Megan Bartlett

Megan Bartlett uses modeling and experimental approaches to address fundamental questions about the physiology traits and processes that determine plant responses to drought and heat stress. Models from her lab couple a mechanistic representation of plant carbon and water dynamics with optimization approaches to understand how plants can use plasticity in structure and function to maximize growth and performance under stress, and how the optimal strategies for plasticity vary across plants with diverse traits. She uses experiments to test hypotheses generated by these models, and to understand the mechanisms, costs, and constraints underlying plasticity.