Biology subjects

Alcock, T. D.

Publications and source records attributed to Alcock, T. D..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Natural variation in the Arabidopsis thaliana root and shoot response to boron deficiency reveals sensitive and responsive phenes and phylogenetic and geographic clustering of boron efficiency adaptations

O_LIBoron (B) is an essential plant micronutrient with a crucial role in cell wall stability. To improve plant tolerance to suboptimal B-availability, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms plants have evolved to tolerate B-limited conditions. C_LIO_LIWe assessed temporal physiological, ionomic and molecular responses to B-deficiency across a diversity panel of 185 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. Plants were characterised in soil-substrate in an automated phenotyping system to track shoot performance, and on agar plates to track root traits. C_LIO_LIAccessions varied widely in their response to B-deficiency. Rosette area decreased by 50% under B-deficiency across all accessions on average but by less than 15% in B-efficient accessions alone. Most root traits suffered under B-deficiency but lateral root length increased in 20% of accessions. The B-uptake and B transporter expression response of B-efficient and B-inefficient accessions was similar, suggesting increased B-use rather than B-uptake efficiency in efficient accessions. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated enrichment of B-efficient accessions within a clade containing accessions originating from areas characterised as B-deficient. K-means clustering revealed increased lateral root length was associated with efficient shoot growth under B-deficiency. C_LIO_LIThe results demonstrate different response strategies to B-deficiency, indicating target traits to improve the performance of plants grown under B-limiting conditions. C_LI

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2021

More sustainable vegetable oil: balancing productivity with carbon storage opportunities

Intensive cultivation and post-harvest vegetable oil production stages are major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Variation between production systems and reporting disparity have resulted in discordance in previous emissions estimates. To assess systems-wide GHG implications of meeting increasing edible oil demand, we performed a unified re-analysis of life cycle input data from diverse oil palm, soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower production systems, from a saturating search of published literature. The resulting dataset reflects almost 6,000 producers in 38 countries, and is representative of over 74% of global vegetable oil production. Determination of the carbon cost of agricultural land occupation revealed that carbon storage potential drives variation in production GHG emissions, and indicates that expansion of production in low carbon storage potential land, whilst reforesting areas of high carbon storage potential, could reduce net GHG emissions whilst boosting productivity. Nevertheless, there remains considerable scope to improve sustainability within current production systems.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

A harmonised systems-wide re-analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from sunflower oil production

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is the largest source of vegetable oil in Europe and the fourth largest globally. Intensive cultivation and post-harvest steps contribute to global food-systems greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, variation between production systems and reporting disparity have resulted in discordance in previous emissions estimates. To assess systems-wide GHG implications of meeting increasing edible oil demand using sunflower, we performed a unified re-analysis of primary life cycle inventory data, representing 995 farms in 11 countries, from a saturating search of published literature. Total GHG emissions varied from 1.1 to 4.2 kg CO2-equivalent per kg oil across systems, 62% of which originated from cultivation. Major emissions sources included diesel- and fertiliser-use, with irrigation electricity contributing most to between-systems variation. Our harmonised, cross-study re-analysis not only enabled robust comparisons and identification of mitigation opportunities across sunflower oil production systems, but also lays the groundwork for comparisons between alternative oil crops.

plant biology↗