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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Global Change and Photosynthesis Research » People » Carl Bernacchi

Carl J Bernacchi

Plant Physiologist

Environmental Physiology and Global Change

Global change has had a tremendous impact on vegetation and future changes are going to drive even greater impacts.  We work to address the feedbacks between vegetation and climate in a changing environment.  We address many issues related to global change, including rising CO2, rising tropospheric O3, increasing temperatures, drought, and land-use change.  Investigations into other global change factors are encouraged by current and future lab members.  We focus on measurements ranging from the biochemical level to the level of the whole ecosystem including any scale in between.  Our investigations include agricultural species typical of the Midwestern U.S. and species specifically utilized for cellulosic biofuel production, including Miscanthus, switchgrass, native prairies, and sugarcane.  Our research is currently conducted at SoyFACE, the EBI Energy Farm, Ameriflux, and in the USDA-ARS laboratory.