Symposium: Traits & Trait Integration

Location: FZJ Central Library, Juelich

Date: 21.10 - 22.10.2025

Chairpersons: Hendrik Poorter, Fabio Fiorani


      Tuesday 21 October

Time Speaker Session Title
09:00 Fabio Fiorani (FZJ) Opening address
09:15 Hendrik Poorter (FZJ, WUR) Unsolved questions I am still puzzled about after 40 years of research
09:55 Eva Rosenqvist (KU) & Carl-Otto Ottosen The value of understanding photosynthesis responses to abiotic stresses
10:35 Break
10:55 Hannah Schneider (IPK) Costs and trade-offs for root anatomical traits
11:35 Justus Hennecke (WUR) Root traits spectrum and the role of mycorrhizas
12:15 Lunch
13:15 Mark Westoby (MQ) The history (and future) of plant trait research
13:55 Wim van Ieperen (WUR) How growth rooms affect physiology and morphology
14:35 Thijs Pons (UU) Why do shade-tolerators survive better in shade?
15:15 Break
15:35 Bertrand Muller (INRAE) Does growth follow photosynthesis or vice-versa?
16:15 Achim Walter (ETH) How to use traits in agronomy advantageously
16:55 Ulrich Schurr (FZJ) How to improve science relevance
17:30 Drinks
19:00 Dinner


       Wednesday 22 October

Time Speaker Session Title
09:00 Ian Wright (HIE) Traits do not live by themselves: trait integration
09:40 Hans Lambers (UWA) How can we make the root economics space relevant beyond nitrogen-limited low-diversity ecosystems?
10:20 Break
10:40 Owen Atkin (ANU) Physiological plasticity of C-assimilation dynamics
11:20 Jorad de Vries (WUR) How can we make trait-based simulation models more useful?
12:00 Ahmed Debez (CBBC) In which traits do halophytes differ from glycophytes?
12:40 Lunch
13:20 Julie Messier (UW) Musings on trait variation and integration
14:00 Johannes Postma (FZJ) How are traits affected by neighbors?
14:40 Fabio Fiorani (FZJ) Closing
14:45 Tour along the Phenotyping facilities
15:30 Phenotyping tour ends

You can also download the program as a PDF here