Elizabeth Ainsworth

About

Elizabeth Ainsworth is a professor in the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois. Her research focuses on plant physiological and molecular responses to global change, including photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism. She investigates how rising carbon dioxide and tropospheric ozone concentrations affect crop productivity, aiming to understand and integrate genetic, molecular, biochemical, and physiological plant responses to global climate change. Her work involves using meta-analyses to quantify plant responses to climate factors, developing high-throughput tools for investigating molecular and physiological responses, and identifying genes and loci responsible for variation in species' responses. The ultimate goal of her research is to provide fundamental knowledge to maximize crop yields and plant productivity in a future with elevated carbon dioxide, ozone, higher temperatures, and increased drought stress.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Environmental resource management
• Environmental science
• Ecology
• Geography
• Natural resource economics
• Biology
• Mathematics

Selected publications

• 30 years of free‐air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE): What have we learned about future crop productivity and its potential for adaptation?

  Global Change Biology · 2020-11-02 · 557 citations

  review1st author

  Abstract Free‐air CO 2 enrichment (FACE) allows open‐air elevation of [CO 2 ] without altering the microclimate. Its scale uniquely supports simultaneous study from physiology and yield to soil processes and disease. In 2005 we summarized results of then 28 published observations by meta‐analysis. Subsequent studies have combined FACE with temperature, drought, ozone, and nitrogen treatments. Here, we summarize the results of now almost 250 observations, spanning 14 sites and five continents. Ac…

  PublisherDOI

• Towards a multiscale crop modelling framework for climate change adaptation assessment

  Nature Plants · 2020 · 309 citations

  PublisherDOI

• Crops and rising atmospheric CO ₂ : friends or foes?

  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · 2025-05-29 · 13 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO 2 ]) is a ubiquitous global change with direct and indirect impacts on crops. The increase in atmospheric [CO 2 ] since the industrial revolution has stimulated photosynthesis in crops and reduced stomatal conductance and canopy transpiration. These physiological changes result in a “CO 2 fertilization effect” contributing to greater crop yields. However, CO 2 is a greenhouse gas and has been the major contributor to increased radiative forcin…

  PublisherDOI

• Designing a nitrogen-efficient cold-tolerant maize for modern agricultural systems

  The Plant Cell · 2025-07-01 · 6 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Maize (Zea mays L.) is the world's most productive grain crop and a cornerstone of global food supply. However, in temperate agricultural systems, maize exhibits 2 key anomalies. First, as a tropical species, maize cannot be planted in the cold conditions of early spring when light and natural soil nitrogen are available, resulting in a shorter growing season and creating a seasonal mismatch between nitrogen accessibility and demand. Second, maize kernel protein is a major nitrogen sink, driving…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Hyperspectral reflectance‐based partial least squares regression models for predicting cotton leaf physiological traits

  The Plant Phenome Journal · 2025-09-25 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Alterations in the mechanistic drivers of photosynthesis have the potential to improve crop productivity, but their measurement is inherently time‐consuming using traditional methods. High‐throughput approaches to estimate photosynthesis using hyperspectral reflectance could be developed by leveraging variation in cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) leaf traits generated through nitrogen (N) management, synthetic growth regulation strategies, and leaf position within the canopy. Currently,…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• MCA-PGR: Genetic and Genomic Approaches to Understand and Improve Maize Responses to Ozone

  NSF · $5.7M · 2013–2019

Frequent coauthors

• Andrew D. B. Leakey

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  124 shared

• Carl J. Bernacchi

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  120 shared

• Donald R. Ort

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  100 shared

• Alistair Rogers

  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  93 shared

• Stephen P. Long

  90 shared

• Kaiyu Guan

  87 shared

• Christopher M. Montes

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  60 shared

• Craig R. Yendrek

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  53 shared

Education

• PhD, Crop Sciences

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  2003

Awards & honors

• 2019 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences
• 2018 Presidential Award, Crop Science Society of America
• 2016, 2017 Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited…
• 2016 Service Recognition Award, College of ACES, UIUC
• 2015 USDA ARS Outreach, Diversity and Equal Opportunity Awar…

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