[Ccb_faculty] Fwd: [Bpsfaculty] BPSC 250 Seminar Series: Dr. Exequiel Ezcurra-Wednesday, ​April 2nd ,2025

[Darrel Jenerette]

***This seminar will be an in-person seminar in the Genomics*
* Auditorium***

***Please note that the seminar series will start at 3:30 pm***

*Please join us for the BPSC 250 Series Spring 2025*


*Dr. Exequiel Ezcurra*
University of California, Riverside
[image: image.png]


*"Plant responses to anomalous heat and drought events in the Sonoran
Desert"*

*Abstract**: *A shift to further aridification in dry regions of the world
is ongoing and rapidly increasing in intensity, including in the biodiverse
Sonoran Desert of the southwest United States and northern Mexico. In addition
to experiencing over two-decades of drought, the Sonoran Desert is facing
anomalous heat events that are increasing in frequency, clearly manifested
in a record hot and dry period in 2020 through 2021. This talk evaluates
the impacts of the 2020-2021 mega-drought at three scales: (1) at a biome
level across the entirety of the Sonoran Desert based on meteorological
stations and a satellite-derived vegetation health index, (2) quantified
assessments of stress on columnar cacti and succulent-stem trees, and (3)
mechanistic responses of individual plants to extreme heat and
drought, and secondary
biotic stressors from insect attacks. Field-based assessments of columnar
cacti in the northern and southern portion of the Sonoran Desert show acute
plant stress, including epidermal decay (rapid onset of discolored
photosynthetic epidermis that leads to permanent photosynthetic dysfunction
and increased mortality). A more than three-fold increase in mortality of
giant cacti across the region relative to background levels occurred after
the megadrought. These landscape-wide impacts could reshape populations of
these iconic desert species and the communities that depend on them.



*Wednesday, April 2nd **,2025*
*3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.*

***BPSC social will start after the seminar at 4:30 in the Genomics lobby***



Best,

Caroline

*Caroline Benitez**|* Department Chair Assistant

UC Riverside, Botany and Plant Sciences

2118 Batchelor Hall *|* Riverside CA 92521

Phone:951.827.4619

E-mail: caroline.benitez at ucr.edu
_______________________________________________
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-- 
G. Darrel Jenerette
Director, Center for Conservation Biology
Professor, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences
University of California Riverside
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