Abstract: New PhytologistVolume 222, Issue 3 p. 1188-1189 ProfileFree Access Mark G. Tjoelker First published: 11 April 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15745AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat What inspired your interest in plant science? I have been interested in science since a child. I grew up on a 60-acre Jersey dairy farm in the Puget Sound region of Washington State (USA) in the shadow of the Cascade Mountains. As a young boy, one day while calling the cows home, I spotted a strange rock lying in the pasture, all pock marked and powdery grey. I mailed that ‘moon rock’ straight to NASA in Houston, Texas. This was the height of the Apollo era. A very kind geologist wrote back and explained that although my specimen was certainly not a rock from the moon (much to my disappointment!), I had in fact discovered evidence of volcanic activity (a lump of pumice). His encouraging words about how observation is central to the practice of science, and that I too could be a scientist, made a deep impression on me. In addition to fostering a strong work ethic, my Dutch immigrant parents taught me the importance of stewardship. Perhaps because of this, my research career has been motivated to unravel the consequences of human-driven environmental change on ecosystems. When not on the farm, I spent summers hiking in Douglas-fir forests, deepening my interest in plants and ecology. Why did you decide to pursue a career in research? It was not until university that the possibility of plant science as a research career was fully revealed. During my study at Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI, USA), my plant physiology professor, John Beebe, invited me to undertake independent research. The biology department had just received a brand-new portable photosynthesis system, a first-generation, mid-1980s LI-6000 (Li-Cor Inc. Lincoln, NE, USA). It was my task to unbox it and see if it worked. It certainly did work! I was thrilled to take my first measurements of photosynthesis on sunflower and maize plants in the university glasshouse. I was hooked, destined to become a plant scientist. I went on to study botany at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN, USA), where I had the good fortune to land an assistantship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with Robert Luxmoore. There I was surrounded by top scientists and was invited to take part in exciting tree physiology experiments on ozone pollution and acid deposition and high-elevation red spruce decline. I began my PhD study in forestry, and following an interlude in Poland as a Fulbright scholar, completed my research on boreal tree species responses to elevated atmospheric CO2 and temperature at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN, USA). My first paper, based on my ozone work, was published in New Phytologist. I knew then that I was a bona fide research scientist. Box 1. Mark G. Tjoelker is Professor and Associate Director of the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University (Australia) and leader of the Hawkesbury Forest Experiment, whole-tree chamber facility. Mark's research explores climate change effects on respiration and carbon cycling, climatic adaptation in plant traits and the biogeography of forest tree species. Mark holds a BSc in biology (1986) from Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI, USA), an MSc in botany (1988) from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN, USA) and a PhD in forestry (1997) from the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN, USA). Previously, Mark was a faculty member in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA (2000–2011). There he developed a research programme in global change in savannas and southern pines and taught forest ecology. His honours include a J. William Fulbright Fellowship (1995) to the Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology (Kórnik, Poland). In 2008–2009, Mark was a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. In 2010–2011, he served on the Forestry Research Advisory Council, advising the US Secretary of Agriculture on research policy governing the US Forest Service. Mark has been a Co-Editor with New Phytologist since 2009 and served on the Board of Advisors from 2007 to 2009. For more information on Mark visit https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/hie/marktjoelker, or contact him at [email protected] ORCID: Mark G. Tjoelker https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4607-5238. What motivates you on a day-to-day basis? One of my great joys in being a scientist is having the freedom, and the means, to contribute to addressing some of our most pressing environmental problems. The thrill of discovery is a key motivator. I love analysing newly collected data. I enjoy working with outstanding colleagues all over the world from Poland to Australia. The entire arc from designing experiments to communicating the findings I find deeply satisfying. Increasingly, I enjoy mentoring post-docs and early career scientists to find their career path in a challenging ‘post-truth’ world. My research at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University (Australia) focuses on the role of biogeography and climatic adaptation among eucalypts. I have had the pleasure of leading team-based experiments in the unique whole-tree chamber facility that has led to new discoveries on the physiological mechanisms underpinning tree response to rising temperatures and heatwaves. It has been very rewarding that my work is helping to reshape the way respiration is incorporated into plant, ecosystem, and global carbon-cycle models. Is there anyone that you consider to be a role model? Many mentors have helped me along the way. An early role model was my high school biology teacher, Harlan Kredit (later inducted into the National Teacher's Hall of Fame), whose passion for hands-on field investigation inspired me to major in biology at university. The scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (TN, USA) generously enfolded me as a MSc student in their research group and helped me succeed in my first scientific abstract and poster. I try to emulate my PhD advisor Peter Reich whose mentoring on how to tackle big questions set me on a career-long quest in plant physiological ecology. Some of the wisdom I gained can be summarized in several tips on how to succeed as a scientist. (1) Be reflective. Take time to refine your research question. Focus on the necessary and sufficient data you need to answer your question. (2) Be bold. Do not be afraid to question dogma or attempt the impossible. (3) Be prepared. As Louis Pasteur stated, ‘In the fields of observation, chance favours only the prepared mind.’ Some of my most important papers arose from unexpected results. (4) Be collaborative. The best science comes from team efforts. (5) Be humble. You are not the first to publish on your topic. What are your favourite New Phytologist papers of recent years, and why? I am a huge fan of New Phytologist. I particularly enjoyed three recent papers that have explored plant functional traits in an ecological and evolutionary context at different scales. The paper by Zanne et al. (2018) provides insights into macro-evolutionary differentiation in functional traits in angiosperms, thought to be driven by freezing for evergreen, but not deciduous woody angiosperms. I enjoyed reading Cavender-Bares (2019) Tansley review on oaks as a model clade to explore environment–functional trait relationships and adaptive radiation. Finally, the paper by Housset et al. (2018) combines common gardens, tree rings and association genetics as a powerful tool to unravel patterns of local adaptive differentiation among populations within a wide-ranging species. What is your favourite plant, and why? Hanging in my office is a reproduction of a favourite painting entitled The Jack Pine, an impressionistic work by the Canadian artist Tom Thomson (1917) on the species, Pinus banksiana. As a post-doctoral researcher in Minnesota, I spent several years studying jack pine and its remarkable biogeographic variation throughout its native distribution in North America, rediscovering a series of common garden trials established by foresters in the early 1960s. This species inspired a life-long interest in the biogeography of forest trees and the role of population differentiation and adaptation in shaping a species response to climate change. This line of research continues today in my work in Australia on the biogeography of eucalypts and response to climate change. References Cavender-Bares J. 2019. Diversification, adaptation, and community assembly of the American oaks (Quercus), a model clade for integrating ecology and evolution. New Phytologist 221: 669– 692. Housset JM, Nadeau S, Isabel N, Depardieu C, Duchesne I, Lenz P, Girardin MP. 2018. Tree rings provide a new class of phenotypes for genetic associations that foster insights into adaptation of conifers to climate change. New Phytologist 218: 630– 645. Zanne AE, Pearse WD, Cornwell WK, McGlinn DJ, Wright IJ, Uyeda JC. 2018. Functional biogeography of angiosperms: life at the extremes. New Phytologist 218: 1697– 1709. Volume222, Issue3May 2019Pages 1188-1189 ReferencesRelatedInformation