Dr. Katerina Dontsova

I am a soil scientist with interest in interactions between physical, chemical, and biological processes that take place in the soils. My primary focus is in soil chemistry, including dissolution, precipitation, and sorption reactions in the soils with both basic science applications including critical zone processes, mineral-organic interactions and applied research looking at fate and transport of organic contaminants and nano-particles in soils that is relevant to environmental quality.

My research in Biosphere 2 is focused on weathering processes and carbon cycling under influence of abiotic and biological factors. Specifically, we examine inorganic carbon sequestration during dissolution of basalt covering Landscape Evolution Observatory slopes and formation of spatial and temporal heterogeneity on the slopes due to its incongruent weathering. We also study biological weathering, how plants and microorganisms influence rock weathering and soil formation and how products of the weathering are compartmentalized within the ecosystem, as well as effect of climate change on these processes. I lead Biosphere 2 biogeochemistry lab that supports LEO and other Biosphere 2 and University of Arizona projects.

I also serve as a director of the NSF funded the Environmental and Earth Systems Research Experience (REU) for Undergraduates Program at Biosphere 2.

Current Projects

• ROCK-PLANT INTERACTIONS DRIVING EARLY SOIL DEVELOPMENT AND LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION. $270,000. Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) & University of Arizona International Research Center (IRC). 09/01/2021-08/31/2025. PIs (Dontsova and Abiven), Co-PIs (Saleska and Dlugosch).
• REU SITE: ENVIRONMENTAL AND EARTH SYSTEMS RESEARCH AT BIOSPHERE 2. $868,269. National Science Foundation. 09/01/2021-08/31/2026. PI (Dontsova), Co-PI (Bonine).
• INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO QUANTIFYING FATE OF MUNITIONS CONSTITUENTS ON TRAINING RANGES. $970,309. DOD Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. 5/1/19-1/31/22. PI (Dontsova), Co-PIs (Beal, Brusseau, Meixner, Taylor).
• Primary succession of plant and microbial life: untangling inter-organismal interactions on a model early-successional landscape. $0 (Access to the JGI facility). Joint Genome Institute. 10/1/2022–9/31/2024. PI (Saleska), Co-PIs (Arnold, Dlugosch, Dontsova, Sengupta, Tfaily), Senior Personnel (Meredith).
• Collaborative Research: GCR: Growing a New Science of Landscape Terraformation: The Convergence of Rock, Fluids, and Life to form Complex Ecosystems Across Scales $3,513,801 PI (Saleska) Senior personnel (Dontsova).
• Enhanced weathering and soil carbon sequestration in Arizona agricultural systems - towards a scalable climate change solution. $70,929. CALS Innovation Venture Investment Program. 8/1/2022–7/31/2024. PI (Rasmussen), Co-PIs (Dontsova, Fehmi). 

Past Projects

• A “Local” Remote Sensing capability to enhance the science of Landscape Terraformation at UArizona’s Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) at Biosphere 2. $137,948  2021-12-17 -2022-12-17  PI (Saleska) Co-PIs (Tuller Pauli Arnold Dontsova).
• REU SITE: EARTH SYSTEMS RESEARCH FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS. $454,770. National Science Foundation. 04/1/17-3/31/22. PI (Dontsova), Co-PI (Bonine).
• Stabilization of Organic Carbon by Complexation with Iron Colloids Formed During Biogeochemical Weathering of Basalt. $86,036 (Pacific Northwest National Lab Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory facility use time and technical support). 10/01/17-9/30/18. PI (Chorover), Co-PI (Dontsova).
• Collaborative research: Coupled hydrological and geochemical process evolution at the Landscape Evolution Observatory. $486,256. National Science Foundation. 09/1/14-08/31/17. PI (Troch), Co-PIs (Niu, Dontsova, Chorover).
• Use of high resolution mass spectrometry to assess the role of molecular structure in organic matter phase partitioning during basalt weathering. $0 (Pacific Northwest National Lab Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory facility use time and technical support). 03/15/17-04/15/17. PI (Chorover), Co-PI (Dontsova).
• Abiotic and biologically-driven basalt weathering and C sequestration under changing climate. $0 (ECOTRON IleDeFrance facility use time and technical support). French National Center for Scientific Research (CNSR). 05/01/14-08/31/15. PI (Dontsova), Co-PIs (van Haren, Barre, Gélabert, Daval, Pavao-Zuckerman, Niu, Meunier).
• REU SITE: THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND EARTH SYSTEMS RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES PROGRAM AT BIOSPHERE. $405,000 National Science Foundation. 01/01/13 – 4/31/18. PI (Pavao-Zuckerman), Co-PI (Dontsova).
• DISSOLUTION OF NTO, DNAN AND INSENSITIVE MUNITIONS FORMULATIONS AND THEIR FATES IN SOILS. $1,350,466. DOD Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. 3/1/12-9/01/17. PI (Dontsova), Co-PIs (Taylor, Brusseau, Pesce-Rodriguez, Simunek).
• Acquisition of an instrumentation array to monitor and model land-atmosphere water, carbon and energy fluxes at the hillslope scale in the Biosphere 2 Landscape Evolution Observatory. $188,266. National Science Foundation. 09/1/14-08/31/15. PI (Troch), Co-PIs (Niu, Barron-Gafford, Tuller, van Haren, Dontsova).
• ETBC: PLANT-MICROBE-MINERAL INTERACTION AS A DRIVER FOR ROCK WEATHERING AND CHEMICAL DENUDATION. $424,623. National Science Foundation. 08/01/10 – 07/31/13. PI (Dontsova), Co-PIs (Chorover, Huxman, Maier).
• REU Site: Environmental and Earth Systems Research at Biosphere 2. $401,727 National Science Foundation. 01/01/10 – 12/31/12. PI (Pavao-Zuckerman), Co-PI (Dontsova).
• Dissolution and transport of propellants in soils. $202,175. Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. 12/16/09 - 11/22/11. PI (Dontsova), Co-PIs (Huxman, Chorover, Simunek).
• Environmental Reactivity and Mobility of Carbon and Metal Nanoparticles in Soils. $370,000.  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Quality Technology Program. FY08-FY09. PI (Dontsova).
• Perchlorate fate in soils. $120,000. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Quality Technology Program. FY08. PI (Dontsova), Co-PIs (Chappell, George).
• Mechanisms of Sorption and Colloidal Transport of High Explosives in Soils. $700,000. ERDC Basic Research Program. FY06-FY08. PI (Pennington), Co-PIs (Dontsova, Simunek).
• PHOTOTRANSFORMATION, SORPTION, TRANSPORT, AND FATE OF MIXTURES OF NTO, DNAN, AND TRADITIONAL EXPLOSIVES AS A FUNCTION OF CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. $735,675. DOD Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. 5/1/17-7/16/21. PI (Dontsova), Co-PIs (Taylor, Brusseau, Simunek).

Outreach

• Biosphere 2 Summer Research Institute (B2-SRI), an internship program for students from Mexico (2014, 2022).
• Biosphere 2 Science Academy (July 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)
• GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP AND SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM (June 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016)
• Arizona Center for STEM teachers (April 2010, March 2011)
• Tucson Gear Up Project (March 2011)
• MC2 STEM HIGH SCHOOL, CLEVELAND, OHIO (September 2009, March-April 2011)
• Biosphere 2/TUSD Teacher Retention Workshop (March 2009)