Rosie Dunkley
PhD: Why are there so few C2 grasses?
Location: Lancaster University
Contact:
- Email: r.dunkley@lancaster.ac.uk
- Twitter: @dunkley_rosie
- Lancaster page: https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/lundgrenlab/dr-marjorie-r-lundgren/people/rosie-dunkley/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosa-dunkley-434251174/
I am a first year PhD Envision funded student in the Lundgren Lab at Lancaster University looking into C2 grasses. My project focuses on why, when C2 is posited as an intermediary evolutionary stage to C4, existence of C2 in grasses is apparently lacking. Using C13 isotoping, microscopy, field work and mapping, I hope to better understand C2 distribution and prevalence in global grasses.
I have worked in Science Communication and as the herbarium curator of Sheffield University herbarium where I curated and catalogued a collection of ~12,000 specimens. Previously, I graduated from the University of Sheffield with an integrated Masters in Plant Science with projects in C3 and C4 crop responses to elevated CO2, and grassland response to atmospheric pollution. Throughout my degree, I focused on plant responses to climate and global change and now hope to sway that focus toward future responses and possible methods to ameliorate global change considering the trajectory towards food insecurity and biodiversity loss.