RII Track-4: NSF: Bio-inspired Solutions to Prevent Soil Erosion in Farmland and Scouring in Fluvial Regions

RII Track-4：NSF：防止农田水土流失和河流地区冲刷的仿生解决方案

• 批准号: 2327384
• 负责人: Aritra Banerjee
• 金额: $ 29.98万
• 依托单位: South Dakota State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-01 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327384&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RII; Track; NSF; Bio; inspired

Soil erosion has affected the fertility of the land, agricultural productivity, and crop health in many regions of the USA, and climate change is expected to worsen this issue. Traditionally, weak soils have been stabilized by cement or lime; however, such measures are not environmentally friendly and may not be suitable for all types of soils, such as sulfate-rich soils. Therefore, the biostabilization of soils using biofilms has been proposed to sustainably address these problems. Biofilms are naturally occurring microbial communities enclosed in a protective layer. Biofilm-treated soils are anticipated to bind soil particles together, enhancing strength and reducing soil erosion and scouring. In this study, problematic soils were treated with biofilms like dental biofilm and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) to increase their strength. These novel biofilms represent the first attempts to enhance soil properties. The higher organic content in biofilms will increase soil fertility and agricultural productivity, allowing for carbon storage in soils, which helps address climate change. There is significant potential for dental biofilm and SRB to be beneficial in other disciplines, such as developing drought-resistant crops, self-healing concrete, mitigating coastal dune migration, enhancing slope stability, reforestation after wildfires, and more.This Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-4 EPSCoR Research Fellows (RII Track-4) project will provide a fellowship to an Assistant professor and training for a graduate student at South Dakota State University. This work will be conducted in collaboration with researchers at Arizona State University. The objective of the project is to investigate the feasibility of using dental biofilms and SRB to enhance the strength of soils, thereby mitigating soil erosion and scouring, and improving agricultural productivity and the resilience of civil infrastructure such as embankments and bridges. The inspiration for this project stems from the observation that dental plaque or biofilms, once hardened, require specialized tools to dislodge them from teeth. If such a process can be replicated to bind soil particles together using dental biofilms, it will result in stronger soils that are resistant to erosion, potentially mitigating scouring near bridge foundations. SRB is anticipated to remove available sulfate from the soil before the application of lime, which is needed for better crop growth. The absence of sulfate ions in the soil will prevent the formation of highly expansive mineral ettringite, thereby mitigating sulfate-induced heave. A series of strength-based and volume change tests, along with freeze-thaw tests, have been planned to study the feasibility of inoculating these biofilms in soils. Preliminary studies will be conducted to investigate the increase in soil fertility and the mitigation of scouring using dental biofilms and SRB. The success of these techniques has the potential to be revolutionary and may aid in carbon sequestration. The project will contribute to enhancing our knowledge of soil-biofilm interactions under different climatic conditions by better understanding the rate of growth and optimal conditions required for the attachment and growth of such biofilms, as well as the rate of increase in the strength and moisture retention capacity of bio-stabilized soils.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.

土壤侵蚀影响了美国许多地区的土地，农业生产力和作物健康的生育能力，预计气候变化将使这个问题恶化。传统上，薄弱的土壤已被水泥或石灰稳定。但是，此类措施并不是环保的，也可能不适合所有类型的土壤，例如富含硫酸盐的土壤。因此，已经提出了使用生物膜对土壤的生物稳定化，以可持续解决这些问题。生物膜是自然存在的微生物群落，该群落包含在保护层中。预计用生物膜处理的土壤将土壤颗粒结合在一起，增强强度并减少土壤侵蚀和搜查。在这项研究中，有问题的土壤用牙齿生物膜和硫酸盐还原细菌（SRB）等生物膜处理，以提高其强度。这些新型的生物膜代表了增强土壤特性的首次尝试。生物膜中较高的有机含量将提高土壤的生育能力和农业生产率，从而使土壤中储存碳，这有助于解决气候变化。 There is significant potential for dental biofilm and SRB to be beneficial in other disciplines, such as developing drought-resistant crops, self-healing concrete, mitigating coastal dune migration, enhancing slope stability, reforestation after wildfires, and more.This Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-4 EPSCoR Research Fellows (RII Track-4) project will provide a fellowship to an Assistant professor and training for南达科他州立大学的研究生。这项工作将与亚利桑那州立大学的研究人员合作进行。该项目的目的是调查使用牙科生物膜和SRB来增强土壤强度的可行性，从而减轻土壤侵蚀和搜查，并提高农业生产力，并提高民用基础设施（例如堤防和桥梁）的韧性。该项目的灵感源于观察到牙齿或生物膜一旦变硬，就需要专门的工具将其从牙齿上脱离。如果可以使用牙齿生物膜复制这种过程将土壤颗粒结合在一起，则将导致更强大的土壤对侵蚀具有抗性，并有可能减轻桥梁基础附近的搜查。预计SRB将在涂石灰之前从土壤中去除可用的硫酸盐，这是改善农作物生长所需的。土壤中缺乏硫酸盐离子将防止形成高度膨胀的矿物伊特林特岩，从而减轻硫酸盐诱导的重量。一系列基于强度的和体积变化测试以及冻融测试已计划研究土壤中这些生物膜的可行性。将进行初步研究，以研究使用牙科生物膜和SRB进行土壤生育能力的增加和减轻冲洗的方法。这些技术的成功有可能是革命性的，并可能有助于碳固存。该项目将通过更好地理解这种生物膜的依恋和增长所需的增长速度和最佳条件，以及对生物稳定的土壤的强度和水分保留能力的提高速度，这将有助于增强我们对土壤生物膜相互作用的了解，这反映了NSF的法定任务和依据，这是通过评估的范围来弥补的。