Patricia Torquato

I am investigating the relationship between the performance of urban trees at their planted climate with ‘where’ they originated from.

Urban street tree species are frequently planted outside the areas where they naturally occur – defined as their realised niche. It is important therefore to verify the performance of these species as they will often be growing in a different climatic condition to that of their natural distribution. In addition, climate change is expected to decrease rainfall and increase average temperatures and temperature extremes, which may also affect street tree performance.

In this study I aim to measure the performance of urban tree species in different climatic conditions and relate it to ‘where’ these species originated from. The results will contribute to our understanding of the climatic realised niches of individual species and will assist in the identification of suitable street tree species.

Contact

prettondinit@student.unimelb.edu.au

Research Interests

Tree physiology, urban forest, tree species climatic niche

Supervisors

A/Prof Stephen Livesley, Dr Chris Szota, and Prof Stefan Arndt

Publications

Torquato PR, Zou CB, Adhikari A, Adams H and Will RE (2020). Drought Tolerance and Competition in Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) Encroachment of the Oak-Dominated Cross Timbers. Front. Plant Sci. 11:59.

Education

2019 Masters in Science, Oklahoma State University, USA. Thesis: “Water relation and photosynthetic performance of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and post oak (Quercus stellate) in the Cross Timbers forest”
2015 Bachelor in Forestry Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil