Professor Byron Barnard Lamont (born 2 January 1945) is a Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

n botanist. He is currently a senior researcher within the Department of Environmental Biology of Curtin University of Technology

Curtin University of Technology

Curtin University is an Australian university based in Perth, Western Australia, with additional campuses in regional Western Australia and at Miri , Sydney and Singapore...

. A specialist in ecology

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

 of the flora of the South West Botanic Province, he has published hundreds of papers.

Born in Perth, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, he attended Applecross and Mount Pleasant Primary Schools, and later Wesley College

Wesley College, Perth

Wesley College, informally known as Wesley, is an independent, day and boarding school for boys and girls , situated in South Perth, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia....

. From 1963 to 1966 he pursued undergraduate studies at the Instituate of Agriculture, University of Western Australia

University of Western Australia

The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science with majors in Soils, Agronomy and Microbiology. He then undertook a Masters degree under the supervision of Brian Grieve

Brian Grieve

Professor Brian John Grieve was an Australian botanist best known for his multi-volume book series How to know Western Australian wildflowers....

, focussed on soil-plant relationships of Hakea

Hakea

Hakea is a genus of 149 species of shrubs and small trees in the Proteaceae, native to Australia. They are found throughout the country, with the highest species diversity being found in the south west of Western Australia....

, especially its proteoid root

Proteoid root

Proteoid roots, also known as cluster roots, are plant roots that form clusters of closely spaced short lateral rootlets. They may form a two to five centimetre thick mat just beneath the leaf litter. They enhance nutrient uptake, possibly by chemically modifying the soil environment to improve...

s. His research into proteoid roots earned him a PhD. in 1974. Thereafter he began studying part time for a Doctor of Science

Doctor of Science

Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...

 degree, which was awarded in 1993. During this period he held a series of academic positions within Curtin University of Technology.

Among his many publications are two books, around 30 book chapters and review papers, and over 100 journal papers. He is the author of Hakea cygna

Hakea cygna

Hakea cygna is a Western Australian shrub.The shrubby species is nonsprouting, erect, 0.4 to 2.0 m, with branchlets that become densely haired in the flowering period....

, H. c. subsp. needlei and H. erecta. He also published the name Hakea rubriflora, but this has since been found to be a synonym of H. denticulata

Hakea denticulata

Hakea denticulata, commonly known as Stinking Roger, is a shrub tree endemic southern Western Australia. One of the many species of Australian plant described by the botanist Robert Brown, it is a compact shrub up to 1 or 2 metres high and wide with red flowers in the spring, of a powerful...

.

He currently lives in the Perth suburb of Bull Creek

Bull Creek, Western Australia

Bull Creek is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the local government area of City of Melville.-History:The name was adopted by the City of Melville Council in December 1968. The creek was named after an early settler, Lt Henry Bull to whom a grant of 1.20 km² of nearby land...

. He is married with two adult children.

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