The University of Western Australia

W/Prof Hans Lambers

Head of School/Winthrop Professor
School of Plant Biology

Contact details

Address

School of Plant Biology
The University of Western Australia (M084)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 7381

Fax

6488 1108

Email

hans.lambers@uwa.edu.au

Location

Room 1120B, Agriculture Central Wing Building, Crawley campus

Qualifications

BSc PhD Groningen, FRNAAS

Biography

I was born on a farm in the Netherlands in 1950 and completed my undergraduate degree in biology (1976), with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, followed by research projects in plant physiology and microbiology. I finished my PhD degree (1979) at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, working on (cyanide-resistant) plant respiration and effects of flooding. My PhD supervisors were Dr Rinie Hofstra, and Professors Pieter Kuiper and Rienk Brouwer.
After completion of my PhD, I did postdoctoral work at the University of Western Australia, with Professor John Pate, Melbourne University, with Dr Michael Dalling, and the Research School of Biological Science at the Australian National University, with Professor Barry Osmond, working on various aspects of the metabolism and transport of carbon and nitrogen in wheat, white lupins, and a range of other species. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow back in Groningen, I was offered the chair in Ecophysiology at Utrecht University (in 1985).
While in Utrecht, I continued work on plant respiration and started a new program on the physiological basis of variation in plant growth rate and productivity. Twenty eight fascinating theses have come to fruition under my supervision during that great time.
My teaching activities in ecophysiology have led to the completion of a textbook, Plant Physiological Ecology, Springer, New York, just before I moved to UWA. The textbook was translated in both Chinese and Persian. The second, completely revised edition of this book appeared in 2008.
For three years, after my move to UWA, I maintained a fractional appointment at Utrecht University, to promote exchange of students between Utrecht University and UWA and to build collaborative research programs.

Key research

Mineral nutrition of Australian native plants

Phosphorus nutrition of crop legumes

Proteoid roots

P-use efficiency

Dauciform roots

Publications

http://www.researcherid.com/rid/A-1544-2008

Memberships

Australian Society of Plant Scientists (President 2000-2004);
American Society of Plant Biology;
Ecological Society of Australia;
Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology (Secretary-General from 1992-1998);
Royal Society of Western Australia

Honours and awards

Honorary Member of the Bulgarian Union of Scientists
Member of the Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (the Dutch Academy of Sciences)
Highly Cited Researcher (ISI)
Honorary Professor at China Agricultural University, Beijing, China: http://news.cau.edu.cn/show.php?id=0000009448
Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)

Previous positions

President of the Australian Society of Plant Scientists - http://www.asps.org.au/ (2001-2004)
Professor of Ecophysiology, Utrecht University (1985-1998)
Research Fellow, University of Groningen, the Netherlands (1982-1985)

Teaching

I teach various aspects of plant biology in 1st, 2nd and 3rd/4th year. The lecture notes are all available online and recordings are available via Lectopia, web for those students enrolled in these courses.
I enjoy supervising 4th year students on projects within my wide area of interest in ecophysiology of crops and native plants. Information on future 4th year projects is available.

Current external positions

Editor in chief of Plant and Soil - http://www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/0032-079X (1992- )

Member of the Editorial Review Board of Plant, Cell and Environment - http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/Journals/member/institutions/issuelist.asp?journal=pce

Editor of Tree Physiology - http://heronpublishing.com/tphome.html

Editor of Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics - http://www.urbanfischer.de/journals/frame_template.htm?/journals/ppees/p_ecol.htm
Member of the Scientific Advisor Panel for the Swiss “National Centre of Competence in Research”, entitled “Plant Survival in Natural and Agricultural Ecosystems” - http://www.unine.ch/nccr/
Member of the International Review Board of Annals of Botany - http://aob.oupjournals.org/

Current projects

At the University of Western Australia, in collaboration with Prof. Tim Colmer, Prof Erik Veneklaas, A/Prof. Megan Ryan, A.Prof. Michael Renton and AssProf Etienne Laliberte, I work on various aspects of plant ecophysiology: phosphorus nutrition of crop and pasture plants and Australian native species, and plant water relations. I maintain my interests in cyanide-resistant respiration.
A major focus is on root clusters of Proteaceae and Cyperaceae, in collaboration with Dr Michael Shane, Mr. Greg Cawthray and Dr Erik Veneklaas. The Proteaceae are a fascinating group of plants, with many endemic species in Western Australia which are very successful on impoverished sand and/or P-fixing soils, where most of our crops need large inputs of superphosphate, most of which is not available to crop growth. Lessons can be learned from these Australian plants which can then be taught to our crops. Therefore, the research line on Western Australian plants could lead to major applications and a more sustainable agriculture in Western Australia which is a major reason to go down this track. The projects on crop plants are in close collaboration with Dr Megan Ryan and Dr Mike Bolland, Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food.
Other research includes work on minesite rehabilitation, in collaboration with Kings Park and Botanic Gardens (ARC-SPIRT funded PhD project of Alasdair Grigg) and Alcoa of Australia Limited (ARC-Linkage funded PhD project of Chris Szota). I am also one of the supervisors of Jenny Carter’s PhD project on water relations of wetland and fringing tree species (ARC-SPIRT funded). I co-supervise Bambang Heliyanto, who works on genetic variation in rare and common Banksia species, and Leida Williams, who works with Dr Pieter Poot on ironstone communities.
I am involved in the CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, where I lead a subprogram on ecosystem function in recharge environments. Dr Steve Burgess works as a CRC-funded postdoc with me in this subprogram.

RFCD

FOR codes: 0607, 0603, 0703, 0503

Research profile

Research profile and publications