Contact Information
196 E.R. Madigan Laboratory
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Areas
Research Description
Impacts of climate change on crop physiology, energy fluxes between the atmosphere and plant canopies, carbon sequestration, crop canopy responses to stress
The overall focus of my research is to understand the impacts of atmospheric and climatic change on crop species important to the Midwestern U.S. Included in these analyses are global change scenarios as well as natural variations in growth conditions over a wide range of temporal scales.
Specific research includes:
- determining how vegetation responds to atmospheric change with emphasis on energy fluxes between the atmosphere and plant canopies,
- measuring net ecosystem carbon exchange using eddy covariance techniques to estimate the carbon sequestration potential of Midwest agriculture, and
- working toward a mechanistic understanding of crop canopy responses to stresses, such as drought or insect infestation. In addition, I am also involved in numerous projects that focus on soybean physiological responses to growth in elevated CO2 and O3.
Specific research experiments in which I am involved include SoyFACE and the Ameriflux network. My participation with this project includes running two eddy covariance flux towers in Bondville, IL.
Education
M.S., Bradley University
Ph.D., University of Illinois
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, Crop Sciences
Professor, Plant Biology
Professor, Center for Digital Agriculture, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
Director of Phenotyping, Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
Affiliate, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
External Links
Recent Publications
Álvarez-Filip, L., Bai, E., Bernacchi, C. J., Bruno, R., Butterbach-Bahl, K., Byrne, M., Chen, I. C., Chen, S., Cheung, W. W. L., Cotrufo, M. F., Dalu, T., Feng, X., Fu, Y., Gao, Y., Huszar, V. L. M., Janssens, I. A., Jeong, S., Jones, T. H., Joseph, S. D., ... Xia, L. (2026). Prof Stephen P. Long, FRS (1950–2025). GCB Bioenergy, 18(1), Article e70093. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.70093
Bandyopadhyay, S., Blanc-Betes, E., Walton, C., Rutstein, T., Bernacchi, C. J., DeLucia, E. H., Boughton, E. H., Saha, A., Yang, W. H., Moore, C. E., & Gomez-Casanovas, N. (2026). Impacts of Pasture Conversion to Sugarcane on Water Fluxes and Water Use Efficiency in the Southeastern US. GCB Bioenergy, 18(9), Article e70166. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.70166
Benson, M. C., Hartman, T., Pederson, T. L., Yi, K., Heaton, E. A., & Bernacchi, C. J. (2026). The productivity of perennial crops miscanthus and switchgrass is more resistant to vapor pressure deficit stress than maize. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 389, Article 111407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111407
Bernacchi, C. J., & Cavanagh, A. P. (2026). Photosynthetic Responses to Rising CO2 and Temperature: Mechanisms, Models, and Field Evidence. Global change biology, 32(9), Article e71076. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.71076
Chen, Z., Bracho, R., Silveira, M. L., Awada, T., Bernacchi, C. J., Browning, D. M., Clark, P. E., Derner, J. D., DeLucia, E. H., Erickson, G. E., Flerchinger, G. N., Fortuna, A. M., Gomez-Casanovas, N., Hiestand, M., Hoover, D. L., Kaplan, N. E., Khorchani, M., Liebig, M. A., Schreiner-McGraw, A. P., ... Boughton, E. H. (2026). Interactive effects of precipitation, temperature, and grazing pressure on the net ecosystem carbon balance of grazing lands across the continental United States. Ecological Indicators, 190, Article 115288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115288