MORAVIAN VISION - Moravian College

PHOTOS BY SARABETH BROCKLEY
Reclaiming the Mountain
A professor, a student, and a plant help
regenerate a local Superfund site. By Kate Helm ‘05
A
n introductory environmental science course set junior Sarabeth
Brockley, an art major at the time, on the path toward
making a major contribution to the recovery of the Lehigh Gap
Wildlife Refuge located at the Palmerton Zinc Pile Superfund site.
Along with Diane Husic, chair and professor of biology, Brockley
is studying the sandwort (Minuartia patula), a small annual
plant that serves as an indicator of contamination and recovery.
Their work is supported by Moravian’s SOAR (Student Opportunities
for Academic Research) program. (See “SOARing Ahead,” below.)
“Sandwort is not a native plant—it grows nowhere else in Pennsylvania. It is commonly
found around old mine reclamation sites and areas with naturally high levels of heavy metals
in western states,” explains Brockley, who is now majoring in environmental
science and photography. “The plant can take up contaminants
from the soil and potentially immobilize them within its tissues, while
many other plants are intolerant of heavy metals and can’t survive.”
Brockley collected random tissue samples of sandwort and soil and
mapped the sites using Google Earth, then analyzed the samples to
determine sandwort’s heavy metal uptake.
Professor Husic has taken a special interest in the area’s recovery.
The College’s partnership with LGWR, a 750-acre tract on the Kittatinny
Ridge in eastern Pennsylvania, began in 2005 through a National
Science Foundation grant and plant science consortium she co-directed.
She has supervised three Moravian students whose research focused on the site.
“Eighty years of zinc smelter air pollution resulted in a landscape almost devoid of vegetation,”
explains Husic. “In 2003, metal-tolerant warm season grasses were tested as a potential
way to re-vegetate the steep terrain, stabilize erosion, sequester the toxic metals, and serve as
the first step in habitat restoration. Our hope is that the sandwort will serve as an indicator to
see if this process is actually occurring. As the grasses spread and other plants become established,
the sandwort may begin to disappear, a sign that the restoration is succeeding.”
Brockley plans to continue her research during her senior year, then will attend graduate
school. “Working with Professor Husic, I learned a lot,” she says. “SOAR makes important connections
between students and professors, and supports research of statewide importance. I’m
amazed I was able to spend my summer pursuing my passion for environmental science.” �
SOARing Ahead
The Moravian College SOAR (Student Opportunities for Academic
Research) program provides stipends, travel allowances, and
research expenses for scholarly or creative projects involving
faculty members and students. “I am a huge proponent of involving
undergraduates in research as a form of ‘doing the discipline,’”
says Diane Husic, who worked with student Sarabeth Brockley on a
summer 2008 SOAR project. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all students
Top: Sarabeth Brockley maps the location of sandwort
(shown below) and grasses at the Lehigh Gap site.
had the opportunity for such individualized learning, working with
a faculty member to solve problems together?” Major funding for
SOAR is provided by the Ervin J. Rokke Endowment for Student-
Faculty Research, established by a gift from Moravian trustee
Priscilla Payne Hurd in honor of his service as Moravian’s president
1997-2006. Supplemental funding comes from the College.
FALL 2008 MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE 17