Current position
Associate Professor
Career outline
Reader 2007-2008; Dept of Biology, University of York
Senior Lecturer 2003-2007; Dept of Biology, University of York.
Lecturer 1999-2003; Dept of Biology, University of York.
ARC Post Doctoral Research Fellow 1996 - 1999; RSBS, ANU, Canberra, Australia.
Post Doctoral Fellow 1995 - 1996; RSBS, ANU, Canberra, Australia.
EU Post Doctoral Fellow 1993 - 1995; Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Ph.D. 1993; Dept of Botany, University of Toronto, Canada.
B.Sc. (Hons) 1987; Australian National University, Canberra.
Professional activities
Editor: New Phytologist
Editorial Board: Plant, Cell and Environment
Faculty Member: 'Faculty of 1000' Physiological Ecology Section
International Scientific Board: XVII Congress of the Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology (FESPB)
Conference Organiser: 24th New Phytologist Symposium, Oxford, UK 2010
Research interests
The importance of plant respiration in determining the scale and magnitude of future global environmental change is a major focus of my research. With others, I aim to quantify the climate dependence respiration, and determine the impact of variations in respiration on rates of net carbon uptake in a range of contrasting ecosystems over wide spatial and temporal scales. The impact of nutrient gradients and variations in water availability on plant respiration is being assessed. As part of this work, we are combining laboratory and field observations to establish if there are systematic patterns in how plant respiration responds to environmental gradients. We are also working with modellers to improve the representation of plant respiration in global climate-vegetation models. Finally, I am investigating the physiological and biochemical basis of thermal acclimation of respiration to long-term changes in temperature.
Potential research projects for undergraduate and postgraduate students click here
Current research projects:
• Title: Out of the darkness: predicting rates of respiration of illuminated leaves along nutrient gradients. Funding source: ARC Discovery Grant [with M. Turnbull (Christchurch/NZ), P. Meir (Edinburgh/UK), K. Griffin (New York/USA) and J. Lloyd (Leeds/UK)]
• Title: Climate dependent variations in leaf respiration. Funding source: NERC UK [with J. Lloyd (Leeds/UK) and F. Valladares (Madrid/Spain)]
• Title: Nutrient controls on the terrestrial carbon cycle. [with P. Meir (Edinburgh/UK), J. Lloyd (Leeds/UK) and M. Turnbull (Christchurch/NZ)]
• Title: Futile or adaptive? The role of the alternative oxidase in the acclimation of plant respiration to environmental change. Funding source: Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund (with M. Turnbull (Christchurch/NZ), K. Griffin (New York/USA), D. Yakir (Israel) and P Ineson (York, UK)]
• Title: Adaptations of plant respiration to Arctic environmental conditions: does prolonged darkness and extreme cold influence carbon balance during the growing balance during the growing season? Funding source: NSF USA (with K. Griffin and O Anderson (New York/USA), M. Turnbull (Christchurch/NZ)])
Selected Publications
Atkin, O.K., Sherlock, D., Fitter, A.H., Jarvis, S., Hughes, J.K., Campbell, C., Hurry, V. and Hodge, A. (2009). Temperature dependence of respiration in roots colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. New Phytologist 182: 188-199.
Atkin O.K. and Macherel, D. (2009) The crucial role of plant mitochondria in orchestrating drought tolerance. Annals of Botany 103: 581-597.
Atkin, O.K., Atkinson, L.J., Fisher, R., Campbell, C.D., Zaragoza-Castells, J., Woodward, F.I., Pitchford, J., and Hurry, V. (2008). Using temperature-dependent changes in leaf scaling relationships to quantitatively account for thermal acclimation of respiration in a coupled global climate-vegetation model. Global Change Biology 14: 2709-2726.
Zaragoza-Castells, J., Valladares, F., Sánchez-Gómez, D., Hartley, I.P., J. Lloyd and Atkin, O.K. (2008). Climate-dependent variations in leaf respiration in a dry-land, low productivity Mediterranean forest: the importance of acclimation in both high-light and shaded habitats. Functional Ecology 22: 172-184.
Atkin, O.K., Scheurwater, I. and Pons, T.L. (2007). The ratio of respiration to photosynthesis in whole-plants is homeostatic across moderate growth temperatures, but not when plants experience unusually high mean daily temperatures. New Phytologist 174: 367-384.
Campbell, C.D., Atkinson, L.J., Zaragoza-Castells, J., Lundmark, M., Atkin, O.K. and Hurry, V. (2007). Acclimation of photosynthesis and respiration is asynchronous in response to changes in temperature regardless of plant functional group. New Phytologist 176: 375-389.
Atkin, O.K., Scheurwater, I. and Pons, T.L. (2006). High thermal acclimation potential of both photosynthesis and respiration in two lowland Plantago species in contrast to an alpine congeneric. Global Change Biology 12: 500-515.
Armstrong, A.F., Logan, D., Tobin, A.K., O’Toole, P. and Atkin, O.K. (2006). Heterogeneity of plant mitochondrial responses underpinning respiratory acclimation to the cold in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves. Plant, Cell and Environment 29: 940-949.
Atkin, O.K. and Tjoelker, M.G. (2003). Thermal acclimation and the dynamic response of plant respiration to temperature. Trends in Plant Science 8: 343-351.
Atkin, O.K., Evans, J.R., Ball, M.C., Lambers, H. and Pons, T.L. (2000). Leaf respiration of snow gum in the light and dark. Interactions between temperature and irradiance. Plant Physiology 122: 915-923.
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