Dr Onoriode Coast

Senior Lecturer in Crop Science , Crop physiology and production - School of Environmental and Rural Science

Phone: +61 2 6773 1592

Building: Agricultural Education Building (W077), Room 216

Biography

Dr Coast is a Senior Lecturer in Crop Science with a PhD in Crop Physiology from the University of Reading and a Bachelor of Agriculture in Crop Science (First Class Honours) from the University of Benin. Prior to joining UNE, Coast was a Senior Research Fellow at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich UK (2020-2021), Research Fellow at the Australian National University (2016-2020) and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Dr Coast investigates abiotic stress tolerance in crops with a focus on thermal acclimation of photosynthesis and respiration, and the consequences of these on crop yield and quality. Coast is also interested in horticultural crop production, particularly protected cropping systems. His work has led to the development of technologies for improving crop production and investigating plants performance in challenging environments. Dr Coast collaborates widely with research partners in Africa, Asia, North and South America, Europe and Oceania.

Qualifications

B. Agric. (First Class Honours) – UNIBEN

PhD – Reading

Teaching Areas

AGRO200: Agricultural Plants: Adaptation and Physiology
HORT420: HORT420 Horticultural Science and Management
BOTY505: Plant Responses to a Changing World
QMER100: Foundational Quantitative Methods for Environmental and Rural Sciences

Primary Research Area/s

Crop physiology and production; Adaptation to climate change; Abiotic stress tolerance in crops; Flowering and reproductive biology

Research Interests

Horticultural science and protected cropping
High-throughput phenotyping of plant traits
Applied remote sensing

Research Supervision Experience

I supervise honours, masters and PhD students in crop science and ecophysiology.

Recent Publications

Nyaika J, Abayomi L, Parmar A, and Coast O (2023). Cyanide in cassava: Understanding the drivers, impacts of climate variability, and strategies for food security. Food & Energy Security 13(4): e573. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.573
Edwards GI, Nelson K, le Clech S, Luu T, Coast O, Futakuchi K, and Kok K (2024). Twenty-five rice research priorities to achieve sustainable rice systems by 2050. Global Sustainability 7: e23. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2024.17
Coast O, Scafaro AP, Bramley H, Taylor NL, and Atkin OK (2024). Photosynthesis in newly-developed leaves of heat-tolerant wheat acclimates to long-term nocturnal warming. Journal of Experimental Botany 75(3): 962-978. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad437
Lesk C, Anderson W, Rigden A, Coast O, Jägermeyr J, McDermid S, Davis KF, and Konar M (2022). Compound heat and moisture extreme impacts on global crop yields under climate change. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 3(12): 872-889. doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00368-8
Coast O, Posch BC, Rognoni BG, Bramley H, Gaju O, Mackenzie J, Pickles C, Kelly AM, Lu M, Ruan Y-L, Trethowan R, and Atkin OK (2022). Wheat photosystem II heat tolerance: evidence for genotype‐by‐environment interactions. The Plant Journal 111(5): 1368-1382. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.15894
Posch BC, Hammer J, Atkin OK, Bramley H, Ruan Y-L, Trethowan R, and Coast O (2022). Wheat photosystem II heat tolerance responds dynamically to short and long-term warming. Journal of Experimental Botany 73(10): 3268-3282. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erac039
Posch BC, Zhai D, Coast O, Scafaro AP, Bramley H, Reich PB, Ruan Y-L, Trethowan R, Way DA, and Atkin OK (2022). Wheat respiratory O₂ consumption falls with night warming alongside greater respiratory CO₂ loss and reduced biomass. Journal of Experimental Botany 73(3): 915–926. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erab454

Memberships

Australian Society of Plant Scientists

American Society of Plant Biologists

Higher Education Academy UK