Dr Florian Busch PhD

Dr Florian Busch

School of Biosciences
Associate Professor in Plant Physiology

Contact details

Email
f.a.busch@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
Address
School of Biosciences
黑料吃瓜网
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Florian Busch is a theoretical and experimental plant physiologist interested in all aspects of photosynthesis. His focus is on linking different photosynthetic processes with mathematical models to study the biochemical limitations of carbon fixation and to gain a quantitative understanding of how plant carbon uptake responds to changes in the environment.

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Qualifications

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, 黑料吃瓜网, 2023

PhD in Plant Biology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2008

Biography

Florian obtained his PhD in 2008 from the Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, during which time he worked closely with Dr Norm Hüner at Western University in London, Canada. After several years of post-doctoral work with Dr Rowan Sage at the University of Toronto, Canada he moved to the Australian National University to first work as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr Susanne von Caemmerer and later as a Research Fellow with Dr Graham Farquhar. He took up a position of Lecturer at the School of Biosciences in 2020 and was promoted to his current position of Associate Professor in 2023.

Teaching

Florian contributes to several undergraduate modules, including:

  • LC Ecological Concepts and Plant Science
  • LC Chemistry for Biochemists I
  • LI Critical Issues for 21st Century Ecosystems
  • LI Alpine and Glacial Ecology in Norway
  • LM Research Techniques in Molecular Biology

Postgraduate supervision

If you are interested in working with Florian on the physiology of photosynthesis should contact him directly via email (f.a.busch@bham.ac.uk).

Research

Florian is a plant physiologist with a focus on studying physiological mechanisms related to photosynthesis. His research is guided by his interest in understanding on a mechanistic level how plants utilize available resources, such as light, water, CO2, and nutrients, and how they convert these resources to carbohydrates and ultimately plant biomass. This is not only interesting from the perspective of pure knowledge gain, but also has important consequences for society, which relies on harvested plant biomass for their food supply. In this field, his main focus of research is linking the biophysical processes of light harvesting and the properties of leaf-level CO2 diffusion with the biochemical processes of CO2 and nitrogen assimilation.

Work done in the Busch lab is based on two pillars: describing our current understanding of plant function by mathematical models and testing these models experimentally. In combination, they are a powerful tool to identify where our understanding is incomplete and to generate new hypotheses that help fill the gaps in our knowledge. While empirical models may yield accurate predictions of the magnitude of an effect, mechanistic models can be used to elucidate the drivers of an observed effect and can help answer the question why a plant behaves the way it does. The goal of our research is to deepen our understanding of how plant productivity relates to environmental factors and stresses. This understanding is an essential prerequisite to improving crop productivity in the face of population growth and global change.

To achieve this goal, Florian has developed novel measurement techniques (e.g. one to measure the notoriously difficult-to-estimate flux of photorespiration), designed and refined tools to analyse and experimental data (e.g. a new model to interpret carbon isotope discrimination signatures) and developed new mathematical models connecting biochemical processes in the leaf (e.g. linking photorespiration with nitrogen assimilation).

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Leung, A, Patel, R, Chirachon, V, Stata, M, Macfarlane, TD, Ludwig, M, Busch, FA, Sage, TL & Sage, RF 2024, '', Plant, Cell and Environment, vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 3541-3560.

M谩rquez, DA & Busch, FA 2024, '', Plant, Cell and Environment, vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 3393-3410.

Wu, A, Brider, J, Busch, FA, Chen, M, Chenu, K, Clarke, VC, Collins, B, Ermakova, M, Evans, JR, Farquhar, GD, Forster, B, Furbank, RT, Groszmann, M, Hernandez鈥怭rieto, MA, Long, BM, Mclean, G, Potgieter, A, Price, GD, Sharwood, RE, Stower, M, Oosterom, EV, Caemmerer, SV, Whitney, SM & Hammer, GL 2022, '', Plant, Cell and Environment, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 23-44.

Marquez, D, Stuart-Williams, H, Farquhar, GD & Busch, F 2022, '', New Phytologist, vol. 233, no. 1, pp. 156-168.

Brookhouse, MT, Bush, D, Ivkovich, M, Busch, F, Farquhar, GD & Pinkard, E 2022, '', Tree Genetics & Genomes, vol. 18, no. 2, 16.

Ely, KS, Rogers, A, Agarwal, DA, Ainsworth, EA, Albert, LP, Ali, A, Anderson, J, Aspinwall, MJ, Bellasio, C, Bernacchi, C, Bonnage, S, Buckley, TN, Bunce, J, Burnett, AC, Busch, FA, Cavanagh, A, Cernusak, LA, Crystal-Ornelas, R, Damerow, J, Davidson, KJ, Kauwe, MGD, Dietze, MC, Domingues, TF, Dusenge, ME, Ellsworth, DS, Evans, JR, Gauthier, PPG, Gimenez, BO, Gordon, EP, Gough, CM, Halbritter, AH, Hanson, DT, Heskel, M, Hogan, JA, Hupp, JR, Jardine, K, Kattge, J, Keenan, T, Kromdijk, J, Kumarathunge, DP, Lamour, J, Leakey, ADB, LeBauer, DS, Li, Q, Lundgren, MR, McDowell, N, Meacham-Hensold, K, Medlyn, BE, Moore, DJP, Negr贸n-Ju谩rez, R, Niinemets, 脺, Osborne, CP, Pivovaroff, AL, Poorter, H, Reed, SC, Ryu, Y, Sanz-Saez, A, Schmiege, SC, Serbin, SP, Sharkey, TD, Slot, M, Smith, NG, Sonawane, BV, South, PF, Souza, DC, Stinziano, JR, Stuart-Ha毛ntjens, E, Taylor, SH, Tejera, MD, Uddling, J, Vandvik, V, Varadharajan, C, Walker, AP, Walker, BJ, Warren, JM, Way, DA, Wolfe, BT, Wu, J, Wullschleger, SD, Xu, C, Yan, Z & Yang, D 2021, '', Ecological Informatics, vol. 61, 101232.

Peixoto, MDM, Sage, TL, Busch, FA, Pacheco, HDN, Moraes, MG, Portes, TA, Almeida, RA, Graciano鈥怰ibeiro, D & Sage, RF 2021, '', GCB Bioenergy, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 941-954.

Yin, X, Busch, FA, Struik, PC & Sharkey, TD 2021, '', Plant, Cell and Environment, vol. 44, no. 9, pp. 2811-2837.

Hotto, AM, Salesse-Smith, C, Lin, M, Busch, FA, Simpson, I & Stern, DB 2021, '', Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 72, no. 13, 4930鈥�4937, pp. 4930-4937.

Chapter

Busch, FA 2024, . in S Covshoff (ed.), Photosynthesis: Methods and Protocols. 2 edn, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2790, Humana Press, pp. 41-61.

Walker, BJ, Driever, SM, Kromdijk, J, Lawson, T & Busch, FA 2024, . in S Covshoff (ed.), Photosynthesis: Methods and Protocols. 2 edn, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2790, Humana Press, pp. 1-26.

Ubierna, N, Holloway-Phillips, MM, Wingate, L, Og茅e, J, Busch, FA & Farquhar, GD 2024, . in S Covshoff (ed.), Photosynthesis: Methods and Protocols. 2 edn, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2790, Humana Press, pp. 163-211.

Editorial

Ludwig, M, Busch, F, Khoshravesh, R & Covshoff, S 2021, '', Frontiers in Plant Science, vol. 12, 774818, pp. 774818.

Review article

Marquez, D, Gardner, A & Busch, F 2025, '', Plant Ecophysiology, vol. 1, no. 1, 2.

Busch, FA, Ainsworth, EA, Amtmann, A, Cavanagh, AP, Driever, SM, Ferguson, JN, Kromdijk, J, Lawson, T, Leakey, ADB, Matthews, JSA, Meacham鈥怘ensold, K, Vath, RL, Vialet鈥怌habrand, S, Walker, BJ & Papanatsiou, M 2024, '', Plant, Cell and Environment, vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 3344-3364.