Peter Ryser

Associate Professor

Biology
Sciences and Engineering

705.675.1151 ext. 2353
S-624
Sudbury Campus

I studied Biology at ETH Zurich. My Ph.D. thesis was on interactions between plants in species-rich grasslands under the supervision of Andreas Gigon. I spent lots of time in the field watching the seedlings grow and die, which triggered the wish, not only to be able to observe the survival or death, but also to ask the plants "How are you?". I learned how to ask this question, and how to hear the plants' answer during my postdoctoral stay in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where work with Hans Lambers brought me to my current research track on whole plant ecophysiology, including the roots. I continued this work in Zurich and for the last 10 years I have been working at Laurentian University studying factors which underlie the ecological diversity of wetland species. The diversity of sedges, rushes, bulrushes, beaked rushes, twig-rushes, spike rushes, burr-reeds, cattails etc. in these habitats, all with a similar growth form but different ecological requirements, make them perfect for comparative functional ecology trying to understand how they are adapted to their environment. When living in Sudbury, one is confronted by the legacy of industrial damage in the past, and I also investigate the effects of heavy metal contamination on plants.