The evolution of land plant functional traits and how they terraformed Earth

Project Information

TERRAFORM

Grant agreement ID: 101020824

DOI

10.3030/101020824

EC signature date 5 July 2021

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 30 September 2027

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 2 498 066,25

EU contribution

€ 2 498 066,00

Coordinated by

THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD, OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Ireland

CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.

Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .

Publications

Peer reviewed articles (21)

Correcting land surface temperature from thermal imager by considering heterogeneous emissivity

Author(s): Wenjie Yan, Jiawei Jiang, Lanwu He, Wenli Zhao, Richard Nair, Xu Wang ,Yujiu Xiong
Published in: International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Issue Volume 129, 2024, ISSN 1872-826X
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jag.2024.103824

Nitrogen isotopes reveal independent origins of N2-fixing symbiosis in extant cycad lineages

Author(s): Michael A. Kipp, Eva E. Stüeken, Caroline A. E. Strömberg, William H. Brightly, Victoria M. Arbour, Boglárka Erdei, Robert S. Hill, Kirk R. Johnson, Jiří Kvaček, Jennifer C. McElwain, Ian M. Miller, Miriam Slodownik, Vivi Vajda & Roger Buick
Published in: Nature Ecology & Evolution volume, Issue 8, 2023, Page(s) 57-69, ISSN 2397-334X
Publisher: Springer Nature Limited
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02251-1

Ideas and perspectives: Beyond model evaluation – combining experiments and models to advance terrestrial ecosystem science

Author(s): Silvia Caldararu, Victor Rolo, Benjamin D. Stocker, Teresa E. Gimeno, Richard Nair
Published in: Biogeosciences, Issue 20, 2023, Page(s) 3637–3649, ISSN 1726-4189
Publisher: Copernicus Publications
DOI: 10.5194/bg-20-3637-2023

Mercury sequestration pathways under varying depositional conditions during Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian and Toarcian) Karoo-Ferrar volcanism.

Author(s): E.B. Kovács, M. Ruhl, R.L. Silva, J.C. McElwain, M. Reolid, C. Korte,W. Ruebsam, S.P. Hesselbo
Published in: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Issue Volume 637, 2024, ISSN 0031-0182
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111977

Photosynthetic Traits of Quercus coccifera Green Fruits: A Comparison with Corresponding Leaves during Mediterranean Summer

Author(s): Dimitrios Kalachanis, Christos Chondrogiannis, Yiola Petropoulou
Published in: Plants, Issue 13, 2025, Page(s) 2867, ISSN 2223-7747
Publisher: MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/plants13202867

Stems matter: Xylem physiological limits are an accessible and critical improvement to models of plant gas exchange in deep time

Author(s): William J. Matthaeus, Isabel P. Montañez, Jennifer C. McElwain, Jonathan P. Wilson, Joseph D. White
Published in: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Issue Volume 10, 2022, ISSN 2296-701X
Publisher: Frontiers Media S.A.
DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.955066

The geological history of plant mass extinction and terrestrial ecosystem collapse

Author(s): Jennifer McElwain, William Matthaeus, Mónica Carvalho, Surangi Punyasena, Antonietta Knetge, David Keith, Chris Mays
Published in: The geological history of plant mass extinction and terrestrial ecosystem collapse, 2026, ISSN 2693-5015
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9282628/v1

Semantic segmentation of plant roots from RGB (mini-) rhizotron images—generalisation potential and false positives of established methods and advanced deep-learning models

Author(s): Pavel Baykalov, Bart Bussmann, Richard Nair, Abraham George Smith, Gernot Bodner, Ofer Hadar, Naftali Lazarovitch & Boris Rewald
Published in: Plant Methods, Issue 19, Article number: 122, 2023, ISSN 3059-3697
Publisher: Springer Nature
DOI: 10.1186/s13007-023-01101-2

Fossil leaf cuticle: Best practices for preparation and paleo-CO2 analysis

Author(s): Xiaoqing Zhang, Dana L. Royer, Carina E. Colombi, Juan Martin Drovandi, Jennifer C. McElwain, Gaëtan Guignard, Qin Leng, Barry H. Lomax, Nathan D. Sheldon, Rebekah A. Stein, Garland R. Upchurch, Yongdong Wang, Hong Yang, Richard S. Barclay, Ying Cui, Wolfram Kürschner, Joseph N. Milligan, Isabel Montañez, Jon D. Richey, Tammo Reichgelt, Gongle Shi, Selena Y. Smith, Margret Steinthorsdottir
Published in: Earth-Science Reviews, Issue 264, 2025, Page(s) 105104, ISSN 0012-8252
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105104

Functional traits of fossil plants

Author(s): Jennifer C. McElwain, William J. Matthaeus, Catarina Barbosa, Christos Chondrogiannis, Katie O'Dea, Bea Jackson, Antonietta B. Knetge, Kamila Kwasniewska, Richard Nair, Joseph D. White, Jonathan P. Wilson, Isabel P. Montañez, Yvonne M. Buckley, Claire M. Belcher, Sandra Nogué
Published in: New Phytologist, Issue Volume 242, Issue 2, 2024, Page(s) 392 - 423, ISSN 0028-646X
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/nph.19622

Census collection of two fossil plant localities in Jameson Land, East Greenland supports regional ecological turnover and diversity loss at the end-Triassic mass extinction

Author(s): Antonietta B. Knetge, Catarina Barbosa, William J. Matthaeus, Richard S. Barclay, Ian J. Glasspool, Bernard Gomez, Stephen P. Hesselbo, Mihai E. Popa, Micha Ruhl, David Sunderlin, Finn Surlyk, Jennifer C. McElwain
Published in: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Issue 679, 2025, Page(s) 113266, ISSN 0031-0182
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113266

Stomata Are Driving the Direction of CO2-Induced Water-Use Efficiency Gain in Selected Tropical Trees in Fiji

Author(s): Wuu Kuang Soh,Charilaos Yiotis ,Michelle Murray ,Sarah Pene ,Alivereti Naikatini ,Johan A. Dornschneider-Elkink ,Joseph D. White ,Marika Tuiwawa and Jennifer C. McElwain
Published in: Biology, Issue Volume 13, Issue 9, 2024, ISSN 2079-7737
Publisher: MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/biology13090733

Vegetation Turnovers Reduced Water Availability During the Last Icehouse

Author(s): William J. Matthaeus, Sophia I. Macarewich, Isabel P. Montañez, Jon D. Richey, Joseph D. White, Jonathan P. Wilson, Jennifer C. McElwain
Published in: Global Ecology and Biogeography, Issue 34, 2025, ISSN 1466-822X
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/geb.70117

Rooting vegetation models in realism

Author(s): Richard Nair
Published in: Global Change Biology, Issue Volume29, Issue11, 2023, Page(s) Pages 2868-2870, ISSN 1354-1013
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16699

A Systems Approach to Understanding How Plants Transformed Earth's Environment in Deep Time

Author(s): William J. Matthaeus, Sophia I. Macarewich, Jon Richey, Isabel P. Montañez, Jennifer C. McElwain, Joseph D. White, Jonathan P. Wilson, and Christopher J. Poulsen
Published in: ANNUAL REVIEW OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, Issue Vol 53, 2023, ISSN 0084-6597
Publisher: Annual Reviews, Inc.
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-earth-080222-082017

Annual yields of multispecies grassland mesocosms outperformed monocultures across a drought gradient due to complementarity effects and rapid recovery

Author(s): Eamon Haughey, Jennifer C. McElwain, John A. Finn
Published in: Grassland Research, Issue Volume2, Issue4, 2023, Page(s) 309-321, ISSN 2097-051X
Publisher: Wiley
DOI: 10.1002/glr2.12064

Revisiting <i>k</i> : Time‐varying stream litter breakdown rates

Author(s): Caleb J. Robbins, William J. Matthaeus, Rebecca A. Eckert, Elliot Bastias, Allyn K. Dodd, Jérémy Jabiol, David W. P. Manning, Andrew S. Mehring, Ada Pastor
Published in: Limnology and Oceanography Letters, Issue 10, 2025, Page(s) 576-586, ISSN 2378-2242
Publisher: Wiley
DOI: 10.1002/lol2.70029

Pollen, macrofossils and sedaDNA reveal climate and land use impacts on Holocene mountain vegetation of the Lepontine Alps, Italy

Author(s): Lieveke van Vugt, Sandra Garcés-Pastor , Erika Gobet , Sarah Brechbühl , Antonietta Knetge , Youri Lammers , Katja Stengele , Inger Greve Alsos , Willy Tinner , Christoph Schwörer
Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews, Issue Volume 296, 2022, ISSN 0277-3791
Publisher: Pergamon Press Ltd.
DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107749

A framework for long‐term environmental monitoring using living plant collections in botanic gardens: A global review and case study from Trinity College Botanic Garden

Author(s): Midori Yajima, Michelle Murray, Christos Chondrogiannis, Stephen Waldren, Jennifer McElwain
Published in: PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET, Issue 7, 2025, Page(s) 954-968, ISSN 2572-2611
Publisher: Wiley
DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10628

Toward a Cenozoic history of atmospheric CO2

Author(s): Cenozoic CO2 Proxy Integration Project (CenCO2PIP) Consortium; Bärbel Hönisch, Dana L Royer , Daniel O Breecker , Pratigya J Polissar , Gabriel J Bowen, Michael J Henehan , Ying Cui , Margret Steinthorsdottir, Jennifer C McElwain, Matthew J Kohn, Ann Pearson, Samuel R Phelps, Kevin T Uno , Andy Ridgwell, Eleni Anagnostou , Jacqueline Austermann, Marcus P S Badger, Richard S Barclay, Peter K Bijl
Published in: Science, Issue VOL. 382, NO. 6675, 2023, ISSN 1095-9203
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
DOI: 10.1126/science.adi5177

Leaf-level coordination principles propagate to the ecosystem scale

Author(s): Ulisse Gomarasca, Mirco Migliavacca, Jens Kattge, Jacob A. Nelson, Ülo Niinemets, Christian Wirth, Alessandro Cescatti, Michael Bahn, Richard Nair, Alicia T. R. Acosta, M. Altaf Arain, Mirela Beloiu, T. Andrew Black, Hans Henrik Bruun, Solveig Franziska Bucher, Nina Buchmann, Chaeho Byun, Arnaud Carrara, Adriano Conte, Ana C. da Silva, Gregory Duveiller, Silvano Fares, Andreas Ibrom, Alexander Kn
Published in: Nature Communications, Issue 14, 3948, 2023, ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39572-5

Conference proceedings (5)

TERRAFORM: Trait Ecology and Biogeochemical Cycles in Deep Time

Author(s): Christos Chondrogiannis, Richard Nair, William Matthaeus, Kamila Kwasniewska, Katie O'Dea, Catarina Barbosa, Antonietta Knettge, Bea Jackson, Jennifer McElwain
Published in: 2023
Publisher: Copernicus Publications
DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu23-17419

Moisture Seasonality as a Differential Driver of Modeled Forest Distribution during the Pennsylvanian

Author(s): William J. Matthaeus, Joseph White, Sophia Macarewich, Jennifer McElwain, Jonathan Wilson
Published in: 2023
Publisher: EGU23, the 25th EGU General Assembly, held 23-28 April, 2023 in Vienna, Austria and Online.
DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu23-17420

Paleo-traits to climate spaces: sensitivity of a translational simulation modeling approach to trait variation for hot-house Earth biotic crisis plant survivability

Author(s): null null, William Matthaeus, Jonathan Wilson, Joseph White, Wray Jones, Owen Cross, Rebecca Hametz-Berner, Shoshi Hornum, Wyatt Mattison, Daniel Peppe, Jennifer McElwain
Published in: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 2025
Publisher: Geological Society of America
DOI: 10.1130/abs/2025am-9808

Ecophysiological Traits of Late Mesozoic Cycadeoids

Author(s): null null, Wray Jones, Jonathan Wilson, William Matthaeus, Joseph White, Rebecca Hametz-Berner, Wyatt Mattison, Daniel Peppe
Published in: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 2025
Publisher: Geological Society of America
DOI: 10.1130/abs/2025am-6115

Quantitative Traits from the Archives: Deriving Extinct Plant Water Transport Strategies from Historic Paleobotanical Collections

Author(s): null null, Jonathan Wilson, William Matthaeus, Joseph White, Daniel Peppe, Wray Jones, Owen Cross, Rebecca Hametz-Berner, Shoshi Hornum, Wyatt Mattison, Jennifer McElwain
Published in: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 2025
Publisher: Geological Society of America
DOI: 10.1130/abs/2025am-8273

Other (1)

Trinity College Botanic Garden long-term monitoring program

Author(s): Midori Yajima, Michelle Murray, Jennifer McElwain, Stephen Waldren
Published in: 2023
Publisher: Dryar
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.b8gtht7h7

Thesis and dissertations (2)

Reconstructing Devonian palaeoatmosphere & palaeoecology using fossil plant traits, Trinity College Dublin, School of Natural Sciences, Botany

Author(s): Bea (Julia) Jackson
Published in: 2024
Publisher: Trinity College Dublin

Sedimentary and foliar mercury sequestrations in contemporary and palaeo-environments, and the establishment of a new leaf-based atmospheric mercury proxy

Author(s): Emma Blanka Kovács
Published in: 2025
Publisher: Trinity College Dublin