Lucas A. Cernusak

Abstract

What inspired your interest in plant science?

From a young age, I enjoyed spending time in and around trees and forests. I always liked being in the three-dimensional space created by forests and looking up to see what all the individual tree canopies were doing, how they were organised, and how they differed from each other. I was lucky to have parents who appreciated hiking and camping and being in the outdoors. Growing up in Idaho, USA, we often visited the conifer forests of the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains. After completing an undergraduate degree in biology, I wanted to take the general background that I had learned and focus more on forest ecosystem science, which eventually led me to tree physiology. When I started to learn about the important role that forests play in the earth system, and how they contribute to the global carbon cycle, it cemented my desire to understand more about their functioning and how their behaviour could change in response to human activities.