主要研究 今天

一种叫做浮萍的水生植物, and the microbes that live on and inside them, could one day be artificially engineered to improve cleansing chemicals from urban and agricultural environments in water that runs off into retention ponds and other stormwater. That’s a focus of research led by Anna O'Brien at the University of New Hampshire’s 生命科学与农业学院.

O 'Brien也是一名科学家 新罕布什尔州农业实验站 (nha), has spent her career studying plants and their relation to the microbial organisms that live on or inside them, as well as how this microbiome reacts to environmental stressors such as pollution. At 主要研究, she’s particularly interested in common duckweed (属中的种 浮萍属), 池塘里的水生植物, lakes and slow-moving streams across the world, including New Hampshire and northeast New England.

“Duckweed is an ideal plant to study and consider for applied uses because it grows rapidly and easily, 并且是丰富和广泛的,奥勃良说, an assistant professor in the department of molecular, 细胞和生物医学科学.

“By understanding and harnessing the natural diversity of these plant-microbe systems, we can improve the design and efficiency of constructed wetlands, ultimately contributing to the health and sustainability of freshwater ecosystems.——安娜·奥布莱恩, assistant professor in the department of Molecular, 细胞, 和生物医学科学

Some of O’Brien’s research has centered on duckweed’s bioremediation capabilities— the plant’s ability to remove contaminants from water. As part of a study featured in the NHAES's INSPIRED Water Quality and Management issue, O’Brien constructed thousands of small test duckweed environments meant to mimic larger environments—and their microbiomes—by collecting plant and water samples from 50 different sites that varied in their level of urbanization. 的se plant–microbiome combinations were observed after adding mixtures of road salt and benzotriazole, a chemical used to inhibit corrosion of certain metals and found frequently in urban runoff. 一旦进入土壤和水, the slowly degrading benzotriazole could adversely impact plant growth and animals, 尤其是鱼.

“Our goal was to understand how the benzotriazole and salt impacted the duckweed–microbiome systems,奥勃良说. “What we found was that the duckweed–microbiome mixtures could transform this chemical into byproducts predicted to be less toxic, even in the high-salt conditions that are often typical of regional urban runoff.”

的 team also learned that test environments that had duckweed from rural areas, those with added algae or with diverse microbiomes showed to be most effective in reducing benzotriazole levels too.

据奥布莱恩说, this information can inform municipal planners, natural resource managers and non-profit organization professionals in developing targeted wetlands for stormwater management.

“By understanding and harnessing the natural diversity of these plant-microbe systems, we can improve the design and efficiency of constructed wetlands, ultimately contributing to the health and sustainability of freshwater ecosystems,奥勃良补充说.

O’Brien and her team are now investigating the use of duckweed as a natural soil additive, 特别是在农业环境中, to help lessen reliance on and reduce nutrient runoff from chemical fertilizers.

This project was funded by NSERC Discovery Grants, 多伦多大学XSeed基金, NSERC加拿大研究主席计划资助, and a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation grant.