List of the main methods used in our laboratory.

Field Research

  • Selection of sites based on research criteria

  • Characterization of microclimate (temperature, humidity - using sensors and data loggers)

  • Characterization of selected representative individuals - morphological and growth parameters

  • Sampling of foliage in the field for laboratory analyses

  • In-situ measurements of physiological processes (e.g., fluorescence, reflectance, photosynthesis, transpiration using portable instruments)

Cultivation of Plant Material

  • Hydro/aeroponic cultivation and root exudate collection - in progress
  • Pot experiments (drought, flooding) in the greenhouse and at the experimental garden of KEBR
  • Cultivation in growth chambers

“Classical” Plant Physiology Methods

  • Structural and functional traits

    • water and dry matter content
    • leaf area
    • specific leaf weight
  • Gas exchange measurements - photosynthesis, transpiration (LI-6400XT IRGA - IR gasometric system)
  • Measurement of water potential in a pressure chamber (PMS 600D)
  • Fast kinetics of chlorophyll fluorescence (portable FluorPen FP 110/D)
  • Optical measurement of photosynthetic and protective pigments using portable devices
    • MPM-300 (chlorophyll, anthocyanins, flavonoids)
    • SPAD-502 (chlorophyll)
    • MultispeQ (chlorophyll, parameters of the primary phase of photosynthesis)
    • CCM-300 (chlorophyll fluorescence)

Laboratory Spectroscopy - Optical Properties of Foliage

  • Spectroradiometer ASD FieldSpec in combination with:
    • contact probe (reflectance)
    • integrating sphere (reflectance and transmittance)
    • custom-made holders (3D printing)
    • spectral data processing (vegetation indices, multivariate analyses)

Anatomical Microtechniques, Microscopy, Histochemistry, and Image Processing

  • Preparation of sections for microscopy - hand sections, microtome sections

  • Light and fluorescence microscopy, optionally confocal microscopy

  • Histochemical detection (e.g., secondary metabolites) and their analysis
  • Image capturing and creation of micrographs of plant structures
  • Image analysis (ImageJ, Ilastik), stereological methods for processing anatomical and histochemical sections

Thermography

  • Determining temperature maps of vegetation and plants for ecophysiological analyses - assessing physiological state and plant stress
    • HIKMICRO M60 thermal camera - in progress

Biochemical Analyses Using Laboratory Spectrophotometry

Our laboratory is equipped with a UV-VIS Evolution 201 spectrophotometer

  • Photosynthetic and protective pigments
  • Soluble phenolic compounds, tannins
  • Lignin, cellulose
  • Proline

Data Processing

  • Statistical analyses including multivariate data processing in R, Excel

Data Presentation

  • Instruction for students on presenting results for various purposes