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ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- ERDC Topographic Engineering Center’s (TEC) research was recently published online in the journal Plant and Soil, "Distinguishing Natural from Anthropogenic Stress in Plants: Physiology, Fluorescence and Hyperspectral Reflectance."
In the article published online Aug. 23, TEC’s Dr. Julie Zinnert with co-authors Stephen M. Via and Donald R. Young, Virginia Commonwealth University, presented findings from a project aimed to detect explosives in plants growing in contaminated soils and distinguish them from naturally occurring stressors such as drought and salinity.
Plant physiological mechanisms which influenced photosynthetic declines under natural stress were not seen in explosive treated plants.
Using hyperspectral reflectance, the red and near-infrared regions showed changes due to explosives, which could be influenced by the accumulation of explosive constituents in leaf tissue. These results show the possibility of variations in energy dissipation and hyperspectral reflectance to use plants as phytosensors for detection of explosives contamination in the soil.
The article may be viewed at http://www.springerlink.com/content/87570m04r5m706p3/fulltext.pdf,
or to learn more about this research and similar programs at http://www.vcu.edu/fsl/3.html.