PhD: Building climate change resilience in cotton through translational physiology

This PhD project determines the impact of extreme climates on plant photosynthesis. It generates temperature dependency data, including biochemistry and physiology of CO2 assimilation. Differences in the photosynthesis of cotton species from different parts of the globe have been analysed under glasshouse and field conditions against climates of origin and selected modern cotton cultivars. Analysis has found differences in the optimum temperature for photosynthesis between these cotton species. The project has helped to develop predictive models to establish the value of any photosynthesis transformation.