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Phylogeny can be used to make useful predictions of soil-to-plant transfer factors for radionuclides (2010)
Journal Article
Willey, N. (2010). Phylogeny can be used to make useful predictions of soil-to-plant transfer factors for radionuclides. Radiation and Environmental Biophysics, 49(4), 613-623. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-010-0320-2

Soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides can be related to plant evolutionary history (phylogeny). For some species and radionuclides the effect is significant enough to be useful in predicting Transfer Factors (TFs). Here a Residual Maximum Likelihoo... Read More about Phylogeny can be used to make useful predictions of soil-to-plant transfer factors for radionuclides.

The effects of plant traits and phylogeny on soil-to-plant transfer of 99Tc (2010)
Journal Article
Hicks, S., McEwen, A., Tang, S., & Willey, N. (2010). The effects of plant traits and phylogeny on soil-to-plant transfer of 99Tc. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 101(9), 757-766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2010.04.019

Assessments of the behaviour of 99Tc in terrestrial environments necessitate predicting soil-to-plant transfer. An experiment with 116 plant taxa showed that 99Tc transfer to plants was positively related to plant dry weight but negatively related to... Read More about The effects of plant traits and phylogeny on soil-to-plant transfer of 99Tc.

Genomic and proteomic analyses of plant response to radiation in the environment-an abiotic stress context (2009)
Journal Article
Willey, N., Heinekamp, Y. J., & Burridge, A. (2009). Genomic and proteomic analyses of plant response to radiation in the environment-an abiotic stress context. Radioprotection, 44(5), 887-890. https://doi.org/10.1051/radiopro/20095158

Genomic and proteomic techniques provide the opportunity to investigate plant response to ionising radiation in unprecedented detail. Understanding plant molecular responses to ionising radiation might be useful for radioprotection but also for under... Read More about Genomic and proteomic analyses of plant response to radiation in the environment-an abiotic stress context.

Phylogenetic variation in the tolerance and uptake of organic contaminants (2009)
Journal Article
Collins, C. D., & Willey, N. (2009). Phylogenetic variation in the tolerance and uptake of organic contaminants. International Journal of Phytoremediation, 11(7), 623-639. https://doi.org/10.1080/15226510902787286

An investigation into the phylogenetic variation of plant tolerance and the root and shoot uptake of organic contaminants was undertaken. The aim was to determine if particular families or genera were tolerant of, or accumulated organic pollutants. D... Read More about Phylogenetic variation in the tolerance and uptake of organic contaminants.

Phylogeny and growth strategy as predictors of differences in cobalt concentrations between plant species (2008)
Journal Article
Willey, N., & Wilkins, J. (2008). Phylogeny and growth strategy as predictors of differences in cobalt concentrations between plant species. Environmental Science and Technology, 42(6), 2162-2167. https://doi.org/10.1021/es071531r

Analyses reported here quantify the contribution of plant phylogeny and plant growth strategy to soil-to-plant transfer of Co. Estimated relative mean (ERM) Co concentrations in shoots of 241 species of flowering plant were derived using a residual m... Read More about Phylogeny and growth strategy as predictors of differences in cobalt concentrations between plant species.

Some effects of nitrogen nutrition on caesium uptake and translocation by species in the Poaceae, Asteraceae and Caryophyllidae (2006)
Journal Article
Willey, N., & Tang, S. (2006). Some effects of nitrogen nutrition on caesium uptake and translocation by species in the Poaceae, Asteraceae and Caryophyllidae. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 58(1-3), 114-122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2005.07.001

There is current interest in managing and manipulating 137Cs transfer from soil to plants. We hypothesized that N source might affect Cs uptake by plants and report experiments that confirm this. Uptake experiments using hydroponics with a variety of... Read More about Some effects of nitrogen nutrition on caesium uptake and translocation by species in the Poaceae, Asteraceae and Caryophyllidae.

An analysis of intertaxa differences in sulfur concentration in angiosperms (2006)
Journal Article
Willey, N., & Wilkins, J. (2006). An analysis of intertaxa differences in sulfur concentration in angiosperms. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 169(5), 717-727. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.200520590

Understanding the behavior of sulfur (S) in the soil-plant system is important for crop production, for predicting the movement of the radioisotope 35S in the environment, and for investigating the role of S in plant metabolism of xenobiotics. A data... Read More about An analysis of intertaxa differences in sulfur concentration in angiosperms.

A phylogenetic effect on strontium concentrations in angiosperms (2006)
Journal Article
Willey, N., & Fawcett, K. (2006). A phylogenetic effect on strontium concentrations in angiosperms. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 57(3), 258-269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2005.06.005

A Residual Maximum Likelihood (REML) procedure was used to compile Sr concentrations in 103 plant species from experiments with Sr concentrations in 66 plant species from the literature. There were 14 species in common between experiments and the lit... Read More about A phylogenetic effect on strontium concentrations in angiosperms.

Inter-taxa differences in root uptake of 103/106Ru by plants (2006)
Journal Article
Willey, N., & Fawcett, K. (2006). Inter-taxa differences in root uptake of 103/106Ru by plants. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 86(2), 227-240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2005.09.002

Ruthenium-106 is of potential radioecological importance but soil-to-plant Transfer Factors for it are available only for few plant species. A Residual Maximum Likelihood (REML) procedure was used to construct a database of relative 103/106Ru concent... Read More about Inter-taxa differences in root uptake of 103/106Ru by plants.

Species selection for phytoremediation of 36Cl/35Cl using angiosperm phylogeny and inter-taxa differences in uptake (2005)
Journal Article
Willey, N., & Fawcett, K. (2005). Species selection for phytoremediation of 36Cl/35Cl using angiosperm phylogeny and inter-taxa differences in uptake. International Journal of Phytoremediation, 7(4), 295-306. https://doi.org/10.1080/16226510500327152

High concentrations of 35Cl and the radioisotope 36Cl (produced naturally by cosmic radiation and anthropogenically by U fission and the use of neutron sources) can be problematic in soil, but are potentially amenable to phytoremediation if appropria... Read More about Species selection for phytoremediation of 36Cl/35Cl using angiosperm phylogeny and inter-taxa differences in uptake.

Predicting inter-taxa differences in plant uptake of cesium-134/137 (2005)
Journal Article
Willey, N., Tang, S., & Watt, N. R. (2005). Predicting inter-taxa differences in plant uptake of cesium-134/137. Journal of Environmental Quality, 34(5), 1478-1489. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2004.0454

For 134/137Cs, and many other soil contaminants, research into transfer to plants has focused on particular crops and phytoremediation candidates, producing uptake data for a small proportion of all plant taxa. Despite the significance of differences... Read More about Predicting inter-taxa differences in plant uptake of cesium-134/137.

Selecting plants to minimise radiocaesium in the food chain (2003)
Journal Article
Escobar-Gutiérrez, A. J., White, P. J., Swarup, K., Escobar-Gutierrez, A., Bowen, H. C., Willey, N., & Broadley, M. R. (2003). Selecting plants to minimise radiocaesium in the food chain. Plant and Soil, 249(1), 177-186. https://doi.org/10.1023/A%3A1022593307224

Caesium (Cs) is an alkali metal with chemical properties similar to potassium (K). It has no known role in plant nutrition and it is not toxic to plants at the micromolar concentrations occurring naturally in soil solutions. However, two radioisotope... Read More about Selecting plants to minimise radiocaesium in the food chain.

Topology: A novel method to describe branching patterns in Peronospora viciae colonies (2003)
Journal Article
Johnston, M. A., Ott, A., Spencer-Phillips, P. T., & Willey, N. (2003). Topology: A novel method to describe branching patterns in Peronospora viciae colonies. Mycological Research, 107(10), 1123-1131. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0953756203008384

Topology provides a novel means to describe branching patterns and has not been applied to fungal colonies previously. For any branched structure, various topologies are possible, and these lie between two extremes, a herringbone pattern (main axis w... Read More about Topology: A novel method to describe branching patterns in Peronospora viciae colonies.

Soil availability, plant uptake and soil to plant transfer of 99Tc - A review (2003)
Journal Article
Bennett, R., & Willey, N. (2003). Soil availability, plant uptake and soil to plant transfer of 99Tc - A review. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 65(2), 215-231. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0265-931X%2802%2900098-X

The fission yield of 99Tc from 239Pu and 235U is similar to that of 137Cs or 90Sr and it is therefore an important component of nuclear weapons fall-out, nuclear waste and releases from nuclear facilities. There is particular current interest in 99Tc... Read More about Soil availability, plant uptake and soil to plant transfer of 99Tc - A review.

Phytoextractio of 137Cs: The effect of soil 137Cs concentration on 137Cs uptake by Beta vulgaris (2002)
Journal Article
Watt, N. R., Willey, N., Hall, S. C., & Cobb, A. (2002). Phytoextractio of 137Cs: The effect of soil 137Cs concentration on 137Cs uptake by Beta vulgaris. Acta Biotechnologica, 22(1-2), 183-188. https://doi.org/10.1002/1521-3846%28200205%2922%3A1/2%3C183%3A%3AAID-ABIO183%3E3.0.CO%3B2-K

The last phase for MAGNOX ELECTRIC plc's reactor decommissioning strategy is site clearance and delicencing. Phytoextraction of 137Cs may be able to assist in meeting this objective. Field trials using Beta vulgaris conducted at Bradwell Nuclear Powe... Read More about Phytoextractio of 137Cs: The effect of soil 137Cs concentration on 137Cs uptake by Beta vulgaris.