Tariq Aziz has successfully defended his PhD thesis, titled "Watershed Ecosystem Services: Linking Economic Valuation and Ecohydrology". Tariq completed his PhD with the Ecohydrology Research Group, at the University of Waterloo.
Congratulations, Dr. Tariq Aziz!
Zahra Akabarzadeh has successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled "Quantitative Modeling of Nitrogen Cycling Along the River Continuum: Stream Bed Sediments, Reservoirs and Isotopes". Zahra completed her PhD with the Ecohydrology Research Group, at the University of Waterloo.
Congratulations, Dr. Zahra Akabarzadeh!
A new paper, co-authored by Drs. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Philippe Van Cappellen has been published in Science of the Total Environment. The article, titled "Effects of freezing and thawing on water infiltration, soil structure, and nutrient removal", was written in collaboration with Brenden Ding, Behrad Gharedaghloo, and Dr. Elodie Passeport. The paper assesses the effects of freezing and thawing cycles on bioretention processes, which has implications for how bioretention cells can be used to mitigate nutrient pollution in cold climates.
A new paper, co-authored by Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad, has been published in Journal of Environmental Management. The article, titled "Retention modes of manure-fecal coliforms in soil under saturated hydraulic condition", investigated fecal coliform retention mode for three soil textures. Highlights of the work include:
Soil texture and manure types controlled bacteria deposition;
The Ecohydrology Research Group (ERG) and the China University of Geosciences (CUG) in Wuhan are developing long-term collaborations on the geochemistry of black earth soils in northeast China and water quality issues in the central Yangtze River basin. Discussions on August 24 also included the possible establishment of a joint CUG-University of Waterloo technology centre in Wuhan. On August 25, Philippe and Shuhuan joined a group of CUG researchers in Yueyang City to plan future joint field work on Dongting Lake.
The 34th International Society of Limnology Congress (SIL) took place on August 19-24 in Nanjing China. The SIL congress is the major international meeting covering all aspects of inland waters. The theme for SIL 2018 was "Limnology, a Science for the Preservation and Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems". Much of the program dealt with the pressures on, and management and restoration of, freshwater lakes and reservoirs. Philippe gave one of the 10 plenary lectures at the congress.
This afternoon, the Ecohydrology Research Group said farewell to seven colleagues leaving our group at the end of the term.
Thank you to Lindsay Norwood, Guy Tenkouano, Geertje Pronk, Megan Jordan, Laureline Vallée, Dave Duff, and Auristela Bantegui for all of your hard work, and we wish you all the best moving forward!
The Ecohydrology Research Group and Dajiang Environment Corporation are collaborating on strengthening the water quality management of the Eco-Hi-Tech Island in Nanjing, China (see Wednesday June 13 news item). Philippe and Shuhuan visited the joint Dajiang-Waterloo Research Centre in Nanjing on August 21-23 to discuss progress and plan upcoming activities, including the 3rd International Summit on Water Environmental Management to be held in Nanjing in October.
Group members Christina Smeaton, Bingjie Shi, and Kunfu Pi recently attended the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference which was held August 12-17 in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to attending talks, networking, and presenting their research, they were also able to catch up with ERG alumni Taylor Maavara (PDF at Berkeley Lab), Ekaterina Markelova (consultant at Amphos 21, Barcelona, Spain), and Gianna Marschmann (PhD student at University of Hohenheim and future PDF at Berkeley Lab).
This morning, Dr. Anniet Laverman, from the Université de Rennes, presented a talk titled "Assessment of isotopic fractionation associated to nitrate reduction by benthic microbial communities" as part of the Ecohydrology Seminar Series. Thank you to Dr. Laverman for the excellent talk!
