Michal Gruntman: Assistant Professor

Research Interests

My research focuses on plant traits, their evolution and the ability of plants to plastically modify them. My work is motivated by research questions at both the individual and population level.

At the individual level, I study developmental and physiological responses of plants to varying environmental conditions as well as decision making and learning abilities in plants. At the population level, I am interested in the environmental factors that select for certain plant traits and their plasticity range, such as the evolution of invasion-promoting traits in introduced plants.

Current Projects

Know thy enemy: decision-making in plants under competition
The role of biotic interactions in determining metal hyperaccumulation
Invasive success and the evolution of enhanced weaponry
Can plants learn? Pavlovian conditioning without a brain

Publications

Gruntman, M., Groß, D., Májeková, M., Tielbörger, K. 2017. Decision-making in plants under competition. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02147-2

Gruntman M, Anders C, Mohiley A, Laaser T, Clemens S, Höreth S, Tielbörger K 2016: Clonal integration and heavy-metal stress: responses of plants with contrasting evolutionary backgrounds. Evolutionary Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10682-016-9840-9

Gruntman M, Segev U, Gaetan G, Tielbörger K 2016: Evolution of plant defences along an invasion chronosequence: defence is lost due to enemy release- but not forever. Journal of Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12660

Gruntman M, Zieger S and Tielbörger K. (2016) Invasive success and the evolution of enhanced weaponry. Oikos, 125: 59–65.

Joshi S, Gruntman M, Bilton M, Seifan M and Tielbörger K. (2014) A comprehensive test of evolutionarily increased competitive ability in a highly invasive plant species. Annals of Botany, 114: 1761-1768.

Gruntman M, Pehl AK, Joshi S and Tielbörger K (2014) Competitive dominance of the invasive plant Impatiens glandulifera: using competitive effect and response with a vigorous neighbor. Biological Invasions 16: 141-151.

Gruntman M and Novoplansky A (2011) Ontogenetic contingency of tolerance mechanisms in response to apical damage. Annals of Botany 108: 965-73.

Gruntman M, Shirata C and Novoplansky A (2011) Plasticity in apical dominance and damage tolerance under variable resource availability in Medicago truncatula. Plant Ecology, 212: 1537-1548.

Gruntman M and Novoplansky A (2011) Implications of local-scale productivity on compensatory growth in a semi-arid shrubland. Journal of Arid Environments, 75: 279-283.

Gruntman M and Novoplansky A (2004) Physiologically-mediated self/nonself discrimination in roots. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 101: 3863-3867.