Université de Lorraine
Laboratoire Sols et Environnement
2, avenue de la Forêt de Haye
BP 20163
F-54505 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy cedex
I work in the fields of ecophysiology and biogeochemistry and my research focuses on trace element regulation in plants. More specifically, my research concentrates on trace element hyperaccumulator plants (especially those occurring in tropical regions), and the use of advanced analytical techniques based on X-rays for characterising the in situ metallome of plants. With my research, I aim to support the development of novel phytotechnologies that make use of the unique properties of hyperaccumulator plants, including phytoremediation and agromining. 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 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.
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.
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 editor of an edited research book entitled “Agromining: extracting unconventional resources from plants” that was commissioned by SpringerNature and published in 2017. SpringerNature commissioned a second expanded edition that appeared in 2021.
2020-to date Senior Research Fellow, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Australia
2016–2018 Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Australia
2014–2015 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland & Université de Lorraine, France
2014 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ecology, The University of Queensland, Australia.
2010 Master of Science (MSc), Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, The Netherlands.
van der Ent A, Baker AJM, Echevarria G, Simmonot M-O, Morel JL (2020) Agromining: extracting unconventional resources from plants. Mineral Resource Reviews Series, SpringerNature. 674 pp.
van der Ent A, Reeves RD, Baker AJM, Pollard J, Schat, H (2013) Hyperaccumulators of metal and metalloid trace elements: facts and fiction. Plant and Soil 362(1–2): 319–334.
van der Ent A, Baker AJM, Reeves RD, Chaney RL, Anderson CWN, Meech JA, Erskine PD, Simonnot M-O, Vaughan J, Morel JL, Echevarria G, Fogliani B, Rongliang Q, Mulligan DR (2015) ‘Agromining’: farming for metals in the future? Environmental Science and Technology 49(8): 4773–4780.
van der Ent A, Przybyłowicz WJ, de Jonge MD, Harris HH, Ryan CG, Tylko G, Paterson DJ, Barnabas AD, Kopittke, PM Mesjasz-Przybyłowicz J (2018) X-ray elemental mapping techniques for elucidating the ecophysiology of hyperaccumulator plants. New Phytologist 218: 432–452.
van der Ent A, Echevarria G, Pollard AJ, Erskine PD (2019) X-Ray Fluorescence Ionomics of Herbarium Collections. Scientific Reports 9: 4746.
van der Ent A, de Jonge MD, Spiers KM, Brueckner D, Montargès-Pelletier E, Echevarria G, Wan X-M, Lei M, Mak R, Lovett JH, Harris HH (2020) Confocal volumetric μXRF and fluorescence computed μ-tomography reveals arsenic three-dimensional distribution within intact Pteris vittata fronds. Environmental Science & Technology 54(2): 745–757.
van der Ent A, Parbhakar-Fox A, Erskine PD (2021) Treasure from trash: mining critical metals from wastes and unconventional sources. Science of the Total Environment 758: 143673.