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Technical University of Munich

The German Research Foundation (DFG) funds new Research Unit at TUM in Weihenstephan

Research, Award |

Mutez Ali Ahmed, Professor of Root-Soil Interaction at the TUM School of Life Sciences, is the spokesperson of the Research Unit. The researchers are investigating how vegetation copes with drought stress: How do plants adapt their transpiration rates to soil dryness?
Prof. Mutez Ali Ahmed (TUM)
Mutez Ali Ahmed, Professor of Root-Soil Interaction at TUM in Freising-Weihenstephan (image: Andreas Heddergott / TUM)

Due to global warming, plants are increasingly exposed to drought stress. They cope by closing the stomata in their leaf surfaces and reducing water loss. Idealized, the hydraulic water transport system between the soil, the plant, and the atmosphere functions as follows: water loss through the leaves is directly proportional to the difference in water potential between the soil and the leaves.

The research group “The Influence of Soil and Plant Hydraulics on Transpiration and Plant Growth in Response to Drought [SOPHY]” is investigating how plants achieve this hydraulic linearity even under drought stress. The group’s spokesperson is Prof. Mutez Ali Ahmed from the TUM School of Life Sciences.

The aim of the research is to develop a prediction model for transpiration rates as a function of soil dryness for various soil types, climatic conditions, and plant species. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the research group as part of the D-A-CH collaboration with the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Research Units are research projects, which, in terms of thematic focus, duration and financial resources, go far beyond the funding options available under Individual Grants or Priority Programmes. Projects are required to be of high scientific quality and originality on an international level.

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