Dr Michelle Watt
Research Scientist
CSIRO Plant Industry,
GPO Box 1600 ,
Canberra ACT 2601
Personal Website: none
Email: michelle.watt@csiro.au
The Big Question
- How can cereal root growth and rhizosphere function be enhanced for sustainable farming?
The Short-term goals
- Discover how roots and their rhizospheres interact with soil physical and biological properties in the field
- Gain mechanistic understanding of root growth and rhizosphere development by different genotypes in different soil environments
- Identify cereal genotypes with roots adapted to soil physical and biological constraints for use by farmers, physiological studies and molecular breeding
- Kerry Vinall, technical assistant
- Steve Refshauge, GRDC PhD Scholar. Project: Overcoming cereal root diseases that are induced at low temperatures
- Collaborations at CSIRO Plant Industry with Dr. John Kirkegaard, Agronomist and Soil Scientist, Prof. Margaret McCully, Root Biologist, Dr. John Passioura, Plant Physiologist, Dr. Rosemary White, Cell Biologist, and Dr. Greg Rebetzke and Dr. Richard Richards, Cereal Geneticists
- Collaborations outside CSIRO with Prof. Wendy Silk, University of California, Davis and Dr. Phil Hugenholtz, University of California, Berkeley
GRDC
areas of knowledge
- Root development, anatomy and physiology including specialized Proteoid roots
- Rhizosphere chemical and biological processes
- Whole plant physiology and nutrient acquisition
technical skills
- Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)
- Microscopy (eg. laser confocal, cryo-scanning electron with microanalysis) and image analysis
- Root exudate collection and analysis
- Growth analysis
| A statement on my most significant contributions to this research Field
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New knowledge of root and rhizosphere processes gained by coupling developmental and physiological measurements over fine time scales and new knowledge of root-soil interactions in the field obtained usingmolecular and microscopy imaging techniques.
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Watt M , McCully ME and Kirkegaard JA (2003) Soil strength and rate of root elongation alter the accumulation of Pseudomonas spp. and other bacteria in the rhizosphere of wheat. Functional Plant Biology 30: 482-491.
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Watt M , Evans JR (2003) Soil phosphorus acquisition by white lupin ( Lupinus albus L.) and soybean ( Glycine max L.)- species with contrasting root development. Plant and Soil 248: 271-283.
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Ryan PR, Dong B, Watt M , Kataoka T, Delhaize E (2003) Strategies to isolate transporters that facilitate organic anion efflux from plant roots. Plant and Soil 248: 61-69.
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Pate J, Watt M (2002) Roots of Banksia spp. (Proteaceae) with special reference to functioning of their specialized proteoid root clusters. In: Plant Roots: The Hidden Half, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded . Waisel et al., (eds). Dekker , New York , pp 989-1006.
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Watt M , Evans JR (1999) Update: Proteoid roots. Development and physiology. Plant Physiology 121: 317-323
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Watt M , Evans JR (1999) Linking development and determinacy with organic acid efflux from proteoid roots of Lupinus albus L. grown with low phosphorus and ambient or elevated atmospheric CO 2 concentration. Plant Physiology 120: 705-716
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Watt M , Van der Weele CM, McCully ME, Canny MJ (1996) Effect of soil moisture on hydrophobic deposits and dye diffusion in corn roots. Botanica Acta 109: 492-501
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Topp GC, Watt M , Hayhoe HN (1996) Point specific measurement and monitoring of soil water content with an emphasis on TDR. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 76: 301-316
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Watt M , McCully ME, Canny MJ (1994) Formation and stabilisation of maize rhizosheaths: Effect of soil water content. Plant Physiology 106: 179-186
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Watt M , McCully ME, Jeffree CE (1993) Plant and bacterial mucilages of the maize rhizosphere: Comparison of their binding properties in a model system. Plant and Soil 151: 151-165
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