| Citation | Osmond is distinguished for his contributions in several fields of metabolic plant physiology and for his integration of these in the context of physiological plant ecology. He has an international reputation for his work on the physiology and metabolism of succulent plants (CAM) and on the biochemistry of photorespiration. He has introduced successful new approaches to such established problems in plant physiology as interactions between electrolytes and metabolism in salinity tolerance. He has established new concepts such as intercellular metabolite transport in C4 photosynthesis, and introduced the application of carbon and hydrogen isotope discrimination as indicators of the limitations to photosynthesis in succulent and aquatic plants. Most recently, proof of his hypotheses that one role of photorespiration is the internal recycling of CO2 and carbon as a means of protection against photoinhibition, has opened the way for evaluation of photoinhibition as the agent responsible for damage to the photosynthetic apparatus during a wide variety of physiological stresses. |