Postdoctoral Associate, USDA ARS
Education:
Ph.D: Plant Biology, 2020, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
Bachelor of Arts: International Studies, 2009, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
Research:
Chris Montes is a Research Plant Physiologist with the USDA-ARS Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit in Urbana, IL, USA. His research aims to advance molecular and physiological understanding of crop responses to elevated CO2 and ozone pollution. He does this by identifying potential targets for future breeding programs and promoting the use of FACE technology as a method for phenotyping large plant populations and mapping plant responses to these different abiotic stresses.
Chris is applying his previous experience working in FACE technologies to assist LC3M researchers at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment (iSEE), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. At SoyFACE, researchers augment the concentration of CO2 to simulate future climate projections. The addition of basalt in these futuristic climate scenarios provides a unique opportunity to test if increased CO2 concentrations will drive different rates of CO2 capture by enhanced rock weathering.
Publications:
Burroughs CH, Montes CM, Moller CA, Mitchell NG, Michael AM, Peng B, Kimm H, Pederson T, Lipka AE, Bernacchi CJ, Guan K, Ainsworth EA (2023) Physiological and developmental mechanisms of soybean yield loss to a high temperature gradient. Journal of Experimental Botany (accepted)
Montes CM, Fox C, Sanz-Sáez A, Serbin SP, Kumagai E, Krause MD, Xavier A, Specht JE, Beavis WD, Bernacchi CJ, Diers BW, Ainsworth EA (2022) High-throughput characterization, correlation, and mapping of leaf photosynthetic and functional traits in the soybean (Glycine max) nested association mapping population. Genetics. 221 (2): iyac065. DOI 10.1093/genetics/iyac065
Fu P, Montes CM, Siebers MH, Gomez-Casanovas N, McGrath JM, Ainsworth EA, Bernacchi CJ (2022) Advances in field-based high-throughput photosynthetic phenotyping. Journal of Experimental Botany. 73 (10): 3157-3172. DOI 10.1093/jxb/erac077
Kumagai E, Burroughs CH, Pederson TL, Montes CM, Peng B, Kimm H, Guan K, Ainsworth EA, Bernacchi CJ (2022) Predicting biochemical acclimation of leaf photosynthesis in soybean under in-field canopy warming using hyperspectral reflectance. Plant Cell & Environment. 45 (1): 80-94. DOI 10.1111/pce.14204
Montes CM, Demler HJ, Li S, Martin DG, Ainsworth EA (2022) Approaches to investigate crop responses to ozone pollution: from O3-FACE to satellite-enabled modeling. The Plant Journal. 109 (2): 432-446. DOI 10.1111/tpj.15501
Kimm H, Guan K, Jiang C, Miao G, Wu G, Suyker AE, Ainsworth EA, Bernacchi CJ, Montes CM, Berry JA, Yang X, Frankenberg C, Chen M, Köhler P (2021) A physiological signal derived from sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence quantifies crop physiological response to environmental stresses in the U.S. Corn Belt. Environmental Research Letters. 16: 124051. DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ac3b16
Meacham-Hensold K, Fu P, Wu J, Serbin S, Montes CM, Ainsworth EA, Guan K, Dracup E, Pederson T, Driever SM, Bernacchi CJ (2020) Plot level rapid screening for photosynthetic parameters using proximal hyperspectral imaging. Journal of Experimental Botany 71, 2312-2328.
Choquette NE, Ogut F, Wertin TM, Montes CM, Sorgini CA, Morse AM, Brown PJ, Leakey ADB, McIntyre LM, Ainsworth EA (2019) Uncovering hidden genetic variation in photosynthesis of field-grown maize under ozone pollution. Global Change Biology 25, 4327-4338.
Meacham-Hensold K, Montes CM, Wu J, Guan K, Ainsworth EA, Pederson T, Moore CE, Brown KL, Raines C, Bernacchi CB (2019) High-throughput field phenotyping using hyperspectral reflectance reveals genetic modifications to photosynthetic capacity. Remote Sensing of the Environment 231, 111176.
Bishop KA*, Lemonnier P*, Quebedeaux JC, Montes CM, Leakey ADB, Ainsworth EA (2018) Similar photosynthetic response to elevated carbon dioxide concentration in species with different phloem loading strategies. Photosynthesis Research 137, 453–464. *co-first author
Sanz-Sàez A, Koester RP, Rosenthal DM, Montes CM, Ort DR, Ainsworth EA (2017) Leaf and canopy scale drivers of genotypic variation in soybean response to elevated carbon dioxide concentration. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.111/gcb.13678.
Yendrek CR, Erice G, Montes CM, Tomaz T, Sorgini C, Brown PJ, McIntyre L, Leakey ADB, Ainsworth EA (2017) Elevated ozone accelerates loss of photosynthetic capacity in inbred and hybrid maize in a genotype-specific manner. Plant Cell & Environment. DOI: 10.1111/pce.13075
Yendrek CR, Tomaz T, Montes CM, Cao YY, Morse AM, Brown PJ, McIntyre LM, Leakey ADB, Ainsworth EA (2016) High-throughput phenotyping of maize leaf physiology and biochemistry using hyperspectral reflectance. Plant Physiology. DOI:10.1104/pp.16.01447.
Teaching:
Applied Multivariate Statistics (Spring 2016) – Teaching Assistant, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois.
Intro to Applied Statistics (Spring 2017) – Teaching Assistant (designed new laboratory section), Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois.
Presentations:
Montes CM (2015) Utilizing a biparental population to understand ozone tolerance and improve soybean productivity. Talk, Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit Group Meeting, Urbana, IL.
Montes CM (2016) Introduction to ground-based hyperspectral measurements. Invited talk, EPSCoR – Hyperspectral Workshop, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
Montes CM (2016) Hands-on, real-world processing. Invited talk, EPSCoR – Hyperspectral Workshop, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
Montes CM (2017) SoyFACE: A Platform for Improving Crop Response to Global Atmospheric Change. Talk. University of Illinois & Dupont-Pioneer Plant Sciences Symposium, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.
Montes CM, Diers BW, Ainsworth EA (2021) High-throughput characterization, correlation, and mapping of leaf photosynthetic and functional traits in the soybean (Glycine max) nested association mapping population. Talk. Society for Experimental Biology’s 2021 Annual Conference, Online.
Montes CM (2021) Crops and a changing climate: lessons learned from FACE experiments. Invited talk. North Central Weed Science Society Annual Meeting, Grand Rapids, MI
Montes CM (2022) High-throughput characterization, correlation, and mapping of leaf photosynthetic and functional traits in the soybean (Glycine max) nested association mapping population. Talk. 2022 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD.