Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment

• Awards and Recognition
• Selected Publications
• Contact Details (opens in a new window)
  

Dr Barbara Drigo joined the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, department of soil biology and genomics, in February 2009 as postdoctoral research fellow (Australian associate lecturer).

She started her five years bachelor study in Biology at Trieste University (Italy). In 1999, she carried out a two years MSc project on the gene expression of antibiotic resistance in enteric bacteria isolated from seagulls in the department of biomedicine of the same University under the supervision of Dr Lucilla Dolzani and Dr Fabrizia Gionechetti. In 2002 this research resulted in a MSc thesis achieving the title of ‘Doctor in Biological Science’. In November 2002, she was awarded a 1 year Leonardo da Vinci European fellowship to work with quality-related gene expression at the Agrotechnological Research Centre in Wageningen (the Netherlands) in cooperation with Trento University (Italy). There she met Dr Monique F. van Wordragen, who led her into the plant/soil ecology world. In January 2004 she started her PhD project in the Department of Microbial Ecology at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW, the Netherlands). This work was completed in January 2008 and she graduated at the prestigious University of Leiden. Her PhD work was internationally recognised and awarded by the International Society of Microbial Ecology (ISME) and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). During her PhD she visited the lab of Prof. Mark Bailey at the CEH, University of Oxford (UK) and worked in collaboration with several renowned scientists. Due to her outstanding findings in the climate global change field her research received media coverage in the USA, the Netherlands and in Italy. In February 2008 she started a post-doctoral research at the Plant Research International, Wageningen University and Research Centre (PRI-WUR, the Netherlands). During her post-doc her main interests were on the correlations between soil suppressiveness, biotic/abiotic soil characteristics and on Lysobacter spp. as potential inhibitor of Rhizotonia solani in arable soils using eco-genomics tools. Barbara Drigo received several fundings from international organizations and presented her PhD and post-doctoral work at many international conferences.

Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise

Plant-Microbe Interactions; Microbial Ecology; Molecular Ecology; Climate Change

Editorial review board member: Frontiers in Terrestrial Microbiology

Reviewer: Global Change Biology, Environmental Microbiology, Proceeding for the National Academy of Science (PNAS), ISME Journal, Biodegradation, Mycological Research, FEMS microbiology, Plant and Soil and New Phytologist

Conceptual model of C flow in mycorrhizal plant–soil systems summarizing the observed effects of elevated CO₂ atmospheric concentrations on soil communities. Brown arrows indicate increases and decreases in the respective community sizes, as determined by real-time PCR and lipid analyses from this study and ref. 18, as well as changes in community structure and carbon flow. Absence of an arrow indicates no significant change in the community size or structure. Red arrows indicate no effect of increased C availability because of elevated CO₂ on the Actinomycetes spp. and Bacillus spp. communities. The mechanism and magnitude of the C flow along the soil–food web are indicated by the green arrows. Drigo et al. 2010.

Awards and Recognition

• 2010. Travel grant International Society for Microbial Ecology (989 USD)
• 2010. University of Western Sydney International Research Initiatives Scheme (5.000 AUD)
• 2009. University of Western Sydney International Research Initiatives Scheme (5.000 AUD)
• 2007. American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Grant for Excellence in Science (4.000 USD)
• 2006. Travel grant International Society for Microbial Ecology (600 Euro)
• 2004. EMBO Start-up Grants for Ph.D. students (70.000 Euro)
• 2002-2003. European grant Leonardo da Vinci advanced technology project for Molecular Biology and Cell Biology (20.000 Euro)
• 2001. University of Trieste grant for merits, B.Sc. III year
• 2000. University of Trieste grant for merits, B.Sc. II year
• 1999. University of Trieste grant for merits, B.Sc. I year
  

Selected Publications

Journals

Anderson IC, Drigo B, Keniry K, Ghannoum O, Chambers SM, Tissue DT, Cairney JW, (2013) 'Interactive effects of preindustrial, current and future atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and temperature on soil fungi associated with two Eucalyptus species', FEMS Microbiology Ecology, vol.83, no.2, pp 425-437

Drigo B, Kowalchuk GA, Knapp BA, Pijl AS, Boschker HTS, van Veen JA, (2013) 'Impacts of 3 years of elevated atmospheric CO₂ on rhizosphere carbon flow and microbial community dynamics', Global Change Biology, vol.19, no.2, pp 621-636

Drigo B, Anderson IC, Kannangara GSK, Cairney JWG, Johnson D, (2012) 'Rapid incorporation of carbon from ectomycorrhizal mycelial necromass into soil fungal communities', Soil Biology & Biochemistry, vol.49, pp 4-10  

Drigo B, Anderson I, Singh BK, Cairney J, (2011) ‘Effect of altered atmospheric CO₂ and temperature to eucalypt forest soil bacteria community’, in preparation

Drigo B, Anderson I, Grelet G, Cairney J, (2011) ‘Influence of elevated CO₂ and drought on the fungal community in a eucalypt forest soil’, in preparation

Drigo B, Anderson I, Cairney J, Johnson D, (2011) ‘Rapid incorporation of carbon from ectomycorrhizal mycelial necromass into soil fungal communities’, New Phytologist, in review

Anderson I, Drigo B, Keniry K, Ghannoum O, Chambers SM, Tissue DT, Cairney JWG (2011) ‘Interactive effects of preindustrial, current and future atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and temperature on soil fungi associated with two Eucalyptus species', New Phytologist, in review

Drigo B, Kowalchuk GA, Knaap BM, Pijl AS, Boschker HTS, Duits H, van Veen JA, (2011) ‘Impacts of three years of elevated atmospheric CO₂ on rhizosphere carbon flow and microbial community dynamics', Global Change Biology, in review

Drigo B, Pijl AS, Duyts H, Kielak A, Gamper HA, Houtekamer MJ, Boschker HTS, Bodelier PLE, Whiteley AS, van Veen JA, Kowalchuk GA, (2010) ‘Shifting carbon flow from roots into associated microbial communities in response to elevated atmospheric CO₂’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol.107, no.24, pp 10938-10942

Wurst  S, van Beersum S , Wagenaar R, Bakx-Schotman T , Drigo B, Janzik I, Lanoue A, van der Putten WH, (2009) ‘Plant defence against nematodes is not mediated by changes in the soil microbial community’, Functional Ecology, vol.23, pp 488-495

Drigo B, van Veen JA, Kowalchuk GA, (2009) ‘Specific rhizosphere bacterial and fungal groups respond differently to elevated atmospheric CO₂’, ISME Journal, vol.3, pp 1204-1217

Drigo B, Kowalchuk GA, van Veen JA, (2008) ‘Climate change goes underground: effects of elevated atmospheric CO₂ on microbial community structure and activities in the rhizosphere’, Biology and Fertility of the Soils, vol.44, pp 667-679

Drigo B, Kowalchuk GA, Yergeau E, Bezemer TM, Boschker HTS, van Veen JA, (2007) ‘Impact of Elevated CO₂ on the Rhizosphere Communities of Carex arenaria and Festuca rubra’, Global Change Biology, vol.13, pp 2396-2410

Books or contribution to books

Drigo B, Kowalchuk GA, (2013) 'Rhizosphere Responses to Elevated CO2'. In F.J. de Bruijn (Ed.), Molecular Microbial Ecology of The Rhizosphere, pp 1063-1074, Wiley-Blackwell Publishers

Drigo B., Kowalchuk GA and van Veen JA. (2009). Effects of increased atmospheric Carbon Dioxide on the functional diversity of soil microbial communities in natural ecosystems. Publisher: University of Leiden, the Netherlands. PDF available at: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/13419

Drigo B, van Veen J A,  Boschker HIS, Kowalchuk GA (2007) Soil microbial community dynamics in the rhizosphere of plants subjected to elevated CO₂ Toronto, CANADA, Abstracts of the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, 107, 435

Kowalchuk GA, Drigo B, Yergeau E and van Veen JA (2006) Assessing Bacterial and Fungal Community Structure in Soil Using Ribosomal RNA and Other Structural Gene Markers. Soil Biology, Volume 8 Nulceic Acids and Proteins in Soil. P. Nannipieri, K. Smalla (Eds.), pp159-188

Drigo B, Verkerk-Bakker B and van Wordragen MF (2003) Expression profile analysis of Iris flowers (Iris hollandica L. cv. Blue Magic). Acta Universitatis - Leonardo da Vinci European programme Training, Agrotechnological Research Centre, ATO B.V., Wageningen, NL. Publisher: Trento University, Trento, Italy

Drigo B, Ariens R and van Wordragen MF (2003) Detection of quality related gene expression in Bianca rose. Acta Universitatis - Leonardo da Vinci European programme Training, Agrotechnological Research Center, ATO B.V., Wageningen, NL. Publisher: Trento University, Trento, Italy

Drigo B, Gionechetti F and Dolzani L  (2002) Role of first class integrons in the antibiotic resistance of Larus cacchinans m.. MSc Thesis. Publisher: Trieste University, Trieste, Italy

Conference proceedings and presentations

• 111th General Meeting – American Society for Microbiology – ASM 2011, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA: Microorganisms and climate change: terrestrial microbial feedbacks and carbon flow. May 21-24, 2011 - Invited speaker
• Joint Academic Microbial Seminars (JAMS), ’Climate change goes underground’. February 23, 2011, Sydney Australia - Invited speaker
• Organism Biology Course: Root-soil-microbe interactions, 3.5 HEC, Uppsala, Sweden, 24 – 28 January, 2011 - Double seminar – Invited speaker
  1- Phyllosphere, endosphere and rhizosphere: role of molecular biological methods  and environmental genomics (26 January 2011).
  2- Climate change goes underground (28 January 2011)
• 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology – ISME 13, Seattle, USA: August 22-27, 2010.Poster presentation. (awarded)
• University of Western Sydney (UWS) academic seminar series: Climate change and consequences to the Australian society, May 17, 2010 – Invited speaker
• Teleac Network (national Dutch network), Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 10 March, 2010. Climate change and Microbial Community. Invited press realise
• 10th International Congress of Ecology, Brisbane, Australia, 16-21 August, 2009. Poster presentation
• IOBC-meeting, Interlaken, Switzerland, 9-12 September, 2008. Oral contribution
• 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology – ISME 12, Cairns, Australia: August 17-22, 2008. Poster presentation
• Italian Radio Television Network (RAI-National Network), Rome, Italy, 8 June, 2008. Climate Global Change and soil. Invited press realise
• 107th General Meeting Program Committee of American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Toronto, Canada: May 21-25, 2007. Poster presentation. (awarded)
• 11th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology – ISME 11, Vienna, Austria: August 20-25, 2006. Oral contribution. (awarded)
• Opportunities in Global Change Research: “Responses to human disturbance” Amsterdam, NL: 7 February, 2006. Invited speaker
• NIOO Days 2006: “Responses to human disturbance” Lunteren, NL: 1-2 February, 2006. Invited speaker
• 2ndBIORHIZ symposium: ‘Rhizosphere Impact on Plant Communities – The Soil Biodiversity Conservation Perspective’ and 4thCONSIDER project workshop: ‘Global Climate Change and Soil Biodiversity’, Reading, UK:  23rd-26thAugust, 2005. Oral contribution
• Soil-Plant-Microbe Interactions, Fundaments & Applications, Uppsala, Sweden: 27 June – 8 July, 2005. Oral contribution
• Climate Change Meeting, Heteren, the Netherlands: 10 December 2004. Oral contribution
• Sense Summer Symposium 2005 ‘Kyoto and Beyond a good climate for responding to Climate Change? de Reehorst, Ede, the Netherlands: June 23. Invited speaker
• IOBC-meeting 2005 ‘Multitrophic Interactions in soil’, Wageningen, the Netherlands: 5-8 June, 2005. Poster presentation
• International Congress, Rhizosphere 2004 –Perspectives and Challenges- A Tribute to Lorenz Hiltner, Munich, Germany: 12-17 September 2004. Poster presentation