My research seeks to understand the environmental and biological controls on carbon dioxide and water vapour exchange between plants and the atmosphere.  I use a range of measurement techniques to gain a deeper insight into these processes, including measurements of how the stable isotope compositions of carbon dioxide and water vapour change during photosynthesis and transpiration.  I am also interested in improving the interpretation of stable isotope signals in plant organic material, in order to gain insight into how leaf gas exchange has responded to global climate change through time and space.  I am especially interested using these tools to understand how tropical rainforests are responding to climate change, and what role they are likely to play in modulating the response of the global carbon cycle to human activity in the coming century.  I am currently an associate professor at James Cook University - Cairns Campus.  

Interests

Research

• Forest responses to climate change
• Carbon dioxide and water vapour exchange between plants and the atmosphere
• Stable isotopes as recorders of plant physiological processes
• Tropical plant ecophysiology

Experience

• 2018 to present - Associate Professor, James Cook University (Cairns, Australia)
• 2016 to 2017 - Senior Lecturer, James Cook University (Cairns, Australia)
• 2013 to 2015 - ARC Future Fellow, James Cook University (Cairns, Australia)
• 2011 to 2012 - ARC Future Fellow, The Australian National University (Canberra, Australia)
• 2007 to 2010 - ARC Postdoctoral Fellow, Charles Darwin University (Darwin, Australia)
• 2005 to 2007 - Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama City, Panama)
• 2004 to 2005 - Research Associate, Charles Darwin University (Darwin, Australia)
• 2000 to 2004 - PhD Plant Science, The Australian National University (Canberra, Australia)
• 1997 to 1999 - MSc Forest Resources, University of Idaho (Moscow, Idaho, USA)
• 1990 to 1996 - BSc Biology, University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)

Research Disciplines

• Plant biology (3108)
• Ecology (3103)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Expanding knowledge (2801)

Awards

• 2022 - WSL Fellow, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forests, Snow and Landscapes
• 2018 - Make Our Planet Great Again Laureate- Campus France
• 2010 - Charles Darwin University Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Exceptional Performance in Research

Fellowships

• 2011 to 2015 - Australian Research Council Future Fellow
• 2007 to 2010 - Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow
• 2006 to 2009 - Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Tupper Fellow
• 2005 to 2006 - Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellow

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Binks O, Cernusak L, Liddell M, Bradford M, Coughlin I, Bryant C, Palma A, Hoffmann L, Alam I, Carle H, Rowland L, Oliveira R, Laurance S, Mencuccini M and Meir P (in press) Vapour pressure deficit modulates hydraulic function and structure of tropical rainforests under nonlimiting soil water supply. New Phytologist,
• Cheesman A, Brown F, Farha N, Rosan T, Folberth G, Hayes F, Moura B, Paoletti E, Hoshika Y, Osborne C, Cernusak L, Ribeiro R and Sitch S (2023) Impacts of ground-level ozone on sugarcane production. Science of the Total Environment, 904.
• Crous K, Cheesman A, Middleby K, Rogers E, Wujeska-Klause A, Bouet A, Ellsworth D, Liddell M, Cernusak L and Barton C (2023) Similar patterns of leaf temperatures and thermal acclimation to warming in temperate and tropical tree canopies. Tree Physiology, 43. pp. 1383-1399
• Farha N, Daniells J, Cernusak L, Ritmejeryte E, Wangchuk P, Sitch S, Mercado L, Hayes F, Brown F and Cheesman A (in press) Examining ozone susceptibility in the genus Musa (bananas). Functional Plant Biology,
• Holloway-Phillips M, Cernusak L, Nelson D, Lehmann M, Tcherkez G and Kahmen A (in press) Covariation between oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes declines along the path from xylem water to wood cellulose across an aridity gradient. New Phytologist,
• Law S, Flores?Moreno H, Cheesman A, Clement R, Rosenfield M, Yatsko A, Cernusak L, Dalling J, Canam T, Iqsaysa I, Duan E, Allison S, Eggleton P and Zanne A (2023) Wood traits explain microbial but not termite?driven decay in Australian tropical rainforest and savanna. Journal of Ecology, 111 (5). pp. 982-993
• Li Y, Riedl A, Eugster W, Buchmann N, Cernusak L, Lehmann M, Werner R and Aemisegger F (2023) The role of radiative cooling and leaf wetting in air–leaf water exchange during dew and radiation fog events in a temperate grassland. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 328.
• Márquez D, Stuart-Williams H, Cernusak L and Farquhar G (2023) Assessing the CO2 concentration at the surface of photosynthetic mesophyll cells. New Phytologist, 238 (4). pp. 1446-1460
• Martínez?Sancho E, Cernusak L, Fonti P, Gregori A, Ullrich B, Pannatier E, Gessler A, Lehmann M, Saurer M and Treydte K (in press) Unenriched xylem water contribution during cellulose synthesis influenced by atmospheric demand governs the intra?annual tree?ring ?18O signature. New Phytologist,
• McInerney F, Gerber C, Dangerfield E, Cernusak L, Puccini A, Szarvas S, Singh T and Welti N (2023) Leaf water ? 18/O, ?2H and d-excess isoscapes for Australia using region-specific plant parameters and non-equilibrium vapour. Hydrological Processes, 37 (5).
• Munksgaard N, Lee I, Napier T, Zwart C, Cernusak L and Bird M (in press) One year of spectroscopic high-frequency measurements of atmospheric CO2, CH4, H2O and ?13C-CO2 at an Australian Savanna site. Geoscience Data Journal,
• Oliveira Vogado N, Laurance S, Liddell M, Engert J, Wurster C, Schiffer M, Thompson A, Nichols C and Cernusak L (2023) Assessing the effects of a drought experiment on the reproductive phenology and ecophysiology of a wet tropical rainforest community. Conservation Physiology, 11 (1).

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ResearchOnline@JCU stores 145+ research outputs authored by A/Prof Lucas Cernusak from 2000 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Attract and infect the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni, using entomopathogenic fungi (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Determinants of spatial variation in population density in a tropical folivore community: Conservation implications in a changing environment (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• The effects of tropospheric ozone on tropical plant growth and functioning (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Fruit development in Theobroma cacao: understanding the limitations to optimized cacao production. (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Functional variation of plants along elevation gradients in tropical forest communities of Papua New Guinea (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Integrating Climate Adaptation into Rainforest Restoration Plantings (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Water-use efficiency responses and effect of environmental stresses on plants from different rainfall gradients in Australia (PhD , Primary Advisor)

Completed

• Temperature and soil nutrient availability shape tree responses to elevation in the Australian Wet Tropics: growth, physiology, and chemistry (2023, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Climate change in the tropics: drought effects on the phenology and eco-physiology of rainforest tree species (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.