News

The recently published paper Changes in Sedimentary Phosphorus Burial Following Artificial Eutrophication of Lake 227, Experimental Lakes Area, Ontario, Canadapublished in Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences was selected as a Research Spotlight from the 22 peer-reviewed journals published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

The damming of rivers is one of the most impactful modifications of the flows of water and associated materials from land to sea. Included in these materials are nutrient elements like nitrogen and phosphorus, which are elements required by all life on Earth, and silicon, which is required by diatoms, the algae that account for the largest fraction of biological productivity of the oceans. Past studies have shown that changes in the ratios in which these nutrient elements enter the coastal oceans affect plankton communities, even causing harmful algal blooms or “red tides” to occur. In a new paper published in Geophysical Research Letters, (former) ERG researchers Taylor Maavara, Zahra Akbarzadeh and Philippe Van Cappellen use models of nitrogen, phosphorus, and silicon cycling in dam reservoirs to determine how the damming of rivers change the nutrient ratios delivered to coastal zones worldwide.

Over the past 50 years, phosphorus (P) has been added each year to Lake 227, making it the world’s longest experiment in P fertilization. Located in Canada’s Experimental Lakes Area, Lake 227 conclusively demonstrated that excess phosphate in lakes causes algal blooms, in turn leading to worldwide bans on phosphates in detergents, improvements in wastewater P removal, and reductions in fertilizer applications. A key question, however, is: Where did the P added to Lake 227 end up? This is where David O’Connell and Philippe Van Cappellen of the Ecohydrology Research Group, together with colleagues from Canada, Netherlands, and USA, turned to examining phosphorus in the sediments accumulating at the bottom of the lake.  

Yuki Audette, Chris Parsons, Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Phillippe Van Cappellen of the Ecohydrology Research Group co-authored a paper titled “Phosphorus binding to soil organic matter via ternary complexes with calcium”, which was recently published in Chemosphere.

A recent paper co-authored by Ecohydrology Research Group members has been featured in the latest edition of CSA News, the magazine of the Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, and American Society of Agronomy. The feature, titled “Carbon Cycling in Periodically Waterlogged Soils”, presents highlights of an experiment studying the effects of a fluctuating water table on organic matter dynamics in soil columns.

The prevalence of Urinary Stone Disease (USD) or urolithiasis has been increasing over the past few decades. In this new paper published in Science of the Total Environment an international team from China University of Geosciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Ecohydrology Research Group present evidence that the spatial distribution of USD can be explained to a large degree by geo-environmental conditions, including lithology, water chemistry and climate.

A new paper in Earth-Science Reviews, co-authored by Ecohydrology Research Group members Colin McCarter, Fereidoun Rezanezhad, and Philippe Van Cappellen reviews the role of pore structure on the hydrological and (bio)geochemical processes governing peat and peatlands.

A new editorial co-authored by Ecohydrology researcher Fereidoun Rezanezhad, along with collaborators Colin McCarter and Bernd Lennartz, was recently published in Frontiers in Environmental Science. The editorial is a summary of the Research Topic “Wetland Biogeochemistry: Response to Environmental Change.”

A study co-authored by Fereidoun Rezanezhad was recently featured in WaterResearch, a communication that summarizes high impact scientific articles published by researchers of the Water Institute. The paper, titled “Winter CO₂ losses shift the Arctic to a carbon source under current and future climates,” was originally published in Nature Climate Change.

Professor Matthew Ginder-Vogel has been named a 2020 Research Award Winner by the Wisconsin Section of the American Water Works Association.

Matthew Ginder-Vogel is the Principal Investigator of a project in collaboration with the Ecohydrology Research Group on "Particulate organic matter (POM) transport and transformation at the terrestrial-aquatic interface" funded by the US Department of Energy - Biological and Environmental Research.