Ecohydrology Research Group Completed Theses

PhD Theses

Title: Land use changes and salinization: Impacts on lake phosphorus cycling and water quality

Author: Jovana Radosavljevic, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2023
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Dr. Bruce MacVicar, Dr. Nandita Basu, Dr. Bahram Gharabaghi, Dr. Claire Oswald

Title: Mechanisms controlling the recycling of nutrient silicon in freshwater sediments: An experimental study of the interactions between silicon, iron and phosphorus

Author: Lu Huang, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: November 2020
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Chris Parsons (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
Committee: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture, Dr. Helen Jarvie, Dr. Maria Dittrich

Title: Modelling Biogeochemical Cycles Across Scales: From Whole-Lake Phosphorus Dynamics to Microbial Reaction Systems

Author: Igor Markelov, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: January 2020
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Nandita Basu, Dr. George Arhonditsis, Dr. Merrin Macrae, Dr. Sergei Katsev

Title: Interactions of Phosphate and Silicate with Iron oxides in Freshwater Environments

Author: Md Abdus Sabur, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: April 2019
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Chris Parsons
Committee: Dr. Carol Ptacek, Dr. Thai Phan, Dr. Roland Hall, Dr. Grant Ferris

Title: Hydrobiogeophysics: Linking geo-electrical Properties and Biogeochemical Processes in Shallow Subsurface Environments

Author: Adrian Mellage, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: December 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Yuxin Wu, Dr. Alex Furman, Dr. Anthony Endres, Dr. Frank Gu

Title: Tracing Redox cycles during Microbe Clay Interactions Using Stables Iron Isotopes

Author: Bingjie Shi, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: October 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Eric Roden, Dr. Laura Hug, Dr. Paul Schroeder, Dr. David Blowes

Title: Watershed Ecosystem Services: Linking Economic Valuation and Ecohydrology

Author: Tariq Aziz, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Jie He, Dr. Steve Evans, Dr. Alain-Désiré Nimubona, Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture

Title: Quantitative Modeling of Nitrogen Cycling Along the River Continuum: Stream Bed Sediments, Reservoirs and Isotopes

Author: Zahra Akabarzadeh, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Sergei Katsev, Dr. William Taylor, Dr. Nandita Basu, Dr. Anniet Laverman

Title: Coupling Reactive Transport and Travel Time Modeling at Watershed Scale

Author: Gabriel Bacca-Cortes, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2018
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Hans Dürr
Committee: Dr. Jan Fleckenstein, Dr. David Rudolph, Dr. James Craig, Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Title: Perturbations to nutrient and carbon cycles by river damming

Author: Taylor Maavara, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: June 2017
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Hans Dürr
Committee: Dr. Christiane Zarfl, Dr. Brian Kendall, Dr. Merrin Macrae, Dr. Jens Hartmann

Title: Phosphorus and Nitrogen Cycling in the Mediterranean Sea: Circulation, biogeochemistry and anthropogenic forcing

Author: Helen Powley, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: April 2017
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen,
Committee: Dr. Kathleen Ruttenberg, Dr. Hans Dürr, Dr. Ralph Smith, and Dr. Michael Krom

Title: Interpretation of redox potential and assessment of oxyanion (As, Sb, Cr) mobility during oxic-anoxic oscillations

Author: Ekaterina Markelova, cotutelle PhD between Unversity of Waterloo and Université Grenoble Alpes
Date: January 2017
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture, and Dr. Laurent Charlet
Committee: Dr. Grant Ferris, Dr. Matthew Lindsay, Dr. David Blowes, Dr. Mark Servos, Dr. Alex Sobolev, and Dr. Benoît Madé

Title: Biogeochemistry of selenium isotopes: processes, cycling and paleoenvironmental applications

Author: Kristen Mitchell, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Date: September 2012
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Paul Mason

MSc Theses

Title: The influence of soil moisture, oxygen, and temperature on naphthalene biodegradation and CO2 and CH4 effluxes

Author: Jane Ye, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2023
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Neil Thomson and Dr. Dave Rudolph

Title: Natural source zone depletion of petroleum hydrocarbons under variable temperature and moisture conditions

Author: Mehdi Ramezanzadeh, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: February 2023
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Neil Thomson and Dr. Dave Rudolph

Title: Field derived phosphorus accumulation rates and fractionation in bioretention cells

Author: Ariel Lisogorsky, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2022
Supervisors: Dr. Elodie Passeport and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Chris Parsons (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

Title: Transport and Retention of Particulate Organic Matter in Riverbed Sediments:Laboratory Experiments and Modelling

Author: Riley Mills, Department of Earth and Environmental Science
Date: September 2022
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Matthew Ginder-Vogel and Dr. Eric Roden

Title: Impact of Winter Soil Processes on Nutrient Leaching in Cold Region Agroecosystems

Author: Konrad Krogstad, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: February 2021
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Laura Hug and Dr. Dave Rudolph

Title: Environmental sensitivities of coupled biogeochemical cycles in anoxic conditions: from soil batch experiments to a bioenergetics approach

Author: Heather Townsend, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: January 2021
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Merrin Macrae, Dr. Scott Smith and Dr. Thai Phan

Title: Influence of a dammed reservoir on nutrient (N, P, Si) loads and ratios of the Thames River, Ontario

Author: Nady Kao, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: December 2020
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Chris Parsons (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
Committee: Dr. Ryan Sorichetti (Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks) and Dr. Nandita Basu

Title: Modeling phosphorus cycling in a seasonally stratified reservoir (Fanshawe Reservoir, Ontario, Canada)

Author: Shengde Yu, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: September 2020
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Chris Parsons (Environment and Climate Change Canada) and Dr. Nandita Basu

Title: Linking soil moisture content and carbon dioxide fluxes: From batch experiments to process-based modelling

Author: Linden Fairbairn, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: January 2020
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Merrin Macrae, Dr. Thai Phan, Dr. Chris Parsons

Title: Phosphorus Legacies and Water Quality Risks: A Vulnerability-Based Framework in Southern Ontario

Author: Tamara Van Staden, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: December 2019
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Nandita Basu and Dr. Chris Parsons

Title: Bioenergetics of mixotrophic metabolisms: A theoretical analysis

Author: Stephanie Slowinski, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: June 2019
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. Laura Hug and Dr. Carol Ptacek

Title: Biogeochemical cycling of nutrient silicon in a human-impacted large lake nearshore environment (Hamilton Harbour Area of Concern, Lake Ontario, Canada)

Author: Christine Ridenour, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: December 2017
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Chris Parsons

Title: Assessing Microbial Viability and Biodegradation Capabilities in Sandstone

Author: Elaine Secord, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: November 2017
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Industrial Supervisors: Evan Cox (Geosyntec Consultants, Inc.), and Dr. David Reynolds (Geosyntec)
Committee: Dr. David Blowes and Dr. James Longstaffe

Title: Soil Oxygen Monitoring with Fibre Optode Sensors: Experimental Evaluation in Soil Columns under Fluctuating Water Table and Freeze Thaw Conditions

Author: Tatjana Milojevic, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: January 2017
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. Elodie Passeport, Dr. Lingling Wu, Dr. Scott Smith

Title: Plastic Debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes: Classification, Distribution and Environmental Drivers

Author: Alex Driedger, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: June 2015
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Hans Dürr
Committee: Dr. Kristen Mitchell and Dr. Andrea Vander Woude

Title: Surface-subsurface hydrologic exchange and nutrient dynamics in a groundwater fed stream, Bauman Creek, On., Canada

Author: Amanda Niederkorn, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: May 2015
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad
Committee: Dr. David Rudolph and Dr. Michael English

Title: Metal loads in an urban catchment (Don River, Ontario)

Author: Sana Louie, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
Date: January 2015
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
Committee: Dr. David Blowes and Dr. Bruce MacVicar

Title: Historical Trends in Water Quality in the Grand River, Ontario: Reconstruction of Phosphorus Loadings

Author: Saliy Shaker, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: January 2014
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Hans Dürr
Committee: Dr. Nandita Basu and Dr. Jens Hartmann

Title: Effect of organic carbon substrates on denitrification rates in riparian sediment

Author: Melisa Hollingham, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Date: December 2013
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture
Committee: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. John Spoelstra

Title: Aqueous speciation of selenium during its uptake by green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Author: Xu Zhang, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
Date: March 2013
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture

Undergraduate 4th Year Theses

Kathleen Murr (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2021)

Thesis Title:
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Jane Ye (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2021)

Thesis Title:
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Homa Kheyrollah Pour (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Haoya Yin (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)

Thesis Title: Critical evaluation of bioretention cells for nutrient control in urban watersheds with cold climates
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Mahyar Shafii

Jianqi Kang (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)

Thesis Title: The effect of soil composition and temperature on sorption-desorption mechanisms of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminants
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Bingjie Shi

Victoria Elgersma (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)

Thesis Title: Natural Source Zone Depletion in Vadose and Saturated Zones Contaminated by Petroleum Hydrocarbons
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Bingjie Shi

Nidhu Jagoda (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)

Thesis Title: Temperature and moisture controls on CO2 flux dynamics in northern peatlands
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Andrei Ivan Miler (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2020)

Thesis Title: Temperature Sensitivity of a DNA-Based Biosensor for Hg2+ Detection in Natural Water Samples
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Kunfu Pi

Riley Mills (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2019)

Thesis Title: The Influence of Snow Cover on Soil Temperature and Freeze-Thaw Cycles
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Zhejun He (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2019)

Thesis Title: Understanding the key environmental factors controlling the fate and transport of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) in soils
Supervisors: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Dr. Stephane Ngueleu

Heather Townsend (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2018)

Thesis Title: Effect of freezing and thawing cycles on solute transport in agricultural soils
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Jiawei Pan (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2018)

Thesis Title: SIP as geophysical signature to understand the soil physical and hydraulic properties
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad and Adrian Mellage

Linden Fairbairn (BSc), Department of Biology, (2017)

Thesis Title: Effects of salt-water intrusion on carbon dioxide fluxes in coastal peatlands
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Joel Kim (BSc), Department of Biology, (2017)

Thesis Title: Phosphorus bioavailability to algae
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Christopher Parsons

Stephanie Slowinski (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2016)

Thesis Title: Quantifying the role of groundwater and seasonal drivers of nutrient silica fluxes in the lower Grand River
Supervisor: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Danny Hyumin Oh (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2015)

Thesis Title: The influence of water table fluctuation on nutrient dynamics in sand from a freshwater beach environment
Supervisor: Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Dr. Avid Banihashemi, and Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen

Rachele Fischer (BSc), Department of Chemistry, (2014)

Thesis Title: Identifying phosphorous species in the sediment of an eutrophic Nordic lake
Supervisor: Dr. Raoul-Marie Couture

Krista Thrasher (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2014)

Thesis Title: Solid-phase Geochemical Investigation of Groundwater - Lake Interactions at Beaches of the Great Lakes
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Tatjana Milojevic (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2014)

Thesis Title: Contribution of Soil Organic Carbon to the Denitrification Process and Nitrous Oxide Production under Denitrifying Conditions
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad

Joey Jiangyue Ju (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2013)

Thesis Title: Land-use Impact on Amorphous Silica at the rare Charitable Research Reserve
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Dr. Hans Dürr, and Dr. Kristin Mueller

Eric Mcquay (BSc), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, (2013)

Thesis Title: Electrical Conductivity as a Signal of Microbial Activity in Areas of Fluctuating Water Tables
Supervisors: Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen and Dr. Fereidoun Rezanezhad