New PhytologistVolume 216, Issue 4 p. 984-985 ProfileFree Access Teresa Rosas First published: 07 November 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14871AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Teresa Rosas’ poster ‘Whole-plant hydraulics are decoupled from the leaf economics spectrum’ won first prize at the 39th New Phytologist Symposium ‘Trait covariation: structural and functional relationships in plant ecology’. See https://www.newphytologist.org/symposia/39 and Walker et al. (2017) in this issue of New Phytologist (pp. 976–980), for more details. Box Teresa Rosas obtained her BSc in Biology in 2011 at the University of Barcelona (Spain) and her MSc in Terrestrial Ecology in 2012 at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She has been working on different projects studying forest decline associated with global change, especially mechanisms underlying drought-induced forest die-back events in the Mediterranean region. In 2015, Teresa joined Jordi Martínez-Vilalta and Maurizio Mencuccini's team to start a PhD at the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF, Barcelona) under their supervision. She enjoys teaching and communicating science to a wide audience and she has been involved in a number of environmental education programmes. The main goal of Teresa's research is to understand the distribution and variability of plant functional traits and their role on forest function and dynamics. Specifically, she aims to integrate hydraulic traits into the functional trait framework, to assess relationships and trade-offs at different ecological scales and to use this information to define strategies to cope with drought stress and improve the capacity to predict where, and when, changes in forest ecosystem function are likely to occur. For more information on Teresa, visit the group webpage http://www.creaf.cat/recerca/ecophys-ecosystem-physiology-and-global-change or contact Teresa at [email protected]. What inspired your interest in plant science? I have always enjoyed reading. My favourite first books were not only about explorers of the natural world, but also about musicians, foreign languages, and distant islands. When I finished secondary school, I struggled to decide whether to go forward with science or letters, but finally it was biology that offered me the opportunity to go in-depth into that perfectly interconnected diversity of life that had kindled my spirit of enquiry since I was a child. Plants came later, hand-in-hand with my first lectures on ecology. My own nature explorers (my teachers) helped me to answer hundreds of questions about plant physiology and forest functioning in order to dig into my new distant islands. Why did you decide to pursue a career in research? In 2012, during my MSc thesis, I had my first complete research experience – imagine me taking my first notes, trying to put all of the ideas from papers about mechanisms underlying drought-induced forest mortality into order … what chaos! At that time I had the opportunity to work on a long-term drought simulation experiment to characterize nonstructural carbohydrate dynamics. During this field campaign, I realized that spending so many hours with team-mates created strong ties that I really appreciated. Laboratory days converted leaf samples into numbers. R did the rest: how is it that you can hate and love a tool at the same time? The most enjoyable part of this experience was that very special moment when a room full of colleagues is willing to hear about what we had been doing for the last few months, and our forthcoming challenges. Could this exciting process last over time? The answer was yes, and as if that was not good enough on its own, I was able to join Jordi Martínez-Vilalta and Maurizio Mencuccini for my PhD work. It was too tempting not to jump at the opportunity! What motivates you to go to work on a day-to-day basis? Understanding new things has always been my motor: that unpredictable moment when all the pieces come together is really empowering for me and keeps me hooked. However, what really motivates me in my day-to-day activities are people: receiving an email from a friend pushing me to buy some tickets to visit the city where she is starting her postdoc; being part of a team full of bright people with interesting ideas who work together like a well-oiled machine, a team that enjoys sharing lunch, a beer, or even two; and having the opportunity to do my first lectures and observing how the face of one of my students will change when his or her curiosity is aroused. Interaction with all of these people is what really makes my day. Who do you see as your role model(s)? I must say that I am not very fond of the role-model concept. I have met people in many different contexts who have inspired my important life choices. I appreciate open and empathic people who connect with others in a genuine and meaningful way and create relationships built on honesty and humility. In a world where society demands speed and pressure to produce immediate results, I stand for the opposite: seeking patience and appreciating people who kindly peel away the layers of problems through questioning and listening. I think that deep understanding encourages continued growth and passion. For me, happiness has to do with doing things that you love and being around people you admire. What are your favourite New Phytologist papers of recent years, and why? There are a number of important recent contributions to the plant hydraulics framework that encourage my daily research. One example is a paper by Sperry & Love (2015) that provides a fascinating synthesis of basic hydraulic principles and their utility, showing that incorporating plant hydraulics into models can improve our ability to understand and predict how vegetation will respond to climate change. Another interesting paper is by Anderegg (2015), which presents a conceptual framework for intra-specific hydraulic traits variability, reviewing the mechanisms that drive variability and the consequences for vegetation response to new climatic conditions. I also enjoyed reading Grierson et al. (2011), a broader paper that pushes plant scientists into thinking beyond the limits of their own research and makes us wonder about the most important questions facing humanity, and the most important research that could possibly be carried out. What is your favourite plant, and why? If I had to choose one, I would say the olive tree (Olea europaea L.). I see these pieces of nature as majestic and authentic living monuments. When walking among them at twilight sometimes one must remember that they are trees. They have been part of the Mediterranean landscape, where I grew up, since the Phoenicians and Greeks extended their cultivation. The saddest part of the story is that centuries-old olive trees are being removed from our villages, expelled from fertile soils to make room for more productive crops and sold to decorate gardens and roundabouts. For this reason, for me, they are also a symbol of resistance over time and a claim to our land, our culture and our historical testimony. References Anderegg WRL. 2015. Spatial and temporal variation in plant hydraulic traits and their relevance for climate change impacts on vegetation. New Phytologist 205: 1008– 1014. Grierson CS, Barnes SR, Chase MW, Clarke M, Grierson D, Edwards KJ, Jellis GJ, Jones JD, Knapp S, Oldroyd G et al. 2011. One hundred important questions facing plant science research. New Phytologist 192: 6– 12. Sperry JS, Love DM. 2015. What plant hydraulics can tell us about responses to climate-change droughts. New Phytologist 207: 14– 27. Walker AP, McCormack ML, Messier J, Myers-Smith IH, Wullschleger SD. 2017. Trait covariance: the functional warp of plant diversity? New Phytologist 216: 976– 980. Volume216, Issue4December 2017Pages 984-985 ReferencesRelatedInformation