Alexander Cheesman

Alexander Cheesman is a Senior Research Fellow at James Cook University (JCU, Australia) and the University of Exeter (UK), specializing in plant eco-physiology and soil science. His research focuses on tropical systems' responses to climate change, air pollution, and nutrient dynamics. He leads the TropOZ project examining ozone impacts on tropical vegetation and has expertise in stable isotope analysis for ecological studies.

Education: PhD in Soil and Water Science (University of Florida, 2010), BA in Plant Science (Cambridge University, 2004).

Research interests include tropical plant physiology, temperature effects on plant traits, ozone exposure impacts, and phosphorus cycling. He has led or contributed to 7 major projects since 2017, including studies on denitrification bioreactors and tree thermoregulation.

Key findings include reduced tropical forest productivity from ozone exposure and critical temperature thresholds for tropical trees. His work bridges field experiments with controlled manipulations to predict ecosystem responses to global changes.

Grants include funding for TropOZ (2018–2021) and projects on mango leaf pigmentation (2022), C4 grasses (2021), and aquaculture bioreactors (2020). Collaborates with institutions like Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and CTFS-ForestGEO.