WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:04.312 (simplistic electronic beats) 2 00:00:08.769 --> 00:00:09.800 Picture yourself living 3 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:11.880 line:15% in one of those paintings by Bob Ross. 4 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:14.050 line:15% You remember the guy with the big hair? 5 00:00:14.050 --> 00:00:17.090 line:15% There's a log cabin and crystal clear, happy little stream 6 00:00:17.090 --> 00:00:18.960 line:15% that flow into a quiet lake 7 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:21.890 secluded from the noise and pollution of the big city. 8 00:00:21.890 --> 00:00:23.010 This seems like a great place 9 00:00:23.010 --> 00:00:25.130 to settle down and start a family, 10 00:00:25.130 --> 00:00:27.730 and that day comes that your family multiplies, 11 00:00:27.730 --> 00:00:30.180 but it's obvious that something just isn't right. 12 00:00:31.030 --> 00:00:32.010 Unbeknownst to you, 13 00:00:32.010 --> 00:00:33.840 the food you've eaten and the water you drank 14 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:35.340 was slowly poisoning you, 15 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:38.360 and the results have manifested in your offspring. 16 00:00:38.360 --> 00:00:39.670 Devastated and outraged, 17 00:00:39.670 --> 00:00:41.850 certainly you would demand reparations 18 00:00:41.850 --> 00:00:43.448 and insist that those responsible 19 00:00:43.448 --> 00:00:47.010 for tainting your Bob Ross picturesque habitat 20 00:00:47.010 --> 00:00:48.980 take the necessary measures to prevent this 21 00:00:48.980 --> 00:00:50.760 from ever happening again. 22 00:00:50.760 --> 00:00:53.310 But you're a fish or a duck, 23 00:00:53.310 --> 00:00:54.200 and as it turns out, 24 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:56.500 humans are at the root of the problem. 25 00:00:56.500 --> 00:00:59.930 See, miles away, run off of areas associated 26 00:00:59.930 --> 00:01:03.350 with activities that improve human quality of life, 27 00:01:03.350 --> 00:01:06.220 agricultural production, fossil fuel combustion, 28 00:01:06.220 --> 00:01:08.620 and other industrialized processes 29 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:11.660 has accumulated and transported harmful trace elements, 30 00:01:11.660 --> 00:01:12.971 in this case, selenium, 31 00:01:12.971 --> 00:01:14.670 into surrounding watersheds 32 00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:17.520 and degraded the environmental quality of your ecosystem. 33 00:01:19.030 --> 00:01:21.450 Even at ultra low concentrations, 34 00:01:21.450 --> 00:01:23.210 we're talkin' parts per billion, 35 00:01:23.210 --> 00:01:25.980 selenium can biomagnify up trophic levels 36 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:27.940 seen here on the left, 37 00:01:27.940 --> 00:01:31.463 resulting in deformed or, even worse, still born offspring. 38 00:01:32.430 --> 00:01:35.340 So what measures can we take to prevent this? 39 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:39.130 Well, the EPA has set water quality criteria for selenium 40 00:01:39.130 --> 00:01:41.380 at 3.1 parts per billion. 41 00:01:41.380 --> 00:01:43.693 It's our responsibility to meet that standard. 42 00:01:44.610 --> 00:01:46.930 My research focuses on the strategic use 43 00:01:46.930 --> 00:01:48.700 of constructed wet lands 44 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:51.223 to fight or remediate selenium impacted run off. 45 00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:54.470 Phytoremediation is a green technology 46 00:01:54.470 --> 00:01:56.960 that is sustainable and relatively inexpensive 47 00:01:56.960 --> 00:01:59.620 compared to other water treatment options. 48 00:01:59.620 --> 00:02:03.250 Phytoremediation capitalizes on plant metabolic processes 49 00:02:03.250 --> 00:02:05.090 to remove a myriad of contaminates, 50 00:02:05.090 --> 00:02:06.510 not just selenium, 51 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:09.550 through three primary elimination pathways. 52 00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:11.680 Rhizofiltration concentrates selenium 53 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:14.070 all in the roots or near the root zone. 54 00:02:14.070 --> 00:02:17.090 Because selenium is the chemical analog to sulfur, 55 00:02:17.090 --> 00:02:19.520 plants can phytoaccumulate it into their tissues 56 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:21.420 through sulfur assimilation. 57 00:02:21.420 --> 00:02:23.230 And here's the interesting part. 58 00:02:23.230 --> 00:02:26.420 Some plants have the ability to phytovolatilize, 59 00:02:26.420 --> 00:02:28.640 or transform inorganic selenium 60 00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:30.430 into lightweight organic compounds 61 00:02:30.430 --> 00:02:32.950 that can be released into the atmosphere. 62 00:02:32.950 --> 00:02:33.990 But don't worry, 63 00:02:33.990 --> 00:02:36.640 these organoselenides are 600 times safer 64 00:02:36.640 --> 00:02:38.460 than their inorganic counterparts 65 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:41.350 and essential to completing the selenium cycle. 66 00:02:41.350 --> 00:02:42.797 The great Leonardo Da Vinci observed 67 00:02:42.797 --> 00:02:45.900 that water is the driving force of all nature. 68 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:48.460 Using the resources that mother nature provides, 69 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:50.920 we can assure that we're driving in the right direction 70 00:02:50.920 --> 00:02:53.910 by using plants to improve water quality. 71 00:02:53.910 --> 00:02:55.349 Thank you. 72 00:02:55.349 --> 00:02:59.182 (simplistic electronic beats)