CV

Last updated 26/11/2018

William T. Salter

E-Mail: click here

Education

  • PhD. in Plant Ecophysiology – The University of Sydney, Australia
    2012 – 2016
  • BSc. with Honours Ecological Science – The University of Edinburgh, UK
    2007 – 2011

Professional experience

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow – The University of Sydney, Australia
  • 2018 – present
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate – The University of Sydney, Australia
    2016 – 2018
  • Research Assistant – The University of Sydney, Australia
    2016
  • Research Assistant – The James Hutton Institute, UK
    2012
  • Research Assistant – Xeroshield Ltd., UK
    2010 – 2011

Other roles

  • Social Media Editor
    AoBP (AoB PLANTS)
    May 2018 – present
  • Website & Communication Sub-Committee member
    Australian Society of Plant Scientists (ASPS)
    October 2018 – present

Research experience

Research interests

My primary research focus is the identification and elucidation of plant traits that could be useful for ecosystem resilience and future food security under global environmental change. I am also interested in developing novel tools that can be used to measure these traits more effectively in the field.

Expertise

  • Measurement of plant physiological properties in situ in natural ecosystems, in controlled environments (glasshouse or growth room) and in large-scale field trials of crop species.
  • Development of new tools to measure plant traits (low-cost and high-throughput).

Field techniques

  • Measurement of leaf gas exchange (with LICOR LI6400, WalzGFS-3000 and “homemade” systems)
  • Measurement of plant hydraulic properties (pressure bomb, sapflow probes, psychrometers)
  • Measurement of canopy light environment (ceptometry, spectral radiometer)
  • Measurement of leaf optical properties (hyperspectral reflectance, epifluorescence)
  • Environmental monitoring
  • Plant tissue sampling

Laboratory techniques

  • Histology and light microscopy (for leaf/stem anatomy)
  • Metabolomic analyses (targeted and untargeted GC-MS, HPLC, spectrophotometric assays)

Sensor and data platform development

  • Novel gas exchange tools (8 chamber OCTOflux system, high resolution HelOx system)
  • Low cost light sensors ($75 ceptometers, $2 quantum sensors)
  • Developing programs to collect and process data from the above systems (using VBA, C++ and R)

Publications

  • Li, Y. , Song, X. , Li, S. , Salter, W. T. & Barbour, M. M. (2019). The role of leaf water potential in the temperature response of mesophyll conductance. New Phytologist.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.16214
  • Salter, W.T., Merchant, A., Gilbert, M.E. & Buckley, T.N. (2019). PARbars: cheap, easy to build ceptometers for continuous measurement of light interception in plant canopies. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 147, 1-9.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/59447 OPEN ACCESS  
  • Salter, W.T., Merchant, A., Richards, R., Trethowan, R. & Buckley, T.N. (2019). Rate of photosynthetic induction in fluctuating light varies widely among genotypes of wheat. Journal of Experimental Biology, 70(10), 2787-2796.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erz100 OPEN ACCESS 
  • Salter W.T., Gilbert M.E. & Buckley T.N. (In press) Time-dependent bias in instantaneous ceptometry caused by row orientation. The Plant Phenome Journal.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.2135/tppj2018.07.0004 OPEN ACCESS 
  • Salter W.T., Gilbert M.E. & Buckley T.N. (2018) A multiplexed gas exchange system for increased throughput of photosynthetic capacity measurements. Plant Methods, 14(1), 80.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13007-018-0347-y OPEN ACCESS 
  • Salter, W.T., Turnbull, T.L., Okazaki, Y., Saito, K., Kreuzwieser, J., Rennenberg H., Adams, M.A. (2018) Plant and soil P determine functional attributes of subalpine Australian plants. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 50(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2017.1420246 OPEN ACCESS 
  • Adams, M.A., Buckley, T.N., Salter, W.T., Buchmann, N., Blessing, C.H., Turnbull, T. (2017). Contrasting responses of crop legumes and cereals to nitrogen availability. New Phytologist, 217(4), 1475-1483. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.14918
  • Salter, W.T., Turnbull, T.L., Rennenberg, H., Adams, M.A. (2017). Solar UV upregulates photoprotection but slows photosynthesis in subalpine Australian plants. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 49(4), 673-685. http://dx.doi.org/10.1657/AAAR0017-024 OPEN ACCESS
  • Fenton, B., Salter, W.T., Malloch, G., Begg, G., Anderson, E. (2015). Stopped in its tracks: How lambda-cyhalothrin can break the aphid transmission of a potato potyvirus. Pest Management Science, 71(12), 1611-1616. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ps.3967

Presentations

  • Salter, W. T., Gilbert, M.E., and Buckley, T.N. (2018) Tackling the physiological phenotyping bottleneck with low-cost, enhanced throughput do-it-yourself gas exchange and ceptometry. Phenome 2018, Tucson, AZ, USA (oral and poster presentation) and Plant Biology Europe 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark (poster presentation).
  • Salter, W. T., Gilbert, M.E., Trethowan, R., Richards, R., and Buckley, T.N (2018) Increasing carbon capture by optimising canopy resource distribution. Australian IWYP Workshop, Adelaide, SA, Australia (oral presentation).
  • Salter, W. T., Buckley, T.N., and Gilbert, M.E. (2017) How to directly measure 1300 values of Amax  without really trying. Sydney Plant Ecophysiologist Group meeting, December 2017, Sydney, NSW, Australia (oral presentation).
  • Salter, W. T., Turnbull, T.L., and Adams, M.A. (2017) Solar UV enhances photosynthetic resilience to phosphorus stress in sunflower. Plant Biology 2017, Honolulu, HI, USA (oral and poster presentation).
  • Salter, W. T., Buckley, T.N., and Gilbert, M.E. (2017) Using phenotyping tools to maximise whole canopy photosynthesis in wheat. Plant Biology 2017, Honolulu, HI, USA (poster presentation).
  • Salter, W.T., Turnbull, T.L., and Adams, M.A. (2015) Survival of plants in the high plains of Australia, how do they overcome the stresses of high light and limiting phosphorus?High Fire Field Day, Eucumbene, NSW, Australia (oral presentation).
  • Salter, W.T., Turnbull, T.L., and Adams, M.A. (2014) Investigating the effects of solar UV-A and UV-B on leaf development and photosynthetic properties in sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Plant Biology Europe 2014, Dublin, Ireland (poster presentation).
  • Salter, W.T., Turnbull, T.L., and Adams, M.A. (2013) Can Australian alpine plants use solar UV-A radiation for photosynthesis? International Symposium on Plant Photobiology, Edinburgh, UK (oral and poster presentation).

Teaching experience

  • Lectures – Plant Systems Biology (undergraduate)
    University of Sydney, 2017
  • Lectures – Climate Change: Process, History, Issues (MSc)
    University of Sydney, 2016
  • Tutorials – Shaping Our Landscapes (undergraduate)
    University of Sydney, 2015
  • Lab demonstrator – Concepts in Biology (undergraduate)
    University of Sydney, 2014
  • Lectures/tutorials -Sustaining Our Landscapes (undergraduate)
    University of Sydney, 2013 – 2015

Honors and awards

  • Phenome 2018 travel award
    2018
  • Best presentation at the lightning session (ISPSS 2013)
    2013
  • University of Edinburgh award for best Honours project in a crop topic
    2011

Membership of professional organisations

  • American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB)
  • Australian Society of Plant Scientists (ASPS)
  • European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO)
  • Society of Experimental Biology (SEB)

Other skills

  • Full driving licence (including 4WD training)
  • Chainsaw operator’s licence
  • First aid certificate