ATENEO-LED RESEARCH TEAM DISCOVERS FERN THAT ABSORBS ARSENIC AND COPPER
Aresearch team of Filipino environmental scientists, led by Ateneo de Manila University Asst. Prof. Rene Claveria, has achieved a breakthrough in using plants to remove metal contaminants in the soil.
Pteris melanocaulon, a native fern, was initially determined as a metallophyte–a plant capable of growing in soils even when there’s a high concentration of metals. In a copper-gold mining area as study site, the fern was discovered to have an ability to accumulate copper,” Claveria said. “What we discovered much later, is that this fern can also accumulate high levels of arsenic.”
Claveria and members of his team, Dr. Teresita Perez (Ateneo de Manila University), Dr. Dennis Apuan (University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines-cagayan de Oro), Mary Jane Apuan (Xavier University Cagayan de Oro), and Ellaine Castillo Perez (Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines), observed the fern’s ability to tolerate toxic levels of arsenic in mining areas in Surigao and Cebu.
Dr. Augustine Doronilla, a DOST Balikscientist from the University of Melbourne who also mentored the team, was instrumental in the discovery process.
“It was Dr. Doronilla who introduced to us to phytoremediation or using plants to remove and immobilize contaminants in soil and groundwater,” Claveria said. Doronilla, he said, spoke of fern’s ability as an accumulator.
In 2014, the research team found Pteris melanocaulon to be an efficient copper accumulator. Hoping to dig deeper into the plant’s tolerance to toxic compounds, Claveria and his team sought to assess fern’s ability as an arsenic accumulator.
With funding from DOSTPCIEERD, the team was given access to field surveys and sampling. They found that Pteris melanocaulon was able to grow in soils that were contaminated with copper, and other elements such as arsenic. These observations were confirmed on potted experiments where different concentrations of copper and arsenic solutions were made as soil amendments. Findings show that the fern’s roots and leaves were not affected.
“It is the first type of fern discovered, to accumulate copper in the roots, and arsenic in the leaves,” Claveria said.