Abstract: Too much noise? - A quantitative dive into the mathematical challenges in plant phenomics
A plant's history can often be inferred from the shape of its phenotype - the measurable appearance of a plant. This is especially evident in roots, which demonstrate significant plastic responses to changing environmental conditions during development. Computational techniques to organize the noisy measurements of complex shapes enable the identification of simple and understandable rules governing the formation root phenotypes. Coming from a mathematical shape perspective, we will delve into the function of natural variation in root architectures to mitigate drought and, explore shape diversity and function of epidermal appendages to understand climate-smart seedling establishment. We end the seminar with a look at the phenomics horizon and discuss formal systems that show promise to further discover unknown stress mitigation strategies of plants.