Melbourne School of Land and Environment Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science

Patrick’s research interests are centred on understanding processes and feedbacks between vegetation, soil and climate that control water balance from the leaf-level to whole catchment scale.  The bulk of Patrick’s previous research has involved assessing the plant water relations of semi-arid ecosystems to determine key drivers of water use across landscapes in south-western Australia.  He also has considerable experience in assessment of tree-site ecohydrology of native lakebed tree populations and agroforestry systems prone to dryland salinity.  Patrick possesses a broad range of skills in ecophysiological and hydrological techniques and continues to be involved in the development of new methods to measure fluxes of water from vegetation.  His current research focuses on forested water use dynamics and the effects of fire and disturbance on plant functioning and catchment water balance in north-eastern Victoria.

Doctor of Philosophy (Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia)

Bachelor of Science (Environmental) 1st Class Honours (Griffith University/Edith Cowan University)

Current and recent research interests

• Forest water balance studies and scaling from plot to whole catchment
• Physiological and structural responses of plant communities to fire and implications for catchment water balance
• Modelling energy and water balance in mixed canopies using plot-based and remotely sensed data
• Measuring sap flow in plants
• Plant hydraulics and long distance water transport dynamics
• Using plant functional traits to determine tradeoffs in water use and growth
• Method development in evapotranspiration and plant water relations measurements
• Tree-site hydrology in salt-land and non salt-affected forestry systems

Forests and Water Research Group Webpage

International peer-reviewed journals

Mitchell, P.J., Veneklaas, E.J., Lambers, H. and Burgess, S.S.O.   Water use partitioning in semi-arid ecosystems: transpiration thresholds and cavitation dynamics among different plant functional types along a soil type gradient.  In prep.

Mitchell, P.J., Veneklaas, E.J., Lambers, H. and Burgess, S.S.O. (2009)  Partitioning of evapotranspiration in a semi-arid eucalypt woodland in south-western Australia.  Agricultural and Forestry Meteorology, 149: 25-37.

Mitchell, P.J., Veneklaas, E.J., Lambers, H. and Burgess, S.S.O. (2008)  Leaf water relations during summer water deficit: differential responses in turgor maintenance and variation in leaf structure among different plant communities in south-western Australia.  Plant, Cell and Environment, 31: 1791-1802.

Mitchell, P. J., Veneklaas, E. J., Lambers, H. and Burgess, S. S. O.  (2008)  Using multiple trait associations to define hydraulic functional types in plant communities of south-western Australia.  Oecologia, 158: 385-397.

Langensiepen, M., Burgess, S. S. O., Lambers, H., Mitchell, P. J., Veneklaas, E. A model for simulating transpiration of Eucalyptus salmonophloia trees.  Physiologia Plantarum, 127: 465-477.

Conference proceedings

Mitchell, P. J., Veneklaas, E. J., Lambers, H. and Burgess, S. S. O.  Characterising the ecohydrology of vegetation along topographic gradients in semi-arid Australia: the role of ‘hydraulic functional types’ and soil water limitation.  Ecohydrology and Ecophysiology of Plants in Water-limited Environments, Perth, Australia, September 2008.

Mitchell, P. J., Veneklaas, E. J., Lambers, H. and Burgess, S. S. O.  The contribution of summer rainfall and soil evaporation to the water budget of eucalypt woodland in south-western Australia .  EcoFIZZ Annual Meeting. Sydney, NSW, Australia. September, 2007.

Mitchell, P. J., Veneklaas, E. J., Lambers, H. and Burgess, S. S. O.  Annual water budget of a remnant Eucalyptus capillosa (inland wandoo) woodland in south-western Australia.  6th International Workshop on Measuring Sap Flow and its Application to Plant Sciences. Perth, WA, Australia. November, 2006.

Mitchell, P. J., Veneklaas, E. J., Burgess, S. S. O. and Lambers, H.   Characterising plant water use in species-rich communities of south-western Australia using hydraulic functional types.  International Workshop on Water Relations of Plants from Seasonally Dry Environments. Perth, WA, Australia. July, 2005.

Reports
Boxshall, B. J. and Mitchell, P. J.  (2008)  Research and Development of Casuarina obesa – Final Report.  Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management, The University of Western Australia. SCNRM Report No. 13.