Agricultural and Life Sciences (IFAS)
Plant Ecophysiology Lab
Led by Bruce Schaffer · Horticultural Sciences
What we study
The lab studies how subtropical and tropical plants respond to stresses like flooding, drought, and salinity. They measure leaf gas exchange, water use, and growth to develop ways to protect crops from these stresses.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Fieldwork
- Plants
- Projects
- 2
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Physiological, Biochemical, Growth, and Genomic Responses of Papaya to Soil Salinity
How papaya tolerates salt stress, and whether brassinosteroids help the plants.
Sustaining Avocado Production in the Face of the Lethal Laurel Wilt Disease
How avocado trees respond to laurel wilt, using a GFP-labeled fungus.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Salinity affects physiology, growth, and nutrient uptake of papaya in a calcareous soil
2026 · Scientia Horticulturae
Examines how papaya plants cope with salty irrigation water.
- Effects of Salinity on Bacterial Spot Disease, Physiology, Growth, Fruit Quality, and Transcriptomic Responses in Tomato Plants
2026 · Plants
Sees how salt affects tomato growth and disease resistance.
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- Vegetative Growth and Physiological Responses of Vanilla planifolia to Low-level LED Light Intensity in Controlled-environment Systems
2026 · HortScience
Tests if low light helps vanilla plants grow in greenhouses.
- Coordinated regulation of water relations and leaf succulence in beet (Beta vulgaris L.) under interacting salinity and soil moisture stress
2026 · Acta Physiologiae Plantarum
Looks at how beet plants handle salt and drought together.
- Laurel wilt disease development linked to physiological and vascular changes in grafted and non-grafted Phytophthora-tolerant avocado rootstocks
2026 · Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Bruce Schaffer hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.