News

Environmental Science & Technology articles ASAP (as soon as publishable) now features a publication by Adrian Mellage, Christina Smeaton, Alex Furman, Estella Atekwana, Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Philippe Van Cappellen. The paper titled "Linking spectral induced polarization (SIP) and subsurface microbial processes: Results from sand column incubation experiments" focuses on the monitoring of microbial growth in porous media using spectral induced polarization (SIP).

The Global Water Futures (GWF) Inception Meeting was hosted byWilfird Laurier Univeristy at the Balsillie School of international Affairs from January 22 to January 23. The meeting brought together core team leads and the primary investigators (PI's) of the GWF-funded projects from the 2017 Pillar 1 - 3 calls for the first time. The aim of the meeting was to allow attendees to gain a broad overview the GWF program, identify strategic needs and discuss opportunities for collaboration.

The latest Ecohydrology Seminar presentation was given by  Alice Dove, an Environmental Scientist from Environment and Climate Change Canada. Ms. Dove's talk, titled Water Quality in the Great Lakes: A Guided Tour, provided an overview of monitoring programs and water quality trends and issues.  

Additional information about the water quality of the Great Lakes can be found in the State of the Great Lakes 2017 reports.

A chapter written by Ecohydrology Research Group members Helen Powley and Philippe Van Cappellen and their colleague Michael Krom, from the University of Haifa and University of Leeds, reviews the unique biogeochemistry of the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, the authors address why the Mediterranean Sea, a nearly entirely landlocked marine basin, has remained oligotrophic despite large anthropogenic inputs of the nutrient elements phosphorus and nitrogen.

Based on the strength of her academic accomplishments, Taylor Maavara is the recipient of a 2017 University of Waterloo “Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies” honour. A total of nine awards – five at the Doctoral level and four at the Master’s level – are presented this year. She will receive the award at Fall convocation on October 20^th. CONGRATULATIONS, Taylor!

Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Ecohydrology Assistant Professor, attended the “Subsurface and Coastal Water Dynamics and Peatland Ecology” Summer School organized by the Baltic TRANSCOAST research training group in Rostock, Germany. Fereidoun is a Mercator Fellow in the Baltic TRANSCOAST program and during this Summer School he gave 3 lectures on peat biogeochemical processes and presented the importance of peat structure on water storage, flow and solute transport using experimental and modeling approaches.

The International Society of Environmental Biogeochemistry is organizing its 23^rd biannual Symposium on Environmental Biogeochemistry (ISEB23) in northern Queensland. This is the first time the Symposium is being held in Australia. Philippe Van Cappellen is presenting a talk on anthropogenic perturbations of nutrient cycles in river systems. This coming January, Philippe is taking over as President of the Society.