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Dr Antony Van der Ent

UQ Amplify Researcher

Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation
Sustainable Minerals Institute
a.vanderent@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 64587

Overview

I am a plant ecophysiologist and biogeochemist whose research focuses on the biopathways of trace elements (Ni, Co, Cr, Mn, Cd, Pb, Zn and REE) in soil and plant systems. I have a specific interest in the application of phytotechnologies that utilise hyperaccumulator plants (agro/phytomining). My research bridges systematics, ecology and physiology of plants and is highly collaborative in nature. I work closely with plant taxonomists, ecologists, agronomists and X-ray physicists in order to advance understanding of the regulation of trace elements in plants. I have developed a globally-recognised expertise in the application of cutting-edge synchrotron and microprobe techniques to probe the distribution and coordination chemistry of plants. I have successfully used these synchrotron and laboratory-based X-ray fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF) methods not only to hyperaccumulator plants, but also to crop plants, such as sunflower and soybean. This expertise has led to numerous collaborations with other researchers nationally and overseas applying these techniques in their work.

I have had the opportunity to study metallophytes and hyperaccumulator plants on five continents including in the Chilean Andes, the Copperbelt of Northern Zambia, Broken Hill in Australia, Borneo, Sulawesi, Halmahera and New Guinea in the Asia-Pacific Region, South Africa, New Caledonia and various countries in Europe.

Since October 2014, I have been leading research on hyperaccumulator plants at the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation (CMLR) at The University of Queensland (UQ). I have project managed a number of other programs, including an International Mining for Development Centre (IM4DC)-funded research project on copper-cobalt hyperaccumulator plants in Zambia, and industry-funded research projects on nickel hyperaccumulator plants in Indonesia (Weda Bay nickel on Halmahera Island), and in Australia on metallophytes in Queensland (Lucknow scandium deposit and Dugald river zinc-lead deposit), and New South Wales (Broken Hill zinc-lead mine workings, and Mole River historic arsenic mine).

My work has led to major discoveries yielding significant advances in knowledge in the field, including pioneering work on tropical nickel hyperaccumulator plants leading to the discovery of 400 new hyperaccumulator species and 16 plant species new to science. I have co-authored the first ecological book account on the plant diversity of ultramafic soils in Sabah (Malaysia) and maintain a very strong network of active collaborations across internationally; this is evidenced in my publications with collaborators.

Currently I am section editor for the leading journal Plant and Soil, associate editor for the Australian Journal of Botany and a member of the Advisory Board of Metallomics. I was guest editor of a special issue entitled “Plant-soil interactions in global biodiversity hotspots” that appeared in Plant and Soil in 2016. I have also edited two double special issues (‘Global research on ultramafic (serpentine) ecosystems’) for the Australian Journal of Botany that appeared in 2015. I was guest editor for a virtual issue in New Phytologist (‘Hyperaccumulator Plants’) that has appeared in 2018. I was editor of a special issue in the journal Ecological Research that also appeared in 2018 (‘Ultramafic Ecosystems”), and guest editor of a special issue in the Journal of Geochemical Exploration (‘Nickel laterites’) which appared in 2019. Furthermore, I am editing a special issue in the journal Metallomics on ‘Phytometallomics’ to appear in early 2020. I was editor of an edited research book entitled “Agromining: extracting unconventional resources from plants” that was commissioned by SpringerNature and published in 2017.

My work has been widely covered by the media, including features in The Times, The Guardian, AusIMM Bulletin, New Scientist, The Conversation, Süddeutsche Zeitung, BBC World News, Fox News, ABC Australia and The Australasian Science magazine. The French-Germany television production company ARTE has filmed a full-length documentary (entitled “Superplants”) about my research that was broadcast internationally in 2017. More recently, in 2018 the ABC featured a segment on Gardening Australia about my research on native Australian hyperaccumulator plants.

I have been the recipient of an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) with research focussed on the biopathways of nickel in hyperaccumulator plants. I have also been awarded a UQ Early Career Researcher award in 2017 to support my research. I am a visiting postdoctoral research fellow at the Laboratoire Sols et Environnement (LABEX Ressources21) of the Université de Lorraine in France.

Research Interests

  • Hyperaccumulator plants
    Hyperaccumulators are rare plants that naturally accumulate trace elements in extraordinarily high concentrations in their tissues. Some of these plants can have up to 25% Ni in phloem sap such as the New Caledonian tree Pycnandra acuminata. These are amongst the highest trace element concentrations in any living organism and the phloem tissue can be literally green from nickel ions. Hyperaccumulation is not just an interesting biological phenomenon, but holds promise for evolutionary, genetic and ecophysiological research and utilization in phytomining. The hyperaccumulation phenomenon is rare (exhibited by <0.2% of angiosperms) with ~70% of the known 500 hyperaccumulator species recorded for Ni. The diversity of Ni hyperaccumulators plants widely distributed, both geographically and across phylogenies suggests that physiological processes of hyperaccumulation have evolved independently, and may therefore differ in their function between species.
  • Phytomining
    Phytomining an innovative technology to recover nickel from minerals wastes by growing and harvesting these plants (“metal crops”) and extracting nickel from their biomass producing a high-grade bio-ore. Nickel hyperaccumulator plants thrive on natural ultramafic soils while accumulating more than >2% of nickel in their dry biomass (translating to 20–25% nickel in the ash (‘bio-ore’): the world’s richest and purest nickel source. Phytomining enables access to large low-grade resources (>0.1% total nickel) located globally that cannot be accessed normally as they are well below the cut-off grades for conventional mining and processing. These nickel resources are widely distributed, especially in the Australia-Pacific Region, and are potentially suited for extraction of nickel by metal crops. Alternatively, the technology could precede the development of lateritic mining projects generating cash flow during the development phase as nickel could be recovered from soil overburden that would be cleared before mining the underlying minerals. Phytomining is expected to be transformative in the environmental rehabilitation of nickel mine sites in Australia, contaminated land or degraded metal-rich land by providing initial vegetative stabilization with the added advantage of a longer-term income stream.
  • Zinc biofortification
    Zinc is essential for humans, as well as for plants and most other organisms. Zinc deficiency is a major problem for human health affecting one-third of the world’s population, especially in developing countries. The main cause for human zinc deficiency is consumption of food crops with low zinc content, and dietary zinc intake can consequently be increased through biofortification of edible crops. Hyperaccumulator plants have the unique ability to concentrate specific elements in their shoot in levels that can be thousands of times greater than normal crop plants. Crucially, zinc hyperaccumulation results from adaptations in the zinc homeostasis shared by all higher plants, and hyperaccumulators achieve exceptional foliar zinc concentrations while growing on soils with normal concentrations of zinc. Insights in the ecophysiology of zinc hyperaccumulator plants may ultimately be applied to improve the uptake and accumulation of zinc in food crops. Furthermore, zinc hyperaccumulator biomass may itself be utilised as organic zinc fertilizers, or indeed as micronutrient supplements for human consumption.

Research Impacts

Hyperaccumulator plants have the potential to be used in phytomining, an innovative technology which utilizes hyperaccumulators as ‘metal crops’ to sequester nickel in their harvestable biomass that can then be used to produce fine nickel chemicals or ecocatalysts. Phytomining is expected to be transformative in the environmental rehabilitation of lateritic nickel mine sites or contaminated land by providing initial vegetative stabilization with the added advantage of a longer-term income stream. Unravelling the pathways associated with advantage uptake will also allow for targeted agronomic practises in phytomining operations, for example by using specific soil amendments, to increase the efficiency of advantage uptake in the metal crop. My research has important implications for advancing the understanding of the homeostasis of trace elements in ‘normal plants’ such as food crops. In particular, insights from hyperaccumulator plants may be applied in the development biofortified crops, for example for zinc.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Environmental Technology, Saxion Universities of Applied Sciences Deventer
  • Master of Science, Radboud University Nijmegen

Publications

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

  • Identification hyperaccumulator using remote sensing technology for phytoremediation and phytomining

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Using Zinc-Lead-Copper Metallophytes for Biogeochemical Prospecting and Mine Site Rehabilitation

    Doctor Philosophy

  • Rhizosphere processes leading to nickel uptake by hyperaccumulator plants: shining light on the soil-root interface

    Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • Nickel hyperaccumulator 'metal crops' for phytomining

    Hyperaccumulators are plants that have the remarkable ability to concentrate up to 6% nickel in their leaves and up to 25% in their sap. These plants can be used in phytomining, a new technology to recover nickel from mining waste or contaminated land by growing and harvesting these plants ('metal crops') and extracting nickel from their biomass thereby producing high-grade bio-ore. Our research seeks to understand how these plants can achieve such extraordinarily levels of nickel uptake in their shoots. We are looking for motivated candidates to pursue PhD research with us in this exciting field. In natural tropical ultramafic soils, or in saprolite mine wastes, the pool of available nickel will be strongly depleted by hyperaccumulator plants and biogeochemically recycled or withdrawn from the ecosystem by harvested biomass. Currently, there is no information on the dynamics and quantification of the nickel pools in ultramafic soils and therefore the potential duration and the efficiency of phytomining. Moreover, there are additional fundamental questions that arise, including the ecological role (niche) of hyperaccumulator plants in native ultramafic ecosystems, their role in ultramafic pedogenesis, and the efficiency of biogeochemical cycling (nutrients and metals) in hyperaccumulator plant stands. This PhD project aims to answer the following key research question: What are the nickel fluxes and dynamics across the soil-plant compartments in a tropical ‘metal crop’ system on ultramafic soils?

  • X-Ray fluorescence Herbarium Ionomics

    Global herbaria are the greatest repositories of information on the plant kingdom. An innovative approach “Herbarium Ionomics” uses non-destructive X-Ray fluorescence technology to extract quantitative elemental data from herbarium specimens. This project will scan herbarium specimens for elemental concentrations to obtain a systematic analysis of the incidence of hyperaccumulation in the Australian native flora. The outcomes will provide insights into phylogenetic and biogeographic patterns of trace element accumulation in Australia. Novel hyperaccumulator plants can then be targeted in genetic and ecophysiological experiments under controlled conditions to advance our fundamental understanding of trace element hyperaccumulation. Hyperaccumulator plants, once identified, may ultimately be used in practical applications in the fields of phytoremediation, phytomining and biofortication.

  • Developing tropical zinc biofortified crops

    Hyperaccumulator plants have the unusual ability to concentrate extraordinary amounts of certain trace elements in their living tissues. To date, a total of 15 zinc hyperaccumulator species have been reported globally. Dichapetalum gelonioides is a woody shrub or small tree that occurs in Southeast Asia. Extraordinarily, Dichapetalum gelonioides hyperaccumulates zinc from normal soils with background concentrations of zinc. It is the only tropical and the only woody zinc hyperaccumulator plant species described so far. It has been estimated that as much as 25% of the world's population is affected by Zn deficiency, and mainly results from reduced dietary intake (and low Zn absorption) from food crops low in zinc, especially in developing countries. Zinc hyperaccumulator biomass may be utilized as organic zinc fertilizers or as a micronutrient supplements for human consumption. We are looking for motivated candidates to pursue PhD research with us in this exciting field. The research project will consist of a combination of laboratory and greenhouse experiments, as well as fieldwork. This project contributes to better understanding the ecophysiology of Dichapetalum gelonioides with the ultimate aim of developing it as a zinc biofortified crop.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • The potential of Zambian copper-cobalt metallophytes for phytoremediation of minerals wastes

    van der Ent, Antony, Erskine, Peter, Vinya, Royd, Mesjasz-Przybyłowicz, Jolanta and Malaisse, François (2019). The potential of Zambian copper-cobalt metallophytes for phytoremediation of minerals wastes. Africa's mineral fortune: the science and politics of mining and sustainable development. (pp. 208-227) edited by Saleem H. Ali, Kathryn Sturman and Nina Collins. London, United Kingdom: Routledge (Taylor & Francis). doi: 10.4324/9780429467424-15

  • Tracking metal ions in biology using X-ray methods

    James, Simon A. , van der Ent, Antony and Harris, Hugh H. (2019). Tracking metal ions in biology using X-ray methods. Encyclopedia of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry (EIBC), online. (pp. 1-18) Hoboken, NJ, United States: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/9781119951438.eibc2692

  • Agromining: farming for metals extracting unconventional resources using plants preface

    van der Ent, Antony, Echevarria, Guillaume, Baker, Alan J. M. and Morel, Jean Louis (2018). Agromining: farming for metals extracting unconventional resources using plants preface. Agromining: farming for metals: extracting unconventional resources using plants. (pp. V-VI) edited by Antony Van der Ent, Guillaume Echevarria, Alan J. M. Baker and Jean Louis Morel. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

  • Conclusions and outlook for agromining

    Morel, Jean Louis, Echevarria, Guillaume, van der Ent, Antony and Baker, Alan J. M. (2018). Conclusions and outlook for agromining. Agromining: farming for metals: extracting unconventional resources using plants. (pp. 309-312) edited by Antony van der Ent, Guillaume Echevarria, Alan J. M. Baker and Jean Louis Morel. Cham, Switerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-61899-9_20

  • Global distribution and ecology of hyperaccumulator plants

    Reeves, Roger D., van der Ent, Antony and Baker, Alan J. M. (2018). Global distribution and ecology of hyperaccumulator plants. Agromining: farming for metals: extracting unconventional resources using plants. (pp. 75-92) edited by Antony van der Ent, Guillaume Echevarria, Alan J. M. Baker and Jean Louis Morel. Cham, Switerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-61899-9_5

  • Phytomining: using plants to extract valuable metals from mineralized wastes and uneconomic resources

    Nkrumah, Philip N., Echevarria, Guillaume, Erskine, Peter D. and van der Ent, Antony (2018). Phytomining: using plants to extract valuable metals from mineralized wastes and uneconomic resources. Extracting innovations: mining, energy, and technological change in the digital age. (pp. 313-324) edited by Martin J. Clifford, Robert K. Perrons, Saleem H. Ali and Tim A. Grice. Boca Raton, FL, United States: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group.

  • Tools for the discovery of hyperaccumulator plant species and understanding their ecophysiology

    Gei, Vidiro, Erskine, Peter D., Harris, Hugh H., Echevarria, Guillaume, Mesjasz-Przybylowicz, Jolanta, Barnabas, Alban D., Kopittke, Peter M. and van der Ent, Antony (2018). Tools for the discovery of hyperaccumulator plant species and understanding their ecophysiology. Agromining: farming for metals. (pp. 117-133) edited by Antony Van der Ent, Guillaume Echevarria, Alan J. M. Baker and Jean Louis Morel. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-61899-9_7

  • Analysis of the content of copper, cobalt and other elements in plant leaves

    Ent, Antony Van der (2016). Analysis of the content of copper, cobalt and other elements in plant leaves. Copper-cobalt flora of Upper Katanga and Copperbelt: field guide. (pp. 25-26) edited by François Malaisse, Michel Schaijes and Claire D’Outreligne. Gembloux, Belgium: Presses agronomiques de Gembloux.

  • Key values of metallophytes for the minerals industry in Australasia

    Van der Ent, Antony (2015). Key values of metallophytes for the minerals industry in Australasia. Mining in ecologically sensitive landscapes. (pp. 231-249) edited by Mark Tibbett. Collingwood, VIC, Australia: CSIRO Publishing.

  • Phytoremediation and phytomining: using plants to remediate contaminated or mineralized environments

    Chaney, Rufus L., Reeves, Roger D., Baklanov, Ilya A., Centofanti, Tiziana, Broadhurst, C. Leigh, Baker, Alan J. M., van der Ent, Antony and Roseberg, Richard J. (2014). Phytoremediation and phytomining: using plants to remediate contaminated or mineralized environments. Plant ecology and evolution in harsh environments. (pp. 365-391) edited by Nishanta Rajakaruna, Robert S. Boyd and Tanner B. Harris. Hauppage, NY, United States: Nova Science Publishers.

  • Metallophytes: The unique biological resource, its ecology and conservational status in Europe, central Africa and Latin America

    Baker, Alan J. M., Ernst, Wilfried H. O., van der Ent, Antony, Malaisse, Francoise and Ginocchio, Rosanna (2010). Metallophytes: The unique biological resource, its ecology and conservational status in Europe, central Africa and Latin America. Ecology of industrial pollution. (pp. 7-40) edited by Batty, Lesley C. and Hallberg, Kevin B.. Cambridge, U. K.: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/cbo9780511805561.003

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Identification hyperaccumulator using remote sensing technology for phytoremediation and phytomining

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Using Zinc-Lead-Copper Metallophytes for Biogeochemical Prospecting and Mine Site Rehabilitation

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Rhizosphere processes leading to nickel uptake by hyperaccumulator plants: shining light on the soil-root interface

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Development of selenium agromining in Queensland, Australia

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Integrated management of abandoned mine waste through geochemistry and phytoremediation: case study in Peru

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Developing tropical zinc biofortified crops

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • Nickel hyperaccumulator 'metal crops' for phytomining

    Hyperaccumulators are plants that have the remarkable ability to concentrate up to 6% nickel in their leaves and up to 25% in their sap. These plants can be used in phytomining, a new technology to recover nickel from mining waste or contaminated land by growing and harvesting these plants ('metal crops') and extracting nickel from their biomass thereby producing high-grade bio-ore. Our research seeks to understand how these plants can achieve such extraordinarily levels of nickel uptake in their shoots. We are looking for motivated candidates to pursue PhD research with us in this exciting field. In natural tropical ultramafic soils, or in saprolite mine wastes, the pool of available nickel will be strongly depleted by hyperaccumulator plants and biogeochemically recycled or withdrawn from the ecosystem by harvested biomass. Currently, there is no information on the dynamics and quantification of the nickel pools in ultramafic soils and therefore the potential duration and the efficiency of phytomining. Moreover, there are additional fundamental questions that arise, including the ecological role (niche) of hyperaccumulator plants in native ultramafic ecosystems, their role in ultramafic pedogenesis, and the efficiency of biogeochemical cycling (nutrients and metals) in hyperaccumulator plant stands. This PhD project aims to answer the following key research question: What are the nickel fluxes and dynamics across the soil-plant compartments in a tropical ‘metal crop’ system on ultramafic soils?

  • X-Ray fluorescence Herbarium Ionomics

    Global herbaria are the greatest repositories of information on the plant kingdom. An innovative approach “Herbarium Ionomics” uses non-destructive X-Ray fluorescence technology to extract quantitative elemental data from herbarium specimens. This project will scan herbarium specimens for elemental concentrations to obtain a systematic analysis of the incidence of hyperaccumulation in the Australian native flora. The outcomes will provide insights into phylogenetic and biogeographic patterns of trace element accumulation in Australia. Novel hyperaccumulator plants can then be targeted in genetic and ecophysiological experiments under controlled conditions to advance our fundamental understanding of trace element hyperaccumulation. Hyperaccumulator plants, once identified, may ultimately be used in practical applications in the fields of phytoremediation, phytomining and biofortication.

  • Developing tropical zinc biofortified crops

    Hyperaccumulator plants have the unusual ability to concentrate extraordinary amounts of certain trace elements in their living tissues. To date, a total of 15 zinc hyperaccumulator species have been reported globally. Dichapetalum gelonioides is a woody shrub or small tree that occurs in Southeast Asia. Extraordinarily, Dichapetalum gelonioides hyperaccumulates zinc from normal soils with background concentrations of zinc. It is the only tropical and the only woody zinc hyperaccumulator plant species described so far. It has been estimated that as much as 25% of the world's population is affected by Zn deficiency, and mainly results from reduced dietary intake (and low Zn absorption) from food crops low in zinc, especially in developing countries. Zinc hyperaccumulator biomass may be utilized as organic zinc fertilizers or as a micronutrient supplements for human consumption. We are looking for motivated candidates to pursue PhD research with us in this exciting field. The research project will consist of a combination of laboratory and greenhouse experiments, as well as fieldwork. This project contributes to better understanding the ecophysiology of Dichapetalum gelonioides with the ultimate aim of developing it as a zinc biofortified crop.

  • Using Zinc-Lead-Copper Metallophytes for Biogeochemical Prospecting and Mine Site Rehabilitation

    The wastes from the minerals industry are multiple-stressed environments where plants are exposed to potentially phytotoxic metals, as well as a range of other edaphic challenges such as adverse physical characteristics of the substrates, salinity, limited nutrient availability, water stress and drought. The ability of native metallophytes to tolerate extreme metal concentrations and other difficult edaphic conditions indicates their potential for rehabilitation of minerals wastes. Successful rehabilitation strategy could capitalise on the unique ability of these plants to tolerate adverse soil conditions including potential metal toxicity, high salinity, low nutrient status and the semi-arid climate. The main challenge hereby will be to increase the relative abundance of native (metal-tolerant) species. The Dugald River and Roseby zinc-lead-copper deposits, located in central Queensland, are some of the worlds’ largest surfacing ore bodies. Over an area 10 km soils are enriched in zinc, lead and copper and host unique metallophyte vegetation. Identifying these specially-adapted plant species will be crucial for future rehabilitation success at Dugald River and other base metal mining operations of north-west Queensland. We are looking for motivated candidates to pursue PhD research with us in this exciting field. The research project will consist of a combination of laboratory/greenhouse experiments, and fieldwork in Australia.

  • Fluoride hyperaccumulation for soil remediation

    Fluoride pollution can originate from natural geogenic occurrences or result from coal burning processes as well as bore water from coal steam gas extraction. Australia is unique in having a number of endemic plant species that naturally accumulate fluoride in their leaves. Several of these species can contain an astonishing 5000 mg/kg fluoride in their leaves. These plant species, called hyperaccumulators, may be used for phyto-extraction; a novel approach that uses hyperaccumulator plants to clean up specific pollutants from the soil. Phyto-extraction entails the growing and harvesting of hyperaccumulator biomass to remove pollutants from the environment. This technology has been successfully demonstrated for well-known pollutants such as arsenic and cadmium, but to date has never been tested for fluoride. This project consists of setting up growth experiments in which a fluoride hyperaccumulator will be grown in a climate chamber at the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation for a period of 5 weeks. The plants will be dosed with varying amounts of fluoride and at the end of the trial the plants will be harvested and analysed for the total fluoride content. This information will be key to establishing whether fluoride phyto-extraction may potentially be a viable technology to address instances of fluoride pollution in Australia.

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ResearcherID: A-7486-2015

ORCID: 0000-0003-0922-5065

Scopus ID: 55221967200

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