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LEMONTREE

@lemontree-uofr.bsky.social

278 followers 450 following 173 posts

International project using Eco-Evolutionary Optimality theory to develop a next-generation terrestrial biosphere model. Led by Sandy Harrison & Colin Prentice. This project is supported by Schmidt Sciences, LLC. research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree

Posts Replies Media

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 8h

Up now on the blog- our latest research on using isoprene emissions to track the impacts of El Niño's on tropical forests. ourresearch.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/tr...

ourresearch.reading.ac.uk

Tracking El Niño’s impact on tropical forests from space – Lemontree 

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Published in @commsearth.nature.com: groundwater plays a major role in shaping photosynthesis across the US. In forests, its influence can be comparable to, or greater than, climatic aridity. 👇 www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Groundwater regulates the spatial pattern of photosynthesis in the contiguous United States - Communications Earth & Environment

Groundwater, represented by water table depth, plays a critical role in shaping spatial patterns of photosynthesis across the United States, with effects comparable to aridity, according to a study th...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

🚨 New research led by Haoran Lui shows that satellite-derived isoprene emissions can trace the evolving footprint of heat and water stress across tropical ecosystems during El Niño events.Published in @nature.com NPJ Climate & Atmospheric Science🔗https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-026-01518-1

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

How well do climate models represent the plants that make up our land carbon sink? Our new research compares crops & C3/C4 vegetation across leading ESMs, using carbon isotopes to reveal important uncertainties. 🔗 research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/re... Led by @JOvwemuvwose in @egubg.bsky.social

research.reading.ac.uk

Reducing Uncertainty in Climate Models Starts with Plants - Lemontree

Land ecosystems absorb around 30% of human CO₂ emissions, but how well can climate models predict this vital carbon sink? A new LEMONTREE study reveals how differences in the representation of global ...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Late to the celebrations… she was too modest to tell us! 🎉Delighted to celebrate A/Prof Wang Han and her Tsinghua Uni Outstanding Mentor Award, recognising her fantastic support for early-career scientists. 🌱 Read more here:👇 research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/ce... @tsinghuauniversity.bsky.social

research.reading.ac.uk

Celebrating Wang Han: An Outstanding Mentor - Lemontree

Celebrating LEMONTREE’s Wang Han, recipient of Tsinghua University’s Outstanding Mentor Award, and her commitment to supporting early-career researchers.

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Check out our blog by ECR Sophia Cain who recently attended the @iccscambridge.bsky.social summer school! A great week learning a range of skills needed in today's world of AI and working with large climate datasets, including ethics & sustainability. research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/ic...

research.reading.ac.uk

ICCS Summer School 2026 – Greener Software Engineering - Lemontree

LEMONTREE ECR, Sophia Cain, reflects on the ICCS Summer School covering an excellent introduction to research software engineering, modern computational methods and the emerging challenges associated ...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Calling all land carbon cycle researchers! 🌍🌱 Submit your abstract to our LEMONTREE-convened #AGU26 session: Deciphering Land Carbon Sinks: Integrating Data, Models & Observations. 📅 Deadline: 5 August 2026 🔗 Submit your abstract: agu.confex.com/agu/agu26/pr... Please share with your colleagues!

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Members of the LEMONTREE team are at the ICCS Cambridge Summer School! 🌍💻 A week of hands-on training in research software engineering, AI, machine learning, HPC, reproducibility and more-computational skills needed for the next generation of climate science. Blog coming soon! 🚀

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Fieldwork in the Baima Mountains- Part 3. The final instalment of our fieldwork diary follows the LEMONTREE & LPICEA team as they process hundreds of plant samples to measure photosynthesis, hydraulics and functional traits. 👇 research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/fi... @tsinghuauniversity.bsky.social

research.reading.ac.uk

Fieldwork in the Baima Mountains – Part 3: Laboratory Work - Lemontree

The Baima Mountains field campaign enters its next phase as the LEMONTREE and Tsinghua teams transform hundreds of plant samples into data on photosynthesis, hydraulics and plant traits.

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

🌿Fieldwork in the Baima Mountains – Part 2! The sampling is underway in SW China with our team measuring photosynthesis, hydraulics, roots and plant traits across one of Asia's most spectacular elevation gradients. Read more: research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/fi... @tsinghuauniversity.bsky.social

research.reading.ac.uk

Fieldwork in the Baima Mountains Part 2: Sampling Begins - Lemontree

Part two from our fieldwork campaign in the Baima Mountains in China.

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

🌿 Field season has begun! Colin and Sandy along with our Tsinghua colleagues, are exploring an elevational transect in China's Baima Mountains, investigating how plant traits respond to changing temperature and moisture. Read more here: research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/fi...

research.reading.ac.uk

Fieldwork Begins in the Baima Mountains - Lemontree

Fieldwork begins in the Baima Mountains as LEMONTREE researchers, including Sandy Harrison and Colin Prentice, explore how plant photosynthetic, hydraulic and root traits change along a dramatic eleva...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

🌱New blog by Yuzhi Zhu, Cai Wenjia, Ruijie Ding + @nickgregsmith.bsky.social on new approaches to help us understand how carbon is allocated across scales, from leaves and roots to whole ecosystems, bringing together theory, experiments and modelling. research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/un...

research.reading.ac.uk

Understanding Carbon Allocation Across Scales: Highlights from the LEMONTREE Science Meeting - Lemontree

Highlights from the latest LEMONTREE science meeting exploring carbon allocation across scales, from roots and leaves to forests

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

🎉Congrats to @stineb.bsky.social et al whose @newphyt.bsky.social Tansley Review on C + N cycles has been recognised as one of the Top 10 most viewed papers of 2024! Check out our blog on why it resonated, and how we continue to build on this work 👇 research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/le...

research.reading.ac.uk

LEMONTREE in the Tansley Review’s Top 10 Most Viewed: Reflecting on Our Carbon–Nitrogen Synthesis - Lemontree

LEMONTREE recognised as one of the top 10 most viewed papers published in New Phytologist in 2024 for our review paper: Empirical evidence and theoretical understanding of ecosystem carbon and nitroge...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

🌿New paper out in @newphyt.bsky.social led by David Sandoval showing the max quantum yield of terrestrial photosynthesis is not fixed. It follows a universal bell-shaped response to temperature that varies with climate adaptation. Read the paper here: doi.org/10.1111/nph.... @victorflo.bsky.social

Environmental influences on the maximum quantum yield of terrestrial primary production

Temperature and aridity effects on terrestrial ecosystems' intrinsic quantum yield.

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

🌱Do leaves and roots follow the same strategy? New research led by Yuzhi Zhu in Ecology Letters shows that leaf and fine root traits in subtropical forest plants are largely decoupled, with independent above- and below-ground resource strategies. 👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Non‐Correlated Variation of Leaf and Fine Root Traits in Subtropical Forest Plants

Using coupled above- and below-ground trait sampling on individuals of co-existing species, we quantified relationships between 18 leaf and fine root traits in two environmentally contrasting subtrop...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

🌱Our latest blog is live: To predict ecosystem responses accurately, models must move beyond simple carbon-water trade-offs and include the full reality of plant thermoregulation: Carbon, Water AND Heat. research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/tr...

research.reading.ac.uk

Triple-Target Optimization: Heat as the Third Target in Plant Function - Lemontree

A new review published in Nature Plants by LEMONTREE argues that leaf temperature (Tl), not air temperature (Ta), should be central to how we understand plant physiology, thermoregulation, and future ...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

🌱New in @NaturePlants. Our review shows that its leaf, not air temperature, that is key in LSMs. Moving toward a triple-target optimisation of carbon gain-water loss-thermal regulation. Xu Lian et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Leaf temperature and its departure from ambient air temperature - Nature Plants

How leaf temperature deviates from air temperature informs species’ thermoregulation strategies. This meta-analysis-based Review presents a global picture of thermoregulation behaviours and the implic...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

#LEMONTREE @egu.eu Back L-R: Ruijie Ding, Sandy Harrison, Colin Prentice, Haoran Liu, David Sandoval, @rodolfonobrega.bsky.social, Jaideep Joshi, Ning Dong. Front L-R: @giulimeng.bsky.social, Jierong Zhao, Sophia Cain, Mendgi Gao & @nickgregsmith.bsky.social. ©Franz Pfluegl #EGU26, www.fotograf.at.

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Two final LEMONTREE talks this afternoon at #EGU26 🌿 📍Room 2.95 🗣️ Helin Zhang – multi-tracer constraints on photosynthesis 🗣️Giulia Mengoli– predicting net ecosystem exchange using eco-evolutionary optimality research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/le... @giulimeng.bsky.social #EGU #EarthScience

research.reading.ac.uk

LEMONTREE AT EGU 2026 - Lemontree

Attending the 2026 EGU conference we have three PIs, four PDRAs, four PhD students, and six collaborators. Here’s we share what's happening throughout the week

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

This morning at #egu2026 we had Akash Verma give his talk on "Tropical Forest Canopy Thermoregulation Observed from Space". You can check out his abstract here: meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU26/EGU26-...

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

📢Check out our latest blog where PhD student Astrid Ode tests a key prediction from eco-evolutionary optimality (EEO) theory: that plant traits respond to environmental change in a coordinated way to maintain efficient resource use. @bsa-ecophys.bsky.social 👇 research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/co...

research.reading.ac.uk

Coordinated leaf trait responses to elevated CO₂: experimental evidence from crop species - Lemontree

A new study led by LEMONTREE PhD student Astrid Odé (Utrecht University), published in Plant Ecophysiology, tests a key prediction from eco-evolutionary optimality (EEO) theory: that plant traits resp...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

This afternoon, head to room N1 for PhD student Sophia Cain's talk on: Annual litter fuel load estimation from optimality-derived litterfall and decomposition dynamics.https://research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/lemontree-at-egu-2026/ #egu2026

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

The team are busy this morning in session BG3.5: Improving model representation of ecosystem processes and climate responses at #egu2026. LEMONTREE PI @stineb.bsky.social is chairing this session. research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/le...

research.reading.ac.uk

LEMONTREE AT EGU 2026 - Lemontree

Attending the 2026 EGU conference we have three PIs, four PDRAs, four PhD students, and six collaborators. Here’s we share what's happening throughout the week

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

If you are at #EGU2026, join us today for a fantastic line-up of talks and posters from the team🌱 📍BG1.11 (Orals): Room 1.85/86 📍BG3.3 (Orals): Room 1.15/16 📍Posters: Hall X1 Details🔗https://research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/lemontree-at-egu-2026/ @nickgregsmith.bsky.social @giulimeng.bsky.social

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

It's almost time for #egu2026. We've got 17 members of the #lemontree team heading to Vienna to share their research. Check out the blog for all the details👇 research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/le... #egu #vienna

research.reading.ac.uk

LEMONTREE AT EGU 2026 - Lemontree

Attending the 2026 EGU conference we have three PIs, four PDRAs, four PhD students, and six collaborators. Here’s we share what's happening throughout the week

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Delighted to have @nickgregsmith.bsky.social over in the UK. Nick will be working with Colin Prentice and Sandy Harrison this week before they all head to EGU at the weekend! 📝👌

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

What’s new in evapotranspiration research? Our last LEMONTREE science meeting brought together three talks—now distilled into a short, easy read: research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/le...

research.reading.ac.uk

LEMONTREE Science Meeting: Perspectives on Evapotranspiration - Lemontree

Updates from the LEMONTREE's Ecohydrology working group on the theme of evapotranspiration: from theoretical advances in carbon–water coupling, to data-driven model evaluation and large-scale hydrolog...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Something a little lighthearted today to break up the doom and gloom in the news 🌱 A fun, AI-generated image of LEMONTREE PIs Colin Prentice and Sandy Harrison, created by Boya Zhou, a PhD student at Imperial College London, using Nano Banana.

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

🌾New research out today in @EarthsFutureEiC shows adaptive sowing could help mitigate global wheat losses. It's more a question of WHEN to sow than WHAT. 🔗to paper: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... For the blog👇

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Adaptive Sowing Helps Mitigate Future Wheat Losses Globally

Moderate warming prompts earlier sowing, while stronger warming delays sowing in most wheat areas Adaptive sowing dates coupled with CO2 fertilization could help mitigate the adverse effects of c...

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

🌽📢Just out in @plantecophys.bsky.social : "Experimental Evidence for Coordinated Leaf Trait Responses to Elevated CO2 in Five Common Crop Species" led by LEMONTREE PhD student Astrid Ode. Check it out👇 www.sciltp.com/journals/Pla...

Experimental Evidence for Coordinated Leaf Trait Responses to Elevated CO2 in Five Common Crop Species

Understanding leaf trait responses to changing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations ([CO 2 ]) is essential for land- surface modelling. Eco-evolutionary optimality ( EEO ) theory predicts coordinated respo...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

🌱One to check out- our latest blog for our research on how EEO explains the acclimated temperature response of photosynthesis! research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/th...

research.reading.ac.uk

A new explanation for how photosynthesis acclimates to warming - Lemontree

A new New Phytologist study led by Wenyao Gan shows that thermal acclimation of photosynthesis emerges naturally from eco-evolutionary optimality theory. Using the sub-daily P model, the research expl...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Keep your eye's peeled on our website for our blog on our latest paper!👀👇

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Why does the optimal temperature of photosynthesis shift with growth temperature and what mechanisms explain this acclimation? Find out in our new paper in @newphyt.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

An eco‐evolutionary optimality model explains the acclimated temperature response of photosynthesis

The optimal temperature of photosynthesis (Topt) generally increases with plant growth temperature. Changes in Topt are associated with changes in the maximum carboxylation capacity at 25°C (Vcmax25...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

🚨Last few days to apply for a PDRA in EEO Vegetation Modelling at the @uor-research.bsky.social with Sandy Harrison. A great opportunity for someone looking to integrate existing EEO components into the JULES and EC-LAND land-surface models. Deadline 8th March! jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

jobs.reading.ac.uk

Post-Doctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) in EEO Vegetation Modelling:Whiteknights Reading UK

Full time, fixed term contract (12 months, with the potential for extension subject to funding)

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Updates from our recent LEMONTREE Science Meeting: new results across the three major components of whole-plant respiration: leaves, stems, and fine roots, alongside emerging insights into biomass production efficiency. research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/pl...

research.reading.ac.uk

Plant Respiration: Research Updates from the LEMONTREE Science Meeting (Jan 2026) - Lemontree

Updates from our recent LEMONTREE Science Meeting. Members of Working Group A (Leaf area dynamics and carbon allocation) presented new results across the three major components of whole-plant respirat...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

🔥Start your week with our short blog on 'Wildfires on a Changing Planet'. A study into how the different components of fire will respond to climate change. Spoiler- we need to move beyond a single metric as they don't all respond the same way! 👇 research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/wi... #wilfdire

research.reading.ac.uk

Wildfires on a changing planet - Lemontree

Our new Nature Communications paper led by Olivia Haas explores how these apparently conflicting signals might evolve over the coming century and why focusing on burned area alone risks missing critic...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

🔥Out today in @nature.com Communications, Olivia Haas, Colin Prentice & Sandy Harrison explore how conflicting fire signals might evolve over the coming century & why focusing on burned area alone risks missing critical changes in wildfire behaviour. Blog Monday 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Wildfires on a changing planet - Nature Communications

Climate and land-use changes will redistribute fire across the planet. Larger, more frequent, and intense wildfires are projected in extra-tropical regions, while human-driven declines in fire activit...

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Check out our blog on our novel approach to estimating long-term mean transpiration–evapotranspiration (T/ET) ratios using the generalized proportionality hypothesis and watershed-scale hydrological observations. research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/ho...

research.reading.ac.uk

How much of evapotranspiration is actually transpiration? - Lemontree

In our recent paper published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, we present a new, observation-based approach to estimating long-term mean evapotranspiration partitioning at the watershed scale, ...

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

🚨The 2nd post with the team is also @uniofreading.bsky.social for a PDRA in EEO Fire Modelling with Prof Sandy Harrison. Deadline is the 27th Feb! Details below: jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

jobs.reading.ac.uk

PDRA in EEO Fire Modelling:Whiteknights Reading UK

Full time, fixed term contract (initially for 15 months with the potential for extension subject to funding)

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Our new paper in HESS 📄 We present a novel approach to estimating long-term mean transpiration–evapotranspiration (T/ET) ratios using the generalized proportionality hypothesis and watershed-scale hydrological observations. Blog coming soon. hess.copernicus.org/articles/30/...

hess.copernicus.org

Insights into evapotranspiration partitioning based on hydrological observations using the generalized proportionality hypothesis

Abstract. Evapotranspiration comprises transpiration, soil evaporation, and interception. The partitioning of evapotranspiration is challenging due to the lack of direct measurements and uncertainty o...

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Following on from yesterday, here's our latest blog on the paper by @huiyingxu.bsky.social & Wang Han et al.,👇 research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/sa... Go check it out!

research.reading.ac.uk

How plants balance water transport and photosynthesis across the globe - Lemontree

New research shows how eco-evolutionary optimality explains global variation in sapwood–leaf area ratios, linking plant hydraulics, climate and photosynthesis.

Reposted by LEMONTREE

Visualising Climate @visualisingclimate.com · 28/01/2026

Join us in Bologna, Italy, 4–6 Nov 2026 for Visualising Climate — the first global conference fully dedicated to climate data visualization and its power to transform public understanding of a changing planet. Come see the data. visualisingclimate.org #VisualisingClimate2026 #DataVis #ClimateCrisis

Reposted by LEMONTREE

New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Global variation in the ratio of sapwood to leaf area explained by optimality principles Xu et al. @huiyingxu.bsky.social @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/QQQWKU...

The sensitivities of the theoretical model to climate and hydraulic traits.

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

📢New paper published today in @newphyt.bsky.social We develop an EEO framework to explain global variation in the sapwood-to-leaf area ratio, linking plant hydraulics, photosynthesis and climate. Blog coming soon.🔗 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @huiyingxu.bsky.social

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Just out🚨! A new LEMONTREE study explores how shifting balances between C3 and C4 plants affect global photosynthesis and carbon isotopes — revealing only a small role in recent atmospheric changes. research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/wh...

research.reading.ac.uk

What the global decline in C4 plants means for the carbon cycle and why it doesn’t fully explain atmospheric isotope trends - Lemontree

A new LEMONTREE study explores how shifting balances between C3 and C4 plants affect global photosynthesis and carbon isotopes — revealing only a small role in recent atmospheric changes.

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LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Kicking off 2026 with a new paper and blog from the LEMONTREE team🔥🌍How do global climate patterns like ENSO shape wildfire risk across the US—now and under warming? Blog 👉: research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/ho... #ENSO #wildfires. Paper 🔗👇

research.reading.ac.uk

How Global Climate Patterns Shape Wildfire Risk in the United States - Lemontree

New LEMONTREE research reveals how global climate modes like ENSO and the AMO shape US wildfire risk today and under future warming.

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Reposted by LEMONTREE

Snehanjana Chatterjee @snehanjanac.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

First AGU was successful! #AMF #AGU25 #NewOrleans #PlantEcophys Thanks to @nickgregsmith.bsky.social @texastechlib.bsky.social @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social @schmidtsciences.bsky.social

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Tomorrow is the final day for LEMONTREE at #AGU25. We are ending up our week with a poster from @snehanjanac.bsky.social on Friday morning in the poster hall! It's been a great week.

LEMONTREE @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Day 4 #AGU25. A mix of posters and talks lined up today from the team. Be sure to check them out if you are at AGU. Details here: research.reading.ac.uk/lemontree/le...