Dr Sigfredo Fuentes

Biography/ Background

Lecturer in Viticulture (University of Adelaide. September 2008 - Current).

Research Fellow (Wine 2030 program): "Effects of climate change in Viticulture, elevated CO2, water supply and temperature experiments" (University of Adelaide. February 2008 - Current).

Postdoctoral Fellow: "A rehabilitation plan for Castlereagh waste disposal Centre" and "The Hawkesbury Forest Experiment". The effect of rising CO2 levels and temperature on water use efficiency and carbon accumulation of Australian forests" (University of Technology, Sydney. 2005 - 2008)

Postdoctoral Fellow: "Unravelling the Links between Plant Transpiration, Soil Water and Nitrate Movement: Impact on High Atmospheric CO2 and Irrigation Strategy on Grapevines" (University of Western Sydney, 2005)

PhD: "Precision irrigation for grapevines under RDI and PRD" (University of Western Sydney, 2002-2005)

Irrigation specialist. Darling Irrigation Pty (Bourke, NSW. 2001-2002)

Research Associate. Irrigation scheduling and biomodelling in horticultural crops (University of Talca - Chile, 1997 - 2000)

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture / Horticulture. (University of Talca - Chile, 1999)

Bachelor of Science (Honours). Agronomist (University of Talca - Chile, 1999)

Awards & Achievements

2004 F.G. SWAIN Award for excellence in postgraduate research. University of Western Sydney.

Teaching Interests

My Teaching interests are in the area of Plant Physiology, Irrigation Science, Irrigation Scheduling, Remote Sensing, Climate change and technology used for Viticulture and science in general.

Coordinator of Engineering for Viticulture and Oenology III

Link to the course profile:

http://course-profiles.adelaide.edu.au/Catalog/ViewCatalog.aspx?pageid=viewcatalog&topicgroupid=4709&entitytype=ITM&entityid=26271&loaduseredits=False

Research Interests

My research interest concerns:

i) The determination of the effects of climate change in viticulture (Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE), elevated temperature and water supply experiments)

ii) The causes of pre-harvest berry cell death and its effects on berry shrivel and development of aroma and flavours (Australia)

iii) The implementation of robotics and automated visual technology for plant physiology monitoring in Agriculture, Viticulture and Urban Tree management.

iv) Precision irrigation and regional scale measurements to estimate spatial variation evapotranspiration in grapevines using remote sensing (Chile).

v) Use of state of the art instrumentation for grapevine research, such as: continuously logged soil moisture sensors, turgor pressure on leaves and berries,  sap flow sensors, dendrometers, infrared thermography, NIR, Licor 6400, Eddy covariance system, Bowen ratio system, Scintillometers.

vi) Creating data and image analysis scripts in MATLAB R2011a. Programs and scripts created:

1) Soil wetting patterns analysis (WPA): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm4NLXYTSv4, publications available. Program created using Delphi 7.0. Program created in MATLAB 2011a to generate soil wetting patterns videos (Fuentes et al. 2005; 2007).

2) MATLAI: leaf area index estimation and batch analysis using upward looking digital images and gap analysis algorithms. (Fuentes et al. 2008).

3) An automatic (batch) and semi-automatic analysis tool to detect berry morphology (perimeter, diameter and shrivelling index) and viability tissue (%) from fluorescent images of sliced berries treated with FDA (Fluorescin diacetate). Publication in progress. The same script can be used in MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) of berries (Fuentes et al. 2010).

4) An automatic chloroplast analysis tool from flurescent images from pea leaves. Automatically obtained data: i) number of chloroplasts, ii) perimeter, iii) diameter, iv) intensity (max, min, average and media), v)shape (excentricity), vi) major blob axix, vii) minor blob axis.

5) Color detection and area separation to discriminate and quantify healthy and unhealthy vegetative cover from aereal pictures. Tree health project. Code modified from Matlab script Fuentes et al. 2008.

6) Automatic detection of berries from digital images to obtain: diameter, perimeter, number of berries, shrivel and excentricity. Modified program to detect leaves from images to obtain morphometric data automatically (area, perimeter, lenght, width, eccentricity, RGB colours, CieLab and Fractal dimension using the box count method).

7) Principal Component Analysis (PCA).  Automated PCA as a function to analyse data obtained with other codes.

8) Automated analysis of infrared thermographies from canopies to obtain canopy water stress indices and crop water stress index (CWSI). (Fuentes et al. 2011).

Work in progress:

1) Automatic extraction of relevant data from berry compression curves (i.e. initial point, split point, slope of curve, differential slope determination, displacement, Force (N) and Energy (mJ)). Data obtained using the Instron instrument.

2) Determination of stomata number, length, width, eccentricity, density and position from microscopy imprints of grapevine leaves.

 

Research Funding

2012 Wine 2030 Funding. "Developing a novel canopy architecture monitoring App for smartphones and tablet computers". Chief Investigators: Sigfredo Fuentes; Roberta De Bei.

2012 Wine 2030 Funding."Developing a near Infrared (NIR) technique for irrigation scheduling in grapevines". Chief Investigators: Roberta De Bei; Sigfredo Fuentes.

2012 WRI Funding. The Vineyard of The Future Initiative: a fully monitored vineyard as test bed for new innovations enabling adaptation to climate change. Stephen Tyerman; Sigfredo Fuentes; Roberta De Bei.

2009-2010 The University of Adelaide. Chief Investigator. Project title: Cell death in berries: consequences for harvest timing, extractability and grape/wine quality in warm regions.

2008-2013 The University of Adelaide. Chief Investigator. Project title: "Integrating the carbon and water economies of grapevine for optimal management in challenging environments".

2006-2008 University of Technology, Sydney. Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Project title: "A rehabilitation plan for Castlereagh waste disposal Centre".

2005-2008 University of Western Sydney, University of Technology, Sydney, University of New South Wales, Swedish Agricultural University. Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Project title: "The Hawkesbury Forest Experiment". The effect of rising CO2 levels and temperature on water use efficiency and carbon accumulation of Australian forests.

2004-2007 University of Western Sydney. ARC Linkage Project.
Plant physiology researcher. Project Title: "Unravelling the Links between Plant Transpiration, Soil Water and Nitrate Movement: Impact on High Atmospheric CO2 and Irrigation Strategy on Grapevines".

2003-2005 University of Western Sydney, Australia Centre for Horticultural and Plant Sciences
PhD student. PhD Thesis Project: "Precision Water Requirements for Grapevines (Vitis vinifera L) Under Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI) and Partial Root-zone Drying (PRD)".

2002-2003 University of Western Sydney, Australia Centre for Horticultural and Plant Sciences
PhD student. Project: "A novel subsurface irrigation system for the implementation of partial rootzone drying in grapevines and manipulation of grapevine physiology".

1999 University of Talca, Chile. Department of Agricultural Production.
Associate Researcher. Project: "Investigation of Agrometeorology Special Programs, VII region of Chile".

1997 - 1999 University of Talca, Chile. Department of Agricultural Production. Associate Researcher. Project: "Development of a Methodology to Estimate the Evapotranspiration using Automatic Meteorological Systems on vineyards".

1997-1999 University of Talca, Chile. Implementation of irrigation technologies in the Pencahue valley agricultural system (Grapevines and Olive trees). Financed by the National Irrigation Comission (CNR), Chile.

1996 - 1998 University of Talca - Chile. Department of Agricultural Production. Associate Researcher. Project: "Development of a Methodology to Estimate the Reference and Crop Evapotranspiration using the Penman - Monteith Method".

1997 -1999 University of Talca, Chile. Agronomy Sciences Faculty. Associate Researcher. Project: "Establishment of an Integrated Agroclimatological and Irrigation Service (SIAR).

 

Publications

Fuentes S., Mahadevan M., Bonada M., Skewes M.A., Cox J.W. 2012. Night-time sap flow is parabolically linked to midday stem water potential for field grown almond trees. Irrigation Science (Accepted).

Trung-Ta Nguyen, Sigfredo Fuentes, Petra Marschner. 2012. Effects of compost on water availability and gas exchange in tomato during drought and recovery. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture (In printing).

Fuentes S., Poblete-Echeverria C. , De Bei R., Ortega-Farias S., Tyerman S. 2012. Spatio-temporal estimation of leaf area index (LAI) from grapevine canopies using a novel cover photography and video analysis method. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research (Submitted).

Trung-Ta Nguyen, Sigfredo Fuentes, Petra Marschner. 2012. Capsicum annuum growth and water use efficiency with repeated drying periods in soils one and three years after compost application. Soil, Plant and Environment (Submitted).

Escalona J., Fuentes S., Tomas M., Martorell S., Flexas J., Medrano H. 2012. Responses of leaf night respiration and transpiration to water stress in Vitis vinifera L. Agricultural Water Management (Accepted).

Fuentes, S., De Bei, R. Pech, J., Tyerman, S. 2012. Computational water stress indices obtained from thermal image analysis of grapevine canopies. Irrigation Science. DOI: 10.1007/s00271-012-0375-8.

 

Poblete-Echeverria, C., Ortega-Farias, S., Fuentes, S. 2012. Evaluation of daily vine canopy transpiration determined by sap flow sensors using a micrometeorological approach. Agricultural Water Management. DOI:10.1016/j.agwat.2012.01.019.  

 

De Bei, R., Cozzolino, D., Sullivan, W., Cynkar, W., Fuentes, S., Dambergs, R., Pech, J., Tyerman, S. 2011. Non-Destructive Measurement of Grapevine Water Potential Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. 17(1):62-71.

 

Yunusa I., Fuentes S., Palmer A., Macinnis-Ng C., Zeppel M., Eamus D. 2010. Latent heat fluxes during contrasting years from a juvenile plantation over a waste disposal landscape. Journal of Hydrology. 399: 48-56.

 

Isa A. M. Yunusa, Melanie J. B. Zeppel, Sigfredo Fuentes, Catriona M. O. Macinnis-Ng, Anthony R. Palmer, Derek Eamus. 2010. An assessment of the water budget for contrasting vegetation covers associated with waste management. Hydrological Processes. 24: 1149-1158.

 

Fuentes S, Sullivan W, Tillbrook J and Tyerman S. 2010. A novel analysis of grapevine berry tissue vitality and morphology demonstrates a variety dependent correlation between tissue vitality and berry shrivel. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. 16(2):273-367.

 

Collins M, Fuentes S and Barlow E.W.R. 2010. Partial rootzone drying and deficit irrigation increase stomatal sensitivity to vapour pressure deficit in anisohydric grapevines. Functional Plant Biology. 37: 129-138.

 

Acevedo-Opazo C, Ortega-Farias S and Fuentes S. 2010. Effects of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) water status on water consumption, vegetative growth and grape quality: An irrigation scheduling application to achieve regulated deficit irrigation. Agricultural Water Management.97(7): 956-964.

 

Fuentes S, Collins M, Rogers G, Acevedo C and Conroy J.P.2009. Nocturnal heat-pulse as a sensitive system to assess drought effects on grapevines: an irrigation scheduling application?. Acta Horticulturae. 846: 167-172.

 

Macinnis-Ng C.M.O, Fuentes S., O'Grady A.P., Palmer A.R., Taylor A., Whitley R.J., Yunusa I., Zeppel M.J.B., Eamus D. 2009. Root biomass distribution and soil properties of an open
woodland on a duplex soil. Plant and Soil. DOI 10.1007/s11104-009-0061-7.

 

 

Anthony R. Palmer, Sigfredo Fuentes, Daniel Taylor, Cate Macinnis-Ng, Melanie Zeppel, Isa Yunusa and Derek Eamus. 2009. Towards a spatial understanding of water use of several land-cover classes: pre-dawn leaf water potential, stand water use, aridity index and MODIS LAI. Ecohydrology. DOI: 10.1002/eco.63.

 

Fuentes, S., Palmer, A.R., Taylor, D., Zeppel, M., Whitley, R., Eamus, D. 2008. An automated procedure for estimating the leaf area index (LAI) of woodland ecosystems using digital imagery, Matlab® programming and its application to an examination of the relationship between remotely sensed and field measurements of LAI. Functional Plant Biology. 35:1-10.

 

Palmer, A., Fuentes, S., Taylor, D., Macinnis-Ng, C., Zeppel, M., Yunusa, I., February, E., Eamus, D. 2008. Using pre-dawn leaf water potential and MODIS LAI to explore seasonal trends in the phenology of Australian and southern African woodlands and savannas. Australian Journal of Botany. 56: 1-7.

 

Zeppel, M., Macinnis-Ng, C., Palmer, A., Taylor, D., Whitley, R., Fuentes, S., Yunusa, I., Williams, M., Eamus, D. 2008. An analysis of the sensitivity of sap flux to soil and plant variables assessed for an Australian woodland using SPA. Functional Plant Biology. 35: 509-520.

 

Anderson, K., Findlay, C., Fuentes, S., Tyerman, S. 2008. Wine and viticulture. Paper as part of the Garnaut report on climate change. www.garnautreview.org.au/CA25734E0016A131/WebObj/01-HViticulture/$File/01-H%20Viticulture.pdf

 

Yunusa, I., Nuberg, I., Lu, P., Fuentes, S., Eamus, D. 2008. A simple field validation of daily transpiration derived from sapflow using a porometer and minimal meteorological data. Plant and Soil. 305(1-2): 15-24.

 

Eamus, D., Fuentes, S., Macinnis-Ng, C., Palmer, A., Taylor, D., Whitley, R., Yunusa, I., Zeppel, M. 2007. Woody thickening: a consequence of changes in fluxes of carbon and water on a warming globe. Bureau of Meteorology papers: http://www.bom.gov.au/bmrc/basic/cawcr-wksp1/papers/Eamus.pdf

 

Fuentes, S., Rogers, G., Conroy, J., Jobling, J., Camus, C., Mercenaro, L. 2008. A soil-plant-atmosphere approach to evaluate the effect of irrigation strategy on Grapevine (cv. Shiraz) water and nutrient uptake, grape quality and yield. Acta Horticulturae (ISHS) 792: 297-303.

 

Collins, M., Barlow, S., Fuentes, S., Kelley, G. 2008. Water-use of Shiraz vines in response to PRD in a water-limiting environment. Acta Horticulturae (ISHS) 792: 179-184.

 

Rogers, G., Fuentes, S., Shuttleworth, L., Fox, M., Dalton, M., Conroy, J. 2008. Evaluation of Combined Soil EC and Moisture Sensors and their Use to Co-Manage Soil Moisture and Vine Nitrogen in Grapevines (cv. Shiraz) Under Deficit Irrigation. Acta Horticulturae (ISHS) 792: 543-547.

 

Ortega-Farias, S., Olioso A., Fuentes S. and Valdes H. 2006. Latent Heat Flux Over a Tomato Crop by Using Penman-Monteith Equation With a Variable Canopy Resistance. Agricultural Water Management 82(3): 421-432.

 

Fuentes, S. 2006. Precision irrigation for grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) Under RDI and PRD. Thesis to attain the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of Western Sydney. 284pp. Available on-line at: http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20060713.093402/index.html

 

Collins M.J., Kelley G., Fuentes S., Wood R., Barlow E.W.R. 2005. Physiological, growth, yield and quality responses of â?^~Shirazâ?^TM berries manipulated using PRD and drip irrigation. Acta Horticulturae (ISHS) 689:309-316.

 

Fuentes S., Kelley G., Collins J., Rogers G., Conroy J. 2005. Use of Infrared Thermography to Assess Spatial and Temporal Variability of Stomatal Conductance of Grapevines Under Partial Root-zone Drying. An Irrigation Scheduling Application. Acta Horticulturae (ISHS) 689:309-316.

 

Collins M.J., Barlow E.W.R., Kelley G., Fuentes S., Wood R. 2004. Impact of Water Stress on Carbon Partitioning Within Shiraz Grape Berries. Acta Horticulturae (ISHS). 664:245-252.

 

Fuentes S., Rogers G., Conroy J., Ortega - Farias S., Acevedo C. 2003. Soil Wetting Pattern Monitoring as a Key Factor for Water Use Efficiency on Grapevines. Acta Horticulturae (ISHS) 664:245-252.

 

Ortega - Farias, S., Acevedo and Fuentes, S. 2000. Calibration of the Penman - Monteith Method to Estimate Latent Heat Flux Over a Grass Canopy. Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops, edited by Ferreira, M.I. and Jones, H.G. Acta Horticulturae. (ISHS): 475 (1):129:133.

Professional Associations

International Society of Horticultural Science (ISHS)

Australian Society of Horticultural Science (ASHS)

Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology (ASVO)

Entry last updated: Wednesday, 7 Nov 2012