My research integrates plant anatomy, ecophysiology and root-to-leaf water transport to understand the mechanisms involved in a plant’s drought response. I started my work studying water transport in epiphytes native to Mexico’s dry forests. My current position as a PhD student in The Netherlands is part of an NWO-XL consortium, where I am investigating how increased lignification and wood formation in stems impact drought resilience in accessions of cabbage, tomato and Arabidopsis.
Keywords
Drought resistance, ecophysiology, plant hydraulics, stem lignification, wood formation.
Researchinterest
What are the key drought-associated traits in plants, and how do these traits differ in plants that show different levels of stem lignification?
Plants cannot run away when their environment becomes less favourable. We do know that plants develop multiple strategies to cope with drought stress. Having worked on epiphytes in the field, I now want to explore totally different species in a controlled growth chamber environment, allowing me to dive deeper into the mechanisms involved in one of the most life threatening events a plant can face, drought. I am interested in anatomical adaptations that enable plants to keep their root-to-shoot water transport pathway functional, especially under dry conditions that may lead to blockage of this long-distance water column causing drought-induced mortality.
Keypublications
- Reyes-García C., Pereira-Zaldívar N. A., Espadas-Manrique C., Tamayo-Chim M., Chilpa-Galván N., Cach-Pérez M. J., Ramírez-Medina M., Benavides A.M., Hietz P., Zotz G., Andrade J.L., Cardelús C., Oliveira R., Einzmann H. , Guzmán V., Krömer T., Pinzón J.P., Sarmento J., Wanek W. & Woods C. 2022. New Proposal of Epiphytic Bromeliaceae Functional Groups to Include Nebulophytes and Shallow Tanks. Plants 11: 3151.
- Reyes-García C., Pereira-Zaldívar N.A., Espadas-Manrique C., Tamayo-Chim M.,Chilpa-Galván N., Dorantes A., Ramírez-Medina M., Olguín L.G.E., Juárez L. & Jaramillo, M.G. 2022. Distribución de nuevos grupos funcionales de bromeliáceas epífitas en la Reserva de Calakmul, Campeche. Desde el herbario CICY 14: 246-255.
- Reyes-García C., Espadas-Manrique C., Dorantes A., CCach-Pérez M. J., Pereira-Zaldívar N.A., Orellana R. & Pinzón J.P. 2022. Las bromeliáceas epífitas ¿una fuente adicional de agua para vertebrados en selvas estacionales? Desde el herabrio CICY 14: 51-56.