Clara Gilloteau

UMR IJPB

PhD student / Oct 2025 to Sept 2028

Role of chlorophyll in plant adaptation to abiotic stress and nutrient management in barley

 Improving photosynthetic efficiency and nutrient‑use efficiency is a major challenge for sustainable agriculture. This PhD aims to understand how chlorophyll content influences photosynthesis, biomass production, and carbon and nitrogen fluxes in spring barley. The central hypothesis is that reducing chlorophyll content could optimise carbon assimilation while modulating nitrogen uptake and remobilisation. The project relies on complementary approaches, ranging from cellular‑scale analyses of C and N fluxes in non‑GMO mutants to greenhouse and field experiments under contrasting water‑availability conditions, including ¹⁵N isotopic labelling. This work aims to identify resource‑management strategies that enhance productivity and resilience in agricultural systems.

Lucas Leverne

CEA

Engineer / March 2025 to Dec 2027

Coordination of measurement activities and management of collected datasets

Measurement of leaf‑level photosynthetic activity, and coordination of the various other plant‑analysis methods with whole‑plant modelling

Léo Tuffery

LSCE

PhD student / Oct 2025 to Oct 2028

Fluorescence‑based quantification of the effects of nitrogen and chlorophyll on gross primary productivity (GPP)

The objective of this PhD is to implement a mechanistic representation of leaf‑level nitrogen partitioning in the ORCHIDEE land‑surface model. The strategy involves refining the allocation of nitrogen among photosynthetic machinery components, informed by chlorophyll‑fluorescence measurements used to constrain gross primary productivity. By explicitly coupling nitrogen partitioning with photosynthetic functioning, this work aims to improve model realism and reduce uncertainties in the simulated coupling of the carbon and nitrogen cycles.