ProfessorBruce Osborne

I am involved in a diverse range of plant and environmentally-related research, including symbioses and symbiotic interactions, encompassing work at cell, leaf , whole plant, canopy and ecosystem scales. Recent research has focussed on environmental constraints on biomass productivity and carbon sequestration in natural and agricultural ecosystems, including forests, as well as investigations on global climate change and mitigation options in croplands. Other work has been directed at the biology and ecology of invasive plant species, including the impact of climate change. My group has also had a long-standing interest in the biology of the Gunnera-Nostoc association the only angiosperm-cyanobacterial nitrogen-fixing symbioses. Recent Research Projects Sponsor: COFORD Title: Carbon Sequestration by Irish forest Ecosystems (PI) Start Date: 1-JAN-08 Sponsor: EPA Title: Accounting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Different Land Use Types (co-PI) Start Date: 1-JAN-03 Sponsor: EPA Title: The Impact of two Invasive Species on Biodiversity and their Interaction with Climate Change (partner) Start Date: 1-OCT-06 Sponsor: EPA Title: Significance of Dissolved Carbon Losses in Different Land Use Types (PI) Start Date: 1-OCT-06 Sponsor: EU Title: Assessment of the European Terrestrial Carbon Balance (partner) Start Date: 1-JAN-04 Sponsor: Heritage Council/Mayo County Council Title: Development of Measures for the Control of Gunnera tinctoria (PI) Start Date: 6-JUNE-06 Sponsor: Department of Agriculture and Food Title: Assessing the Greenhouse Gas Budget of Eco-Tillage and other Mitigation Options for Arable Systems (partner) Start Date: 1-APRIL-08 Sponsor: Department of Agriculture and Food Title: Assessing the Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Establishing Biomass and Biofuel Crops (partner) Start Date: 1-APRIL-08 Sponsor: Department of Agriculture and Food Title: Use of Maize as a Multi-Functional Crop (partner) Start Date: 1-DEC-07 Sponsor: School Research Demonstratorship Award Title: Molecular genetics of native and invasive populations of Gunnera tinctoria (coPI) Start Date: 1-SEPT-05 Sponsor: School Research Demonstratorship Award Title: Soil respiration from different land use types Start date: 1-SEPT-04 I have, additionally, a small grant from the Finnish academy and am Project Coordinator/Institutional PI on the Marie Curie MASS-EXTINCT project, Biodiversity Dynamics at the Triassic-Jurassic Mass Extinction Event (200 million years ago): a Novel Approach to Studying Ecosystem Responses to Global Climate Change, led by Jenny McElwain. Current research funding is ~€3million Currently funded research projects are largely based on ecosystem processes and greenhouse gas emissions related to croplands, forests and bioenergy crops, including the impact of management interventions. We are also developing new models for improving the likely spread of invasive plant species. In recent years we have continued our forest GHG monitoring and mitigation research and developed the site at Dooary into a research platform complete with laboratory facilities. Climate warming experiments were also established in 2013 as well as new HEA-supported infrastructure for assesments of GHG emissions and sap flow in trees. Our work on sustainable cropping systems has also continued with a new project (2013-) on oil seed rape cropping systems. In collaboration with the Geology school we have also established a new field site on a coastal ecosystem to examine the impact of extreme rainfall events on GHG emissions (2012-).