Ursula Melissa Ruiz Vera

• Plant Biology Data Scientist
• PostDoc Position at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Chlorophyll is the major light‐absorbing pigment for plant photosynthesis. While evolution has been selected for high chlorophyll content in leaves, previous work suggests that domesticated crops grown in modern high‐density agricultural environments overinvest in chlorophyll production, thereby lowering light use and nitrogen use efficiency. To in...

Global temperatures are rising from increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere associated with anthropogenic activities. Global warming includes a warmer shift in mean temperatures as well as increases in the probability of extreme heating events, termed heat waves. Despite the ability of plants to cope with temporal variations...

This study explores the soil carbon efflux and pasture growth during summer-fall and winter-spring in two different years based on field and lysimeter experiments. Soil respiration, soil and air temperatures, leaf photosynthesis, plant dry weight, and leaf area index are quantified to characterize the influence of seasonality in the Brachiaria grow...

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) production will need to be improved to meet future food demands in Sub‐Saharan Africa. The selection of high‐yielding cassava cultivars requires a better understanding of storage root development. Additionally, since future production will happen under increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations ([CO2]), cultivar se...

Chlorophyll is the major light absorbing pigment for plant photosynthesis. While evolution has selected for higher chlorophyll content in leaves, previous work suggests that domesticated crops grown in modern agricultural environments overinvest in chlorophyll production thereby lowering light use and nitrogen use efficiency. To investigate the pot...

In this study, four tobacco transformants with the overexpression of inorganic carbon transporter B (ictB) were screened for photosynthetic performance relative to wild-type (WT) in field-based conditions. The WT and transgenic tobacco plants were evaluated for photosynthetic performance to determine the maximum rate of carboxylation (Vc,max), maxi...

Cassava has the potential to alleviate food insecurity in many tropical regions, yet few breeding efforts to increase yield have been made. Improved photosynthetic efficiency in cassava has the potential to increase yields, but cassava roots must have sufficient sink strength to prevent carbohydrates from accumulating in leaf tissue and suppressing...

Film-forming polymer technologies can contribute to insect-pest control by causing adverse effects directly to insects such as slowing development, causing mortality, and/or indirectly as a spray ingredient that improves pesticide efficacy by resisting environmental degradation such as wash-off by rain. Amylose complexes produced from either fatty...

This study explores the effect of seasonality on soil carbon efflux and pasture growth based on field and lysimeter experiments during summer-fall and winter-spring in two years. Focus is also pointed on irrigation strategies to alleviate the crop response to seasonal fluctuations in precipitation and surface temperatures. Soil respiration, soil an...

Increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations ([CO2]) and surface temperature are known to individually have effects on crop development and yield but their interactive effects have not been adequately investigated under field conditions. We evaluated the impacts of elevated [CO2] with and without canopy warming as a function of development in soybea...

Down-regulation of photosynthesis is among the most common responses observed in C3 plants grown under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]). Down-regulation is often attributed to an insufficient capacity of sink organs to use or store the increased carbohydrate production that results from the stimulation of photosynthesis by elevated [C...

Predictions suggest that current crop production needs to double by 2050 to meet global food and energy demands. Based on theory and experimental studies, overexpression of the photosynthetic enzyme sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase (SBPase) is expected to enhance C3 crop photosynthesis and yields. Here we test how expression of the cyanobacterial,...

Stimulation of C3 crop yield by rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide ([CO2]) is widely expected to counteract crop losses that are due to greater drought this century. But these expectations come from sparse field trials that have been biased towards mesic growth conditions. This eight-year study used precipitation manipulation and y...

Future climatic scenarios can influence crop yield levels and induce hunger if no actions are taken. In this study, we evaluated the effect of increased temperature and CO 2 concentration on soybean yield components and biomass partitioning, that ultimately determine the crops productivity. This is conducted for two soybean genotypes that differ in...

Future climatic scenarios can influence crop yield levels and induce hunger if no actions are taken. In this study, we evaluated the effect of increased temperature and CO 2 concentration on soybean yield components and biomass partitioning, that ultimately determine the crops productivity. This is conducted for two soybean genotypes that differ in...

Rising atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2 ]) and attendant increases in growing season temperature are expected be the most important global change factors impacting production agriculture. Although maize is the most highly produced crop worldwide, few studies have evaluated the interactive effects of elevated [CO2 ] and temperature on its photosy...

There is an increasing necessity to understand how climate change factors, particularly increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 ([CO2]) and rising temperature, will influence photosynthetic carbon assimilation (A). Based on theory, an increased [CO2] concomitant with a rise in temperature will increase A in C3 plants beyond that of an increase...

Globally, photosynthesis accounts for the largest flux of CO2 from the atmosphere into ecosystems and is the driving process for terrestrial ecosystem function. The importance of accurate predictions of photosynthesis over a range of plant growth conditions led to the development of a C3 photosynthesis model by Farquhar, von Caemmerer & Berry (1980...

Extensive evidence shows that increasing CO2 concentration ([CO2]) stimulates, and increasing temperature decreases, both net photosynthetic carbon assimilation (A) and biomass production for C3 plants. A [CO2]-induced stimulation in A is projected to increase further with higher temperature. While the influence of increasing temperature and [CO2]...

Maize, in rotation with soybean, forms the largest continuous ecosystem in temperate North America, therefore changes to the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of water vapor and energy of these crops are likely to have an impact on the Midwestern US climate and hydrological cycle. As a C 4 crop, maize photosynthesis is already CO 2 -saturated at curren...

Maize, in rotation with soybean, forms the largest continuous ecosystem in temperate North America, therefore changes to the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of water vapor and energy of these crops are likely to have an impact on the Midwestern US climate and hydrological cycle. As a C4 crop, maize photosynthesis is already CO2 -saturated at current...

Background/Question/Methods Global mean temperatures are expected to increase between 1.1 and 6.4 oC as global carbon dioxide concentrations increase from current levels to over ca. 550 ppm by the middle of this century. Theory and modeling studies indicated that moderate increases in temperature and [CO2] will work synergistically to enhance leaf...