Phone: 864-656-4968
FAX: 864-656-4960
Email: dbielen@clemson.edu

Ph.D. in Plant Physiology, THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY 2000.

B.S. (summa cum laude) in Biology, UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA 1995.

Plants are among the most physiologically complex organisms on our planet.  This complexity is a consequence of their autotrophic nature and their relative immobility following seed germination.  Plants display remarkable physiological plasticity to survive the drastically changing environment throughout a growing season or even within a single day.  A perennial organism must be able to tolerate the freezing temperatures of winter, the intense heat and light of summer, drought episodes, air pollution, poor soils, and much more over many years, decades, or centuries.  Within a single organism over a single day, individual leaves, stems or roots can be exposed to intensely different and rapidly changing environmental conditions.  The many stresses that an organism is exposed to must all be managed to maintain the physiological growth and development that ultimately results in successful reproduction.

My primary research interests are in the physiological and molecular mechanisms of plant interactions with the physical environment.  Past research subjects have included air pollutant injury, root cell plasticity in response to nutrient deficiency, plant behavioral movements in response to light and temperature, and plant response to global change (elevated CO2).  Currently my program is focused on the regulation bud formation in perennials as part of the developmental program that prepares plants to survive potentially damaging winter conditions.  Despite being one of the most dramatic landscape and ecosystem events of the annual cycle, very little is known about the physiological and genetic regulation of dormancy in perennial species.  Ultimately, the goal is to assemble a pathway of events from perception of the signal(s) for dormancy induction through to the developmental events associated with bud formation and endodormancy development.  Ongoing projects include:

• What is the molecular genetic basis for the evergrowing mutation in Prunus persica L. [Batsch], a naturally-occurring mutation that blocks the ability of peach trees to form terminal buds and cease growing in the winter?
• Functional analysis of the novel cluster of tandem-duplicated Type II MADS box genes found in the Evergrowing locus of peach and analysis of the evolutionary history of this locus.
• Discovery of new genes involved in dormancy onset through the use of nondormant genotypes as biological filters for gene expression under dormancy inducing conditions.
• Testing the biological role of the SVP/StMADS11 Type II MADS-box genes in transgenic hybrid poplar.
• Evaluation of the physiological implications and potential utility of non-dormant genotypes for environmental/industrial applications
• Genetic mapping of QTL for chilling requirement for dormancy breaking of endodormant peach trees.
  

BassiriRad H and Bielenberg DG. 2005. Nutrient acquisition of terrestrial plants in a changing climate. In: Nutrient uptake by plants: an ecological perspective. BassiriRad H, ed. Springer-Verlag, Inc., New York.

Bielenberg DG, Wang Y, Fan S, Reighard GL, Scorza R, and Abbott AG. 2004. A deletion affecting several gene candidates is present in the peach Evergrowing mutant. Journal of Heredity 95 (5): 436-444. PDF Download

Bielenberg DG, Miller JD, Berg VS. 2003. Combined effects of PPFD and pulvinus temperature upon paraheliotropic leaf movements and implications for leaf gas exchange in two Phaseolus species. Environmental and Experimental Botany. 49 (2), 95-105. PDF Download

Pell EJ, Miller JD, Bielenberg DG. 2003. Effects of Airborne Pollutants. In: Plant Cell Death Processes. Noodén LD, ed. Academic Press, Inc., New York.

Bielenberg DG, Lynch JP, Pell EJ. 2002. Nitrogen dynamics during O3-induced accelerated senescence and related compensation in hybrid poplar. Plant, Cell & Environment 25 (4), 501-512. PDF Download

Bielenberg DG, Lynch JP, Pell EJ. 2001. A Decline in Nitrogen Availability Affects Plant Responses to O3. The New Phytologist. 151 (2), 413-425. PDF Download

Ma Z, Bielenberg DG, Brown KM, Lynch JP. 2001. Regulation of root hair density by phosphorus availability in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant, Cell & Environment 24 (4), 459-467. PDF Download

BOT 821 - Inorganic Plant Metabolism

BIOSC 401/401H/601 - Plant Physiology

BIOSC 402/602 - Plant Physiology Laboratory

Jennie Kill (M.S. candidate, Biological Sciences)

Yuhui Xie (Ph.D. candidate, Plant and Environmental Sciences)

American Society of Plant Biologists
American Society of Horticultural Science
Sigma Xi