Staff profile

Dr Denise R. Fernando

ARC Postdoctoral Fellow

Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering

School of Life Sciences
Department of Botany

Room 471, Biological Sciences II, LTU Bundoora Campus,

 

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) LTU, PhD UMELB

Membership of professional associations

Australian Society for Plant Scientists, Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Society.

Area of study

Botany

Brief profile

Dr Fernando obtained her PhD in Botany at the University of Melbourne in December 2008 with a thesis entitled, ‘Microprobe-Localisation and Ecophysiological Studies of Manganese-Hyperaccumulating Plants’. This research resulted in several publications and a Royal Society of Victoria Postgraduate prize. Dr Fernando has been based in the Department of Botany at La Trobe University (LTU) since 2009, undertaking research funded by the LTU Institute of Social and Environmental Sustainability and the LTU Early Career Research scheme. She also works casually within this department as a demonstrator in undergraduate practical classes. In late 2011 she was awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA), and funding from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). Both projects commence in 2012. Prior to her postgraduate degree Dr Fernando was employed for several years as Senior Technical Officer of the analytical electron microscopy lab in the LTU Agriculture Department, where she participated in plant physiological research. 

Recent publications

1. Fernando DR, Marshall AT, Forster PI, Hoebee SE, Siegele R. 2013. Multiple metal accumulation within a manganese-specific genus. American Journal of Botany 100(4): doi 10.3732/ajb.1200545

2. Fernando DR, Woodrow IE, Baker AJM, Marshall AT. 2012. Plant homeostasis of foliar manganese sinks: specific variation in hyperaccumulators. Planta 236: 1459-1470.

3. Fernando DR, Mizuno T, Woodrow IE, Baker AJM, Collins RN. 2010. Characterization of foliar manganese (Mn) in Mn (hyper)accumulators using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. New Phytologist 188: 1014-1027.

4. Fernando DR, Baker AJM, Woodrow IE. 2009. Physiological responses in Macadamia integrifolia on exposure to Mn treatment. Australian Journal of Botany 57: 406-413. 

5. Fernando DR, Guymer G, Reeves RD, Woodrow IE, Baker AJ, Batianoff GN. 2009. Foliar Mn accumulation in eastern Australian herbarium specimens: prospecting for 'new' Mn hyperaccumulators and its potential application in taxonomy. Annals of Botany 103: 931-939. 

6. Fernando DR, Marshall AT, Gouget B, Carrière M, Collins RN, Woodrow IE, Baker AJ. 2008. Novel pattern of foliar metal distribution in a manganese hyperaccumulator. Functional Plant Biology 35: 193-200. 

7. Fernando DR, Woodrow IE, Jaffré T, Dumontet V, Marshall AT, Baker AJM. 2008. Foliar Mn accumulation by Maytenus founieri (Celastraceae) in its native New Caledonian habitats: populational variation and localisation by X-ray microanalysis. New Phytologist 177: 178 –185. 

8. Fernando DR, Woodrow IE, Bakkaus EJ, Collins RN, Baker AJM, Batianoff GN. 2007. Variability of Mn hyperaccumulation in the Australian rainforest tree Gossia bidwillii (Myrtaceae). Plant and Soil 293: 145-152

9. Fernando DR, Bakkaus EJ, Perrier N, Baker AJM, Woodrow IE, Batianoff GN, Collins RN. 2006. Manganese accumulation in the leaf mesophyll of four tree species: a PIXE/EDAX localization study. New Phytologist 171: 751-758.

10. Fernando DR, Batianoff GN, Baker AJ, Woodrow IE. 2006. In vivo localisation of manganese in the hyperaccumulator Gossia bidwillii (Benth.) N. Snow & Guymer (Myrtaceae) by cryo-SEM/EDAX. Plant, Cell and Environment 29: 1012-1020.

Older publications

1. Xue SG, Chen YX, Reeves RD, Baker AJM, Lin Q, Fernando DR. 2004. Manganese uptake and accumulation by the hyperaccumulator plant Phytolacca acinosa Roxb. (Phytolaccaceae). Environmental Pollution 131: 393-399. 

2. Van Steveninck RF, Fernando DR. 1995. X-Ray microanalytical studies on two modes of strontium binding in fronds of Lemna minor. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology 22: 817-822. 

3. Van Steveninck RFM, Babare A, Fernando DR, Van Steveninck ME. 1993. The binding of zinc, but not cadmium, by phytic acid in roots of crop plants. Plant and Soil 167: 157-164. 

4. Bond AM, Colton R, Daniels F, Fernando DR, Marken F, Nagaosa Y, Van Steveninck RFM, Walter JN. 1993. Voltammetry, electron microscopy, and X-ray electron probe microanalysis at the electrode-aqueous electrolyte interface of solid microcrystallline cis- and trans-Cr(CO2)(dpe)2 and trans-[Cr-(CO)2(dpe)2]+ complexes (dpe = Ph2PCH2CH2PPh2) mechanically attached to carbon electrodes. Journal of the American Chemical Society 115: 9556-9562. 

5. Van Steveninck RFM, Babare A, Fernando DR, Van Steveninck ME. 1993. The binding of zinc in root cells of crop plants by phytic acid. Plant and Soil 155/156: 525-528. 

6. Van Steveninck RFM, Van Steveninck ME, Fernando DR. 1992. Heavy-metal (Zn, Cd) tolerance in selected clones of Duck Weed (Lemna minor). Plant and Soil 146: 271-280. 

7. Van Steveninck RFM, Van Steveninck ME, Wells AJ, Fernando DR. 1990. Zinc tolerance and the binding of zinc as zinc phytate in Lemna minor, X-ray microanalytical evidence. Journal of Plant Physiology 137: 140-146. 

8. Van Steveninck RFM, Van Steveninck ME, Fernando DR, Edwards LB, Wells AJ. 1990. Electron probe X-ray microanalytical evidence for two distinct mechanisms of Zn and Cd binding in a Zn tolerant clone of Lemna minor L. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 310: 671-678. 

9. Van Steveninck RFM, Fernando DR, Anderson CA, Edwards LB, Van Steveninck ME. 1988. Chloride and sulphur concentrations in chloroplasts of spinach. Physiologia Plantarum 74: 651-658. 

10. Van Steveninck RF, Van Steveninck ME, Fernando DR, Godbold DL, Horst WJ, Marschner H. 1987. Identification of zinc-containing globules in roots of a zinc-tolerant ecotype of Deschampsia caespitosa. Journal of Plant Nutrition 10: 1239-1246. 

11. Van Steveninck RF, Van Steveninck ME, Fernando DR, Horst WJ,Marschner H. 1987. Deposition of zinc phytate in globular bodies in roots of Deschampsia caespitosa ecotypes; a detoxification mechanism? Journal of Plant Physiology 131: 247-257. 

12. Broxton TJ, Fernando DR,Rowe JE. 1981. Micellar catalysis of the basic hydrolysis of amides. 4. Substituted N,N-Dipenylbenzamides. Journal of Organic Chemistry 46: 3522-3525.

Research projects

Dr Fernando’s main postdoctoral research project entitled ‘Manganese (Mn) Heavy Metal Toxicity in Plants: New Perspective on a Neglected Problem’, is funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Award (DECRA) scheme. The focus is on plant ecophysiological processes associated with the heavy metal Mn. This essential nutrient is soil-abundant in eastern Australia, where agricultural species are significantly affected by Mn toxicity while certain indigenous plant species exhibit a rare and extreme affinity for Mn. The aim is to examine Mn accumulation under controlled conditions and in the field to better understand wide-ranging plant physiological responses elicited by excess Mn in substrates, and also the potential mitigating effects of climatic factors. Analytical electron microscopy is being utilised here as the primary investigative tool, both at the cellular and subcellular levels.  

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) fund Dr Fernando’s second project. Nuclear probe methodology will be applied to locate foliar metals in vivo in plants that strongly accumulate Mn and other metals.