biology

Marilyn Ball

Marilyn Ball is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Marilyn Ball rather than just read about it. In short: Marilyn Ball is a professor at the College of Medicine, Biology and Environment at the Australian National University (ANU), and leader of the Ball (Marilyn) Lab for Ecophysiology of Salinity and Freezing Tolerance. Ball gained her PhD in environmental biology from the ANU in 1982.

Key takeaways

Marilyn Ball belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Marilyn Ball to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Marilyn Ball from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Marilyn Ball is a professor at the College of Medicine, Biology and Environment at the Australian National University (ANU), and leader of the Ball (Marilyn) Lab for Ecophysiology of Salinity and Freezing Tolerance. Ball gained her PhD in environmental biology from the ANU in 1982. She held postdoctoral positions at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981 to 1984 and at the ANU's North Australia Research Unit in Darwin from 1985 to 1988. In 1989, Ball was awarded a National Research Fellowship from the Australian Research Council. In 1990, Ball was appointed to a tenured position in biology at the ANU and since then has led an eco-physiological research group there. She is a member of the Australian Antarctic Research Advisory Committee and serves on the Editorial Boards of the international journals: Ecosystems, Global Change Biology, Oecologia, Plant, Cell & Environment, and Tree Physiology.

Areas of expertise Global Change Biology Plant Physiology Ecological Physiology Cell Metabolism

Awards

2009 Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, awarded by the Australian Academy of Science Joint College Award for Excellence in Education, awarded by the ANU College of Medicine, Biology & Environment and the ANU College of Physical & Mathematical Sciences

2007 Lifetime Honorary Member Award from the Ecological Society of America

Ball (Marilyn) Lab for Ecophysiology of Salinity and Freezing Tolerance Ball's laboratory investigates how plant communities respond to changed environmental conditions, in terms of their physiology. In particular they explore the relationships between stress tolerance and photosynthesis, and the consequences for plants' ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and hence help to remediate climate change. Case studies involve mangroves, temperate evergreen sclerophyll species, and Antarctic vegetation.

Projects

Student projects Ecophysiology of salinity and temperature tolerance in a changing world (Honours, Higher degree by research)

Other projects Climate change and carbon gain in Antarctic mosses Coping with temperature extremes: morphological constraints on leaf function in a warmer, drier climate Salinity tolerance along an aridity gradient: linking physiological processes with morphological constraints on leaf function in mangroves

Publications Publications Authored by Marilyn C Ball

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marilyn Ball

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marilyn Ball claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Marilyn Ball before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Marilyn Ball ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Marilyn Ball

In research: Marilyn Ball appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Marilyn Ball in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Marilyn Ball is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of the Australian National University, Australian biologists, Australian women biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marilyn Ball outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Marilyn Ball” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Marilyn Ball in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Marilyn Ball means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Marilyn Ball out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marilyn Ball in simple terms?

Why does Marilyn Ball matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Marilyn Ball?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Marilyn Ball.