of Arabidopsis thaliana grown under controlled conditions and open-air elevated concentrations of CO₂ and of O-3. Field Crops Research, 90, 47-59.
• Morgan P.B., Ainsworth E.A. & Long S.P. (2003) How does elevated ozone impact soybean? A meta-analysis of photosynthesis, growth and yield. Plant Cell And Environment, 26, 1317-1328.
• Morgan P.B., Bernacchi C.J., Ort D.R. & Long S.P. (2004) An in vivo analysis of the effect of season-long open-air elevation of ozone to anticipated 2050 levels on photosynthesis in soybean. Plant Physiology, 135, 2348-2357.
• Morgan P.B., Bollero G.A., Nelson R.L., Dohleman F.G. & Long S.P. (2005) Smaller than predicted increase in aboveground net primary production and yield of field-grown soybean under fully open-air [CO₂] elevation. Global Change Biology, 11, 1856-1865.
• Morgan P.B., Mies T.A., Bollero G.A., Nelson R.L. & Long S.P. (2006) Season-long elevation of ozone concentration to projected 2050 levels under fully open-air conditions substantially decreases the growth and production of soybean. New Phytologist, 170, 333-343.
• Naidu S.L. & Long S.P. (2004) Potential mechanisms of low-temperature tolerance of C-4 photosynthesis in Miscanthus x giganteus: an in vivo analysis. Planta, 220, 145-155.
• Naidu S.L., Moose S.P., Al-Shoaibi A.K., Raines C.A. & Long S.P. (2003) Cold tolerance of C-4 photosynthesis in Miscanthus x giganteus: Adaptation in amounts and sequence of C-4 photosynthetic enzymes. Plant Physiology, 132, 1688-1697.
• Pimentel C., Davey P.A., Juvik J.A. & Long S.P. (2005) Gene loci in maize influencing susceptibility to chilling dependent photoinhibition of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis Research, 85, 319-326.
• Rogers A., Allen D.J., Davey P.A., Morgan P.B., Ainsworth E.A., Bernacchi C.J., Cornic G., Dermody O., Dohleman F.G., Heaton E.A., Mahoney J., Zhu X.G., Delucia E.H., Ort D.R. & Long S.P. (2004) Leaf photosynthesis and carbohydrate dynamics of soybeans grown throughout their life-cycle under Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment. Plant Cell And Environment, 27, 449-458.
• Rogers A., Gibon Y., Stitt M., Morgan P.B., Bernacchi C.J., Ort D.R. & Long S.P. (2006) Increased C availability at elevated carbon dioxide concentration improves N assimilation in a legume. Plant Cell And Environment, 29, 1651-1658.
• Schroeder J.B., Gray M.E., Ratcliffe S.T., Estes R.E. & Long S.P. (2006) Effects of elevated Co-2 and O-3 on a variant of the western corn rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Environmental Entomology, 35, 637-644.
• Wall G.W., Garcia R.L., Kimball B.A., Hunsaker D.J., Pinter P.J., Long S.P., Osborne C.P., Hendrix D.L., Wechsung F., Wechsung G., Leavitt S.W., LaMorte R.L. & Idso S.B. (2006) Interactive effects of elevated carbon dioxide and drought on wheat. Agronomy Journal, 98, 354-381.
• Wittig V.E., Bernacchi C.J., Zhu X.G., Calfapietra C., Ceulemans R., Deangelis P., Gielen B., Miglietta F., Morgan P.B. & Long S.P. (2005) Gross primary production is stimulated for three Populus species grown under free-air CO₂ enrichment from planting through canopy closure. Global Change Biology, 11, 644-656.
• Zhu X.G., Govindjee, Baker N.R., deSturler E., Ort D.R. & Long S.P. (2005) Chlorophyll a fluorescence induction kinetics in leaves predicted from a model describing each discrete step of excitation energy and electron transfer associated with photosystem II. Planta, 223, 114-133.
• Zhu X.G., Ort D.R., Whitmarsh J. & Long S.P. (2004) The slow reversibility of photosystem II thermal energy dissipation on transfer from high to low light may cause large losses in carbon gain by crop canopies: a theoretical analysis. Journal Of Experimental Botany, 55, 1167-1175.
• Zhu X.G., Portis A.R. & Long S.P. (2004) Would transformation of C-3 crop plants with foreign Rubisco increase productivity? A computational analysis extrapolating from kinetic properties to canopy photosynthesis. Plant Cell And Environment, 27, 155-165.

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