EAR-PF: Mechanisms Influencing Arsenic speciation and bioavailability at the plant-soil interface on Native American lands

NSF EAR博士后奖学金授予切丽·L·德沃尔博士，在斯科特·芬多夫博士的指导下，在斯坦福大学开展研究和培训活动。该项目试图确定影响美洲原住民社区中与文化相关的植物对砷的吸收和生物有效性的机制。通过使用受控实验室实验更好地了解砷的吸收，将有可能确定固定金属和限制接触环境和人类的途径的策略。这项工作使用社区驱动的伙伴关系和跨学科合作，最终将有助于减少砷暴露，以保护美洲原住民社区的健康，这是该项目的主要更广泛影响之一。该项目的成果提供了一个独特的机会，将有关砷摄取的知识转化为服务不足的部落社区，以促进社会公平。直接的教育收益包括环境研究和对美洲原住民博士后研究人员和社区合作伙伴的培训。美国西部靠近部落土地的大量废弃矿山废弃场管理不善。在受采矿影响的沉积物中生长的植物组织中检测到砷，促使De Vore博士进行调查，目的是更好地了解真菌内生菌和天然有机物(NOM)在美洲原住民社区使用的相关植物中积累砷的作用。水化学、DNA测序、光谱和显微技术的结合将使人们能够识别影响植物-土壤微区环境中砷形态和生物有效性的生物地球化学机制，这些机制目前还不是很清楚。这一倡议的结果将有助于确定潜在的接触途径，并为居住在这些地点附近的社区加强降低风险的战略。此外，推进生物地球化学过程的知识可以指导补救工作，这可能需要大量的联邦投资。这项研究的结果对于向部落和管理决策者提供信息以及环境风险评估和位于废弃矿山废弃地附近的社区的植物修复工作具有相关影响。这个项目是由地球科学部的地球生物学和低温地球化学项目共同资助的。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship has been granted to Dr. Cherie L. De Vore to conduct research and training initiatives at Stanford University under the mentorship of Dr. Scott Fendorf. The project seeks to identify mechanisms affecting the uptake and bioavailability of arsenic in culturally relevant plants from Native American communities. By better understanding arsenic uptake using controlled laboratory experiments, it will be possible to determine strategies for immobilizing metals and limiting exposure routes to the environment and to humans. This work uses community-driven partnerships and interdisciplinary collaborations that will ultimately contribute to reducing arsenic exposure to protect the health of Native American communities, which is one of the main broader impacts of this project. The results of this project offer a unique opportunity to translate knowledge about arsenic uptake to benefit underserved tribal communities with the goal of promoting social equity. Direct educational benefits include environmental research and training for a Native American Postdoctoral researcher and community partners. Extensive abandoned mine waste sites in the western United States near tribal lands are poorly managed. The detection of arsenic in plant tissues grown in mining-impacted sediment drives the investigation of Dr. De Vore aimed at better understanding of the role of fungal endophytes and natural organic matter (NOM) on the accumulation of arsenic in relevant plants used by Native American communities. The integration of aqueous chemistry, DNA sequencing, spectroscopy and microscopy techniques will allow the identification of biogeochemical mechanisms affecting arsenic speciation and bioavailability in plant-soil micro-zone environments that are currently not well understood. Results from this initiative will be useful to help identify potential exposure pathways and enhance risk reduction strategies for communities living near these sites. Further, advancing knowledge of the biogeochemical processes can then steer remediation efforts that may require a sizable federal investment. The results of this study have relevant implications for informing tribal and regulatory decision makers, as well as environmental risk assessments and phytoremediation efforts for communities located near abandoned mine waste sites. This project was co-funded by the Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry program in the division of Earth Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.