Ms Nathalie Long
PhD student
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Nathalie Long in the field
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French student Nathalie Long is using carbon isotope
discrimination to consider genetic variability in Eucalyptus
globulus as part of her PhD project at Murdoch University.
After completing her undergraduate studies, Nathalie undertook
one year of specialised training in plant physiology followed by a
masters degree in ecophysiology at the University of Sciences of
Montpellier (France). During her masters degree, Nathalie visited
Australia twice to work with Prof. Bernie Dell at Murdoch
University on two separate projects: a three-month study of the
response of Banksia species to waterlogging and a five-month
investigation of the effect of ectomyccorhizal fungi inoculation on
the physiology and growth of Eucalyptus gomphocephala.
Nathalie enjoyed working in Australia so much that she jumped at
the chance of a PhD project in plant physiology with the CRC for
Forestry. Nathalie started her PhD in September 2007 within Project
1.2.1 and is working in collaboration with scientists from Murdoch
University and CSIRO.
Nathalie’s project focuses on the trade-off between carbon
gain and water loss—water-use efficiency (WUE)—in
Eucalyptus globulus plantations. WUE is closely related to
stomatal aperture and conductance which in turn affect the ratio of
carbon isotopes used by the leaf in photosynthesis and ultimately
as carbohydrate. Consequently, the ratios of two different
isotopes, 12C and 13C, can be used to
estimate average stomatal behaviour over time and this is then
considered an indicator of WUE at a tree scale.
Nathalie is using a stable carbon isotope discrimination
technique to determine differences in the WUE of E.
globulus genotypes from different geographical origins.
Nathalie hopes to determine how useful and accurate carbon isotope
discrimination techniques are as an indicator for WUE in a forestry
context. More broadly, Nathalie intends to answer the question of
whether or not a physiological indicator of WUE could be used in
breeding programs to secure forest productivity in potentially
drying environments.
In Nathalie’s project, other measurements at a leaf level
(such as water potential, stomatal conductance, photosynthesis and
transpiration) and at a tree level (such as sapflow and growth)
will also form part of the experimental program. Nathalie will
consider differences in WUE at both provenance and family levels
and consider the relative advantages of using structural and
current carbohydrate for the carbon isotope analyses.
Nathalie is based at CSIRO in
Floreat Park, Western Australia and is supervised by Prof. Bernie
Dell (Murdoch University), Dr Don White
(CSIRO) and Dr Paul Drake (Murdoch University & CSIRO).
This research is funded by the CRC for Forestry.
