On Wed, January 28, 2015, Dr. Rowan Sage will give a talk on "THE EVOLUTION OF C4 PHOTOSYNTHESIS".  Faculty Host is Dr. Joe Colasanti.  All welcome! 

Rowan Sage is a Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Toronto, where he teaches EEB 268 – Plant Biodiversity, EEB 328 - Physiological Ecology,  and EEB 428 - Global Change Ecology.  His research addresses how plants are adapted to changing climates and atmospheric CO2 concentrations.  His current research include studies of how novel photosynthetic pathways evolve (notably, the C4 photosynthetic pathway), and the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on the earth’s flora.  To develop new solutions to arrest human-caused climate change, he is supervising research that seeks to develop new bioenergy resources in Canada.  This work includes adapting highly productive C4 grasses for cold climates, and developing marine algae plantations to produce biofuel resources in the open ocean. He obtained his PhD at the University of California, Davis in 1986, and was a post-doc at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada in 1986-1987.  He has been at the University of Toronto since 1993.

Relevant papers:

1.   Sage RF, TL Sage, F Kocacinar.  2012.  Photorespiration and the evolution of C4 photosynthesis.  Annual Review of Plant Biology.  63:17.1-17.29.

2.   Sage RF, Christin PA, Edwards EA.  2011. The lineages of C4 photosynthesis on planet Earth. Journal of Experimental Botany, 62: 3155-3169.

3.   Sage RF, Zhu X-G (2011) Exploiting the engine of C4 photosynthesis. Journal of Experimental Botany 62: 2989-3000