Abstract

In this talk, I will describe the principles behind and methodologies necessary for investigation of metal uptake, sequestration and transport by terrestrial plants using non-traditional stable isotope analyses. Designed to be informative and useful to both geochemists and plant scientists, the presentation will cover what natural stable isotope analyses of different metals have already taught us about biological and physicochemical processes in plant-soil/solution systems. After highlighting best practices for data acquisition and interpretation, the talk will conclude with an overview of my current research, which investigates a biological process not yet considered in natural stable isotope experiments: symbiotic plant-fungi associations. The results of my pilot experiment on arbuscular mycorrhizal rice, conducted in collaboration with plant scientists at Cambridge, set the foundation for a new area of multidisciplinary research with enormous potential to inform and influence environmental and agricultural strategies and policies, e.g. related to depleted or contaminated land, plant and human nutrition, and food security.