Dr Florian Busch PhD

School of Biosciences
Associate Professor in Plant Physiology

Contact details

Email: f.a.busch@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @FlorianABusch

Address: School of Biosciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Florian Busch is a theoretical and experimental plant physiologist interested in all aspects of photosynthesis. His focus is on linking different photosynthetic processes with mathematical models to study the biochemical limitations of carbon fixation and to gain a quantitative understanding of how plant carbon uptake responds to changes in the environment.

View details of the Busch Lab

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Qualifications

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, University of Birmingham, 2023

PhD in Plant Biology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2008

Biography

Florian obtained his PhD in 2008 from the Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, during which time he worked closely with Dr Norm Hüner at Western University in London, Canada. After several years of post-doctoral work with Dr Rowan Sage at the University of Toronto, Canada he moved to the Australian National University to first work as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr Susanne von Caemmerer and later as a Research Fellow with Dr Graham Farquhar. He took up a position of Lecturer at the School of Biosciences in 2020 and was promoted to his current position of Associate Professor in 2023.

Teaching

Florian contributes to several undergraduate modules, including:

LC Ecological Concepts and Plant Science
LC Chemistry for Biochemists I
LI Critical Issues for 21^st Century Ecosystems
LI Alpine and Glacial Ecology in Norway
LM Research Techniques in Molecular Biology

Postgraduate supervision

If you are interested in working with Florian on the physiology of photosynthesis should contact him directly via email (f.a.busch@bham.ac.uk).

Research

Florian is a plant physiologist with a focus on studying physiological mechanisms related to photosynthesis. His research is guided by his interest in understanding on a mechanistic level how plants utilize available resources, such as light, water, CO₂, and nutrients, and how they convert these resources to carbohydrates and ultimately plant biomass. This is not only interesting from the perspective of pure knowledge gain, but also has important consequences for society, which relies on harvested plant biomass for their food supply. In this field, his main focus of research is linking the biophysical processes of light harvesting and the properties of leaf-level CO₂ diffusion with the biochemical processes of CO₂ and nitrogen assimilation.

Work done in the Busch lab is based on two pillars: describing our current understanding of plant function by mathematical models and testing these models experimentally. In combination, they are a powerful tool to identify where our understanding is incomplete and to generate new hypotheses that help fill the gaps in our knowledge. While empirical models may yield accurate predictions of the magnitude of an effect, mechanistic models can be used to elucidate the drivers of an observed effect and can help answer the question why a plant behaves the way it does. The goal of our research is to deepen our understanding of how plant productivity relates to environmental factors and stresses. This understanding is an essential prerequisite to improving crop productivity in the face of population growth and global change.

To achieve this goal, Florian has developed novel measurement techniques (e.g. one to measure the notoriously difficult-to-estimate flux of photorespiration), designed and refined tools to analyse and experimental data (e.g. a new model to interpret carbon isotope discrimination signatures) and developed new mathematical models connecting biochemical processes in the leaf (e.g. linking photorespiration with nitrogen assimilation).

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Fan, Y, Noble, DWA, Medlyn, BE, Monson, RK, Sage, RF, Smith, NG, Ainsworth, EA, Busch, FA, Danila, FR, Ermakova, M, Friesen, P, Furbank, RT, Gan, SH, Ghannoum, O, Griffith, DM, Gu, L, Jacob, V, Knauer, J, Leakey, ADB, Li, S, Lombardozzi, DL, Ludwig, M, Pathare, VS, Peixoto, MM, Prado, K, Sonawane, BV, Still, CJ, von Caemmerer, S, Woodford, R & Way, DA 2025, 'Environmental factors have a greater influence on photosynthetic capacity in C₄ plants than biochemical subtypes or growth forms', New Phytologist. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70525

Tosens, T, Alboresi, A, van Amerongen, H, Bassi, R, Busch, F, Consoli, G, Ebenhöh, O, Flexas, J, Harbinson, J, Jahns, P, Kamennaya, N, Kramer, D, Kromdijk, J, Lawson, T, Murchie, E, Niinemets, Ü, Natale, S, Nürnberg, D, Persello, A, Pesaresi, P, Raines, C, Schlüter, U, Theeuwen, T, Timm, S, Tolleter, D & Weber, A 2025, 'New avenues in photosynthesis: from light harvesting to global modeling', Physiologia Plantarum, vol. 177, no. 2, e70198. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70198

Leung, A, Patel, R, Chirachon, V, Stata, M, Macfarlane, TD, Ludwig, M, Busch, FA, Sage, TL & Sage, RF 2024, 'Tribulus (Zygophyllaceae) as a case study for the evolution of C₂ and C₄ photosynthesis', Plant, Cell and Environment, vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 3541-3560. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.15069

Márquez, DA & Busch, FA 2024, 'The interplay of short‐term mesophyll and stomatal conductance responses under variable environmental conditions', Plant, Cell and Environment, vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 3393-3410. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14880

Wu, A, Brider, J, Busch, FA, Chen, M, Chenu, K, Clarke, VC, Collins, B, Ermakova, M, Evans, JR, Farquhar, GD, Forster, B, Furbank, RT, Groszmann, M, Hernandez‐Prieto, MA, Long, BM, Mclean, G, Potgieter, A, Price, GD, Sharwood, RE, Stower, M, Oosterom, EV, Caemmerer, SV, Whitney, SM & Hammer, GL 2022, 'A cross‐scale analysis to understand and quantify the effects of photosynthetic enhancement on crop growth and yield across environments', Plant, Cell and Environment, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 23-44. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14453

Marquez, D, Stuart-Williams, H, Farquhar, GD & Busch, F 2022, 'Cuticular conductance of adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces and its relation to minimum leaf surface conductance', New Phytologist, vol. 233, no. 1, pp. 156-168. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17588

Brookhouse, MT, Bush, D, Ivkovich, M, Busch, F, Farquhar, GD & Pinkard, E 2022, 'Early-growth results within a Eucalyptus globulus breeding population suggest limited scope for selection focused on CO₂ responsiveness', Tree Genetics & Genomes, vol. 18, no. 2, 16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-022-01547-w

Ely, KS, Rogers, A, Agarwal, DA, Ainsworth, EA, Albert, LP, Ali, A, Anderson, J, Aspinwall, MJ, Bellasio, C, Bernacchi, C, Bonnage, S, Buckley, TN, Bunce, J, Burnett, AC, Busch, FA, Cavanagh, A, Cernusak, LA, Crystal-Ornelas, R, Damerow, J, Davidson, KJ, Kauwe, MGD, Dietze, MC, Domingues, TF, Dusenge, ME, Ellsworth, DS, Evans, JR, Gauthier, PPG, Gimenez, BO, Gordon, EP, Gough, CM, Halbritter, AH, Hanson, DT, Heskel, M, Hogan, JA, Hupp, JR, Jardine, K, Kattge, J, Keenan, T, Kromdijk, J, Kumarathunge, DP, Lamour, J, Leakey, ADB, LeBauer, DS, Li, Q, Lundgren, MR, McDowell, N, Meacham-Hensold, K, Medlyn, BE, Moore, DJP, Negrón-Juárez, R, Niinemets, Ü, Osborne, CP, Pivovaroff, AL, Poorter, H, Reed, SC, Ryu, Y, Sanz-Saez, A, Schmiege, SC, Serbin, SP, Sharkey, TD, Slot, M, Smith, NG, Sonawane, BV, South, PF, Souza, DC, Stinziano, JR, Stuart-Haëntjens, E, Taylor, SH, Tejera, MD, Uddling, J, Vandvik, V, Varadharajan, C, Walker, AP, Walker, BJ, Warren, JM, Way, DA, Wolfe, BT, Wu, J, Wullschleger, SD, Xu, C, Yan, Z & Yang, D 2021, 'A reporting format for leaf-level gas exchange data and metadata', Ecological Informatics, vol. 61, 101232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2021.101232

Peixoto, MDM, Sage, TL, Busch, FA, Pacheco, HDN, Moraes, MG, Portes, TA, Almeida, RA, Graciano‐Ribeiro, D & Sage, RF 2021, 'Elevated efficiency of C₃ photosynthesis in bamboo grasses: a possible consequence of enhanced refixation of photorespired CO₂', GCB Bioenergy, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 941-954. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12819

Chapter

Busch, FA 2024, Photosynthetic Gas Exchange in Land Plants at the Leaf Level. in S Covshoff (ed.), Photosynthesis: Methods and Protocols. 2 edn, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2790, Humana Press, pp. 41-61. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3790-6_3

Walker, BJ, Driever, SM, Kromdijk, J, Lawson, T & Busch, FA 2024, Tools for Measuring Photosynthesis at Different Scales. in S Covshoff (ed.), Photosynthesis: Methods and Protocols. 2 edn, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2790, Humana Press, pp. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3790-6_1

Ubierna, N, Holloway-Phillips, MM, Wingate, L, Ogée, J, Busch, FA & Farquhar, GD 2024, Using Carbon Stable Isotopes to Study C₃ and C₄ Photosynthesis: Models and Calculations. in S Covshoff (ed.), Photosynthesis: Methods and Protocols. 2 edn, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2790, Humana Press, pp. 163-211. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3790-6_10

Editorial

Ludwig, M, Busch, F, Khoshravesh, R & Covshoff, S 2021, 'Editorial: understanding C₄ evolution and fFunction', Frontiers in Plant Science, vol. 12, 774818, pp. 774818. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.774818

Review article

Marquez, D, Gardner, A & Busch, F 2025, 'Navigating Challenges in Interpreting Plant Physiology Responses through Gas Exchange Results in Stressed Plants', Plant Ecophysiology, vol. 1, no. 1, 2. https://doi.org/10.53941/plantecophys.2025.100002

Busch, FA, Ainsworth, EA, Amtmann, A, Cavanagh, AP, Driever, SM, Ferguson, JN, Kromdijk, J, Lawson, T, Leakey, ADB, Matthews, JSA, Meacham‐Hensold, K, Vath, RL, Vialet‐Chabrand, S, Walker, BJ & Papanatsiou, M 2024, 'A guide to photosynthetic gas exchange measurements: Fundamental principles, best practice and potential pitfalls', Plant, Cell and Environment, vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 3344-3364. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14815

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