The University of Western Australia

Assoc/Prof Michael Renton

Associate Professor
School of Plant Biology

Contact details

Address

School of Plant Biology
The University of Western Australia (M090)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 1959

Fax

6488 1108

Email

michael.renton@uwa.edu.au

Personal homepage

http://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/contact/michael_renton

Location

Room 120, Botany Building, Crawley campus

Qualifications

BA W.Aust., CertAppLang TAFE, GradDipEd E.Cowan, PhD Qld

Biography

Michael completed his Honours program at UWA in Maths, looking at control in chaotic systems, and his PhD at the University of Queensland in the Centre for Plant Architecture Informatics, looking at new approaches to modelling the interactions between plant form, function and environment with functional-structural plant models (FSPMs). His post-doc in Montpellier, France, married stochastic models with structural models to create virtual apple trees and he then returned to Perth to teach applied maths at UWA, before spending a couple of years creating the Weed Seed Wizard (a model of seedbank dynamics) at the Department of Agriculture and Food. He started as an Assistant Professor in computational agro-ecology in the School of Plant Biology at UWA in a joint appointment with CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences in July 2007 and his current projects involve modelling of weeds and seedbank population dynamics, evolution of resistance to herbicides and pesticides, competition and interactions between plants and their environments in natural and managed systems, bio-economic modelling and optimal land use in agricultural systems and mixed-use landscapes, and dispersal of biological organisms.

Key research

Computational simulation modelling of plants in complex biological, agricultural and ecological systems, including areas such as:

•evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds in agricultural systems and the effect of different genetics and management strategies on the rate of this evolution

•competition between species, individual plants, and parts of plants and the effect of spatial patterns on this competition

•weed seed bank population dynamics and the effects of different seed biology and management strategies

•seed dormancy, germination and persistence, and the influence of environmental factors and management options

•the way that plant structure emerges over time in relationship with physiology and environment

•the optimisation of land use sequencing and analysis of tactical and strategic decisions in agricultural systems, taking into account the effects of factors such as weeds, disease, plant nutrients, yields, economics and climate variability

•water use, root architecture, drought and climate change, in relation to applications such as the prediction and management of the establishment and survival of annual and perennial crop and pasture plants in drought-susceptible environments, or the long-term health of natural ecosystems in the face of climate change

•the spread of invasive biological organisms such as weeds, insects and plant diseases

•predicting the fate of plant species under climate change, accounting for landscape characteristics, population dynamics and dispersal

•constructing useful decision support systems for managing agricultural and natural ecosystems

Publications

Journal Articles
1.*Renton M., Diggle A., Manalil S. and Powles S. (2011). Does cutting herbicide rates threaten the sustainability of weed management in cropping systems? Journal of Theoretical Biology 283: 14-27.
2.Renton M., Airey M., Cambridge M., and Kendrick G. (2011). Modelling Seagrass Growth and Development to Evaluate Transplanting Strategies for Restoration. Annals of Botany (In Press, accepted 14/3/2011)
3.Shi, M. and Renton, M. (2011). Numerical algorithms for estimation and calculation of parameters in modelling pest population dynamics and evolution of resistance. Mathematical Biosciences. (In Press, accepted 22/06/11)
4.Rusack, E., Dortch, J., Hayward, K., Renton, M., Boer, M. and Grierson, P. The Role of Habitus in the Maintenance of Traditional Noongar Plant Knowledge in Southwest Western Australia. Human Ecology. (In Press, accepted 23/6/11)
5.Suriyagoda, L.D.B., Ryan, M.H., Renton, M. and Lambers, H. (2011). Above- and below-ground interactions of grass and pasture legume species when grown together under drought and low phosphorus availability. Plant and Soil. doi:10.1007/s11104-011-0754-6
6.Suriyagoda, L.D.B., Lambers, H., Ryan, M.H. and Renton, M. (2011). Comparison of novel and standard methods for analysing patterns of plant death in designed field experiments. Agricultural Science (In Press, accepted 14/5/2011)
7.Conning S.A., Renton M., Ryan M.H., and Nichols P.G.H. (2011). Biserrula and subterranean clover can co-exist during the vegetative phase but are out-competed by capeweed. Crop and Pasture Science 62: 236-247.
8.*Renton M. and Poorter H. (2011). Using log-log scaling slope analysis for determining the contributions to variability in biological variables such as leaf mass per area: why it works, when it works and how it can be extended. New Phytologist 190: 5-8.
9.Renton M. (2011). How much detail and accuracy is required in plant growth sub-models to address questions about optimal management strategies in agricultural systems? Annals of Botany Plants (accepted 30 Jan 2011; doi: 10.1093/aobpla/plr006).
10.Savage D., Barbetti, M.J., Macleod, W., Salam, M. and Renton, M. (2011). Can mechanistically parameterised, anisotropic dispersal kernels provide a reliable estimate of the wind-assisted dispersal of fungal pathogens? Ecological Modelling (accepted 8 March 2011; doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.03.003).
11.Owen, M.J., Michael, P.J., Renton, M., Steadman, K.J., Powles, S.B. (2011). Towards large scale prediction of Lolium rigidum emergence I: Can climate be used to predict dormancy parameters? Weed Research, 51: 123-132.
12.Owen, M.J., Michael, P.J., Renton, M., Steadman, K.J., Powles, S.B. (2011). Towards large scale prediction of Lolium rigidum emergence II: Link between dormancy and herbicide resistance suggests an impact of cropping systems. Weed Research, 51: 133-141.
13.Manalil, S., Busi, R., Renton, M., Powles, S.B. (2011). Rapid field selection of herbicide resistance by use of low herbicide dosages. Weed Science (In Press, accepted Oct 18, 2010, doi: 10.1614/WS-D-10-00111.1.)
14.*Lawes, R., Renton, M. (2010). The Land Use Sequence Optimiser (LUSO): A theoretical framework for analysing crop sequences in response to disease and weed populations. Crop and Pasture Science, 61:835-843.
15.Suriyagoda, L.D.B., Lambers, H., Ryan, M.H., Renton, M. (2010). From controlled environments to field simulations: Developing a growth model for the novel perennial pasture legume Cullen australasicum. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150:1373-1382.
16.Hassiotou, F., Renton, M., Ludwig, M., Evans, J.R., Veneklaas, E.J. (2010). Photosynthesis at an extreme end of the leaf trait spectrum: how does it relate to high leaf dry mass per area and associated structural parameters? Journal of Experimental Botany 61: 3015-3028.
17.Garg, H., Atri C, Sandhu, P.S., Kaur, B., Renton, M., Banga, S.K., Singh, H., Singh, C., Barbetti, M.J., Surinder, S., Banga S. (2010). High level of resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in introgression lines derived from hybridization between wild crucifers and the crop Brassica species B. napus and B. juncea. Field Crops Research 117: 51-58.
18.Suriyagoda, L.D.B., Lambers, H., Ryan, M.H., Renton, M. (2010). Effects of leaf development and phosphorus supply on the photosynthetic characteristics of perennial legume species with pasture potential: modelling photosynthesis with leaf development. Functional Plant Biology 37: 713-725.
19.Suriyagoda, L.D.B., Ryan, M.H., Renton, M., Lambers, H. (2010). Multiple adaptive responses of Australian native perennial legumes with pasture potential to grow in phosphorus- and moisture-limited environments. Annals of Botany, 105: 755-767.
20.Savage D., Barbetti, M.J., Macleod, W., Salam, M., Renton, M. (2010). Timing of propagule release significantly alters the deposition area of resulting aerial dispersal. Diversity and Distributions, 16:288-299.
21.Borger, C.P.D., Scott, J.K., Renton, M., Walsh, M., Powles, S.B. (2009). Assessment of management options for Salsola australis in south-west Australia by transition matrix modelling. Weed Research, 49:400-408.
22.Turner, S.R., Merrit, D.J., Renton, M., Dixon, K. (2009). Seed moisture content affects afterripening and smoke responsiveness in three sympatric Australian native species from fire-prone environments. Austral Ecology, 34:866-877.
23.Hassiotou, F., Ludwig, M., Renton, M., Veneklaas, E.J., Evans, J.R. (2009). Influence of leaf dry mass per area, CO2, and irradiance on mesophyll conductance in sclerophylls. Journal of Experimental Botany, 60:2303-2314.
24.Costes E., Smith, C., Renton, M., Guédon, Y., Prusinkiewicz, P., Godin, C. (2008). MAppleT: simulation of apple tree development using mixed stochastic and biomechanical models. Functional Plant Biology, 35:925-935.
25.*Renton, M., Guédon, Y., Godin, C., Costes E. (2006). Similarities and gradients in growth-unit branching patterns during ontogeny in ‘Fuji’ apple trees: A stochastic approach. Journal of Experimental Botany, 57: 3131-3143.
26.Renton, M., Costes E., Guédon, Y., Godin, C. (2006). Integrating Markov chain models and L-systems to simulate the architectural development of apple trees. Acta Horticulturae (ISHS), 707:63-70.
27.*Renton, M., Hanan, J., Burrage, K. (2005). Using the canonical modelling approach to simplify the simulation of function in functional-structural plant models. New Phytologist, 166:845-857.
28.*Renton, M., Kaitaniemi, P., Hanan, J. (2005). Functional-structural plant modelling using a combination of architectural analysis, L-systems and a canonical model of function. Ecological Modelling, 184:277-298.
29.Thornby, D., Renton, M., Hanan, J. 2003: Using computational plant science tools to investigate morphological aspects of compensatory growth. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2660, 708-717.
30.Glass, K., Renton, M., Judd, K., Mees, A. 1995: Creating periodic orbits in chaotic systems. Physics Letters A, 203, 107-114.
Refereed Scholarly Book Chapters
1.Renton, M., Thornby, D., Hanan, J.: Canonical Modelling: An approach for intermediate-level simulation of carbon allocation in functional-structural plant models. In J. Vos, L. Marcelis, P. Visser, P. Struik, J. editors, Functional-Structural Plant Modelling in Crop Production, chapter 13. Frontis/Springer, Wageningen, Netherlands, 2007.
2.Glass, K., Renton, M., Judd, K., Mees, A.: Creating and targeting periodic orbits.
In K. Judd, A. I. Mees, K. L. Teo, and T. L. Vincent, editors, Control and Chaos, pages 183-196. Birkhauser, Boston, 1997
Refereed Conference Proceedings
1.Renton M., Airey M., Cambridge M., and Kendrick G. 2010. Modelling seagrass growth in order to optimise transplanting strategies. 6th International Workshop on Functional-Structural Plant Models, Davis, California
2.Renton, M. 2009: What is the Appropriate Level of Detail for Modelling Agro-Ecological Processes in a Land-Use Optimisation Model?, International Symposium on Plant Growth Modeling and Applications, pp. 157-160, Third International Symposium on Plant Growth Modeling, Simulation, Visualization and Applications, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-7695-3988-1
3.Evers, J.B., Huth, N.I., and Renton, M., 2009: Light Extinction in Spring Wheat Canopies in Relation to Crop Configuration and Solar Angle, International Symposium on Plant Growth Modeling and Applications, pp. 107-110, Third International Symposium on Plant Growth Modeling, Simulation, Visualization and Applications, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-7695-3988-1
4.Renton, M., Lawes, R. 2009: Land-Use Sequence Optimiser (LUSO): A simulation model for analysing strategic and tactical decisions regarding ‘break crops’ in agricultural rotations. In Anderssen, R.S., R.D. Braddock and L.T.H. Newham (eds) 18th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. MSSANZ and IMACS, pp. 2377-2383. http://www.mssanz.org.au/modsim09/ (ERA Conference: see below)
5.Renton, M. 2009: The weeds fight back: Individual-based simulation of evolution of polygenic resistance to herbicides. In Anderssen, R.S., R.D. Braddock and L.T.H. Newham (eds) 18th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. MSSANZ and IMACS, pp. 574-580. http://www.mssanz.org.au/modsim09/
6.Suriyagoda, L.D.B., Ryan, M.H., Real, D., Lambers, H., and Renton, M. 2009: An integrated approach to model the establishment, water use and growth of new perennial pasture species. In Anderssen, R.S., R.D. Braddock and L.T.H. Newham (eds) 18th World IMACS Congress and MODSIM09 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. MSSANZ and IMACS, pp. 602-608. http://www.mssanz.org.au/modsim09/
7.Renton, M., Peltzer, S., Diggle, A. 2008: Understanding, predicting and managing weed seedbanks in agricultural systems with the Weed Seed Wizard. Sixteenth Australian Weeds Conference, Cairns, Australia. (Citations =3)
8.Renton, M., Diggle, A., Powles, S. 2008: Low herbicide rates can lead to faster development of herbicide resistance. Sixteenth Australian Weeds Conference, Cairns, Australia.
9.Renton, M., Peltzer, S., Diggle, A. 2007: Winning the weed war with the weed seedbank wizard. Agribusiness Crop Updates, Perth, Australia.
10.Renton, M., Peltzer, S., Diggle, A. 2006: Using the weed seed wizard to understand and manage the weed seedbank. 13th Australian Society of Agronomy Conference, Perth, Australia.
11.Morris, E., Ross, T., Cox, M., Renton, M., Hanan, J. and Beveridge, C. A. 2004. Auxin comes too little too late. In: 18th International Conference on Plant Growth Substances. IPGSA, Canberra, Australia, (102-102). September 2004.
12.Thornby, D., Renton, M., Hanan, J. 2003: Using computational plant science tools to investigate morphological aspects of compensatory growth. Proceedings of ICCS 2003, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2660, 708-717.
13.Renton, M., Hanan, J., Kaitaniemi, P. 2003: The inside story: including physiology in structural plant models. In Proceedings of the 1st international conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques in Australasia and South-East Asia (Graphite2003), 95-102, ACM, New York.
14.Hanan, J., Renton, M., Yorston, E. 2003: Simulating and visualising spray deposition on plant canopies. In Proceedings of the 1st international conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques in Australasia and South-East Asia (Graphite2003), 259-260, ACM, New York.

Roles, responsibilities and expertise

Michael has a joint appointment between UWA Plant Biology and CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences. His role involves leading and contributing to research projects in both UWA and CSIRO, supervising postgraduate research students and teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses in biostatistics, simulation modelling, ecology and agriculture.
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The modelling approaches in which he has interest and experience include:
•individual-based models and simulation (IBMs)
•continuous and discrete dynamical systems, including chaotic systems and S-systems
•constructing statistical 'summary models' to represent more complex bio-physical simulation models
•numerical/computational simulation of the movement and spread of biological substances or organisms
•L-systems and functional-structural plant models (FSPMs) for modelling dynamic plant architecture
•applied statistical modelling of biological data, including linear and non-linear modelling, multivariate analysis, Bayesian analysis, and mixed-effect models

Funding received

•University of Queensland Early Offer PhD Scholarship 2000
•APA PhD Scholarship 2000
•Top-up PhD scholarship from the Centre for Plant Architecture Informatics 2000
•Grant from INRA for post-doctoral project on ‘Modelling Structural Development of Apple Trees’ in France 2004
•Grant from INRA for six month extension to ‘Modelling Structural Development of Apple Trees’ project 2005
•‘Weed Seed Wizard’ project funded by CRC for Australian Weed Management 2007-2008 ($50,000)
•‘Quantifying Protein in Wheat Decision Support System’ project funded by Dept. of Agriculture and Food WA 2008-2009 ($145,000)
•‘Aerial Detection of Plant Pathogens’ project funded by CRC for National Plant Biosecurity 2008-2010 ($102,000)
•‘Summary Models for Complex Agricultural Production Simulation Models’ project funded by CRC for Future Farm Industries 2008-2010 ($39,000)
•‘Spatial Colonisation by Seagrass’ project funded by Dept. of Industry and Resources and Cockburn Cement 2008 ($15,000)
•‘Herbicide Resistance Model Interface Development’ project funded by Western Australian Herbicide Initiative 2008 ($15,000)
•‘Extension to Weed Seed Wizard’ project funded by CRC for Australian Weed Management 2008 ($20,000)
•‘Spatial Colonisation by Seagrass’ follow-up project funded by Dept. of Industry and Resources and Cockburn Cement 2009 ($20,000)
•‘PestFax’ project funded by Dept. of Agriculture and Food WA 2008 ($6,000)
•Improving Student Learning grant entitled ‘Understanding Ecological Population Dynamics Using Interactive Computer Simulations’ awarded by the Centre for Teaching and Learning UWA 2008 ($3,000)
•‘Rootmap’ project funded by the University of Tasmania 2008-2009 ($31,071)
• ‘Modelling Organism Spread for Rapid Response’ project funded by CRC for National Plant Biosecurity 2008-2010 ($380,000)
•‘Modelling Evolution and Management of Pesticide Resistance in Stored Grain Pests’ project funded by CRC for National Plant Biosecurity 2008-2010 ($102,000)
•‘Drought tolerance of novel perennial legumes’ awarded by Rural Industries Research Development Corporation (RIRDC) 2009-2010 – my role as associated investigator (total budget of $187,268)
•‘Weed Seed Wizard: Validation and Improvement of a Weed Management Decision Support Tool’ project 2009-2013 ($1,071,763 to UWA from Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), spread over five years, plus $1,599,800 in-kind from other project participants)
•Variation to ‘Rootmap’ project funded by the University of Tasmania 2009 (extra $22,597)
•‘Effect of herbicide rotation on delaying resistance’ research consultancy funded by Syngenta 2009 ($10,000)
• ‘Improving Nitrogen and Phosphorous in south east Australian cropping systems’ project funded by GRDC, 2010-2011 - in collaboration with University of Tasmania (total from GRDC $750,000, plus $1,161,500 from project participants, $26,520 from GRDC to UWA)
•Project on using Rootmap model to test Lupin root system ideotypes funded by ARC – my role as associated investigator (my allocation of budget $52,353.7)
•Centre of Excellence for Climate Change and Woodland and Forest Health (total budget $4,115,000 spread over five years, $1,084,000 to UWA)
•‘Map-based interactive web interface for Pestfax’ project funded by GRDC 2010-2012 ($339,900 to UWA from GRDC, plus $512,500 from project participants)
•‘Completing the Smoke Effect Picture: Systems development to reduce the negative effects of smoke on grapes and wine’ project funded by Grape and Wine Research Development Corporation (GWRDC) 2010-2012 (total budget $890,659, GWRDC contribution $365,273, $67,556 to UWA)
•‘Potassium-Wheat Yield Web-based Calculator’ project funded by Dept. of Agriculture and Food WA 2010 ($8,789)
•Extension to ‘Quantifying Protein in Wheat Decision Support System’ project funded by Dept. of Agriculture and Food WA 2010 ($21,095)
•‘Phosphorus-Wheat Yield Web-based Calculator’ project funded by Dept. of Agriculture and Food WA 2010 ($12,000)
•‘Sustainability of Wheat-Selective Pre-emergent Herbicides in a Changing Climate’ funded by RIRDC 2011 ($132,876)
•‘Predicting weed seed persistence in soils: assembling the Seed-Persistence Tool Kit’ funded by RIRDC 2011 ($200,000)
•Variation to ‘Improving Nitrogen and Phosphorous in south east Australian cropping systems’ project funded by GRDC via University of Tasmania, (extra $18,000 to UWA)
•‘Improving models of weed dynamics and herbicide resistance evolution’ funded by RIRDC ex CSIRO 2011 ($58,000)
•‘Improving Representation of Disease in the Land Use Sequence Optimiser’ funded by GRDC ex CSIRO 2011 ($28,000)

Industrial relevance

Agriculture - including cropping and pastures
Horticulture
Ecology and conservation biology

Languages

English (native)
Indonesian (good)
French (good)
Spanish (fair)

Memberships

Treasurer of the Asian Pacific Weed Science Society, since 2007

Senior Yoga Teacher with Yoga Australia, since 2004

Honours and awards

•Convocation Prize, University of Western Australia, 1991
•University of Queensland Early Offer PhD Scholarship 2000
•APA PhD Scholarship 2000
•Top-up PhD scholarship from the Centre for Plant Architecture Informatics 2000
•Grant from INRA for post-doctoral project on ‘Modelling Structural Development of Apple Trees’ in France 2004
•Grant from INRA for six month extension to ‘Modelling Structural Development of Apple Trees’ project 2005
•Award for Best Scientific Program in Program 2 for the ‘Weed Seed Wizard’ project by the CRC for Australian Weed Management 2008
•UWA Teaching and Learning Award 2008 for supervision of fourth year student projects

Previous positions

2005-2007 Dept. of Agriculture and Food, WAPerth, Australia
Research Officer

2005 University of Western AustraliaPerth, Australia
Applied Mathematics Lecturer

2005 Murdoch UniversityPerth, Australia
Applied Mathematics Tutor

2004 – 2005 National Institute of Agronomic ResearchMontpellier, France
Post-doctoral Researcher, Plant Architecture Modelling Trainer

2000 – 2003University of QueenslandBrisbane, Australia
Mathematics Tutor, Plant Architecture Modelling Trainer

1999University of Western AustraliaPerth, Australia
English Teacher (ESL)

1998ELS Language SchoolPadang, Indonesia
English Teacher (ESL)

Teaching

I currently coordinate and/or teach in the following units:
•Ecology
•Global Climate Change and Biodiversity
•Australian Vegetation
•Cropping Systems
•Pasture Systems
•Data Management and Analysis in the Natural Sciences
•Simulation Modelling in the Natural Sciences

Current external positions

I have a joint position with UWA and CSIRO.

Current projects

For more information on current research or potential student projects, please follow this link http://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/contact/michael_renton

Research profile

Research profile and publications