News

Since October 31 through to November 12, the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) has been taking place.

Fereidoun and the Water Institute will be representing UW to present the University at a Peatlands Pavilion virtual side event, "Canada’s Peatlands as a Nature-based Solution to Climate Change" on November 11th 

Flavins and siderophores are organic molecules exuded by plant roots, fungi and bacteria under iron-deficient conditions. In a new paper published in the journal Fundamental Research, a team of ERG researchers and colleagues from the China University of Geosciences (CUG) analyze the catalytic effects of two representative compounds, riboflavin (also known as vitamin B2) and desferrioxamine B, on the oxidation of aqueous ferrous Fe(II) by molecular oxygen (O₂).

ERG leads, Fereidoun and Philippe, will be launching a new Research Topic “The Cold Regions in Transition: Impacts on Soil and Groundwater Biochemistry”, hosted by Frontiers in Environmental Science.This is a unique opportunity for collaborations between an expect team from University of Waterloo, University of New Hampshire, and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

The paper entitled “The Cold Region Critical Zone in Transition: Responses to Climate Warming and Land Use Change” in the journal Annual Review of Environment and Resources has now been published open access. The paper is the outcome of a collaboration between ERG researchers and colleagues from China, Sweden, France and Russia. The paper can be downloaded by following this LINK.

A new paper in Geoderma, co-authored by Ecohydrology Research Group member Fereidoun Rezanezhad assesses the impact of peatland management on available water capacity and water storage of peatlands. This study illustrates how these water-related soil functions are linked to peat properties such as bulk density and how the peatland drainage causes the land subsidence and peat degradation, which reduce the water storage.

Philippe Van Cappellen and Steph Slowinski discuss how nutrient legacies affect cultural eutrophication in the new Innovation News Network Special Report. 

Check it out here: Link

ERG leads, Fereidoun and Philippe, will be launching a new Research Topic “The Cold Regions in Transition: Impacts on Soil and Groundwater Biochemistry”, hosted by Frontiers in Environmental Science.This is a unique opportunity for collaborations between an expect team from University of Waterloo, University of New Hampshire, and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Phosphorus (P) applied to the landscape as fertilizer and manure accumulates as legacy within watersheds. A new paper, co-authored by Philippe, presents a model that considers the key processes controlling legacy P accumulation and depletion trajectories along the land-aquatic continuum. The results show that watershed phosphorus legacies continue to degrade water quality over many decades and, therefore, can make it difficult to meet water quality goals.

Philippe Van Cappellen has been elected to this year's class of American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fellows alongside 58 colleagues.

For more information, see the news item released by the Water Institute about this announcement.

Congratulations, Philippe!

Ecohydrology (ERG) and the Water Inisitute collaborated with the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) and the Gordon Foundation to host the first workshop on Microplastics data management practises with many members of the Microplastics communitee on September 27th and 28th. 

The workshop aimed to answer and fill in the gaps on: 

1.    Bringing together the microplastics research community to identify strategies to improve microplastics data management through the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).