Dr. Helen Jarvie

Dr. Helen Jarvie
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Water Quality, Sustainability and Environmental Change

Biography

Professor Helen Jarvie is a biogeochemist whose research addresses nutrient pollution, freshwater eutrophication, and water quality impairment, environmental challenges that are increasingly intensified by climate change and land-use change.

She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Sedimentary Geochemistry from the University of Reading, UK. Following 25 years at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, a national environmental research institute, she joined the University of Waterloo in 2020 as Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management. She was appointed University Research Chair in 2024 and was awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Water Quality, Sustainability and Environmental Change in 2026.

Her research focuses on developing adaptive solutions to reduce nutrient pollution, restore river health and function, and improve the resilience of freshwater ecosystems in a changing world.

Research interests

  • Water Quality

  • Eutrophication

  • Hydrochemistry

  • Biogeochemistry

  • Phosphorus and nitrogen

  • Environmental change

  • Freshwater ecosystems

Scholarly Research

Helen's research examines how phosphorus and nitrogen move through watersheds, rivers, wetlands, and lakes, and how these processes influence water quality and ecosystem health. Her work explores why eutrophication often persists despite decades of nutrient-control efforts, highlighting the importance of nutrient legacies, river and watershed processes, management trade-offs, and climate change.

A central theme of her research is understanding how rivers process, retain, and recycle nutrients, and how this knowledge can help unlock rivers' natural self-cleansing capacity. By integrating biogeochemistry, hydrology, ecosystem science, and environmental management, her research seeks practical solutions that support both healthy aquatic ecosystems and sustainable food production.

At the University of Waterloo, Helen leads the Grand River Land-to-Lake (GRiLL) Initiative, an interdisciplinary research and learning platform investigating nutrient sources, transport pathways, and water-quality impairment across Canada's largest Lake Erie watershed. Working with academic, government, conservation, industry, and community partners, GRiLL aims to identify effective nutrient-management strategies that support healthier rivers, lakes, and watersheds in a changing climate.

Education

  • 1995, PhD (Sedimentary Geochemistry), University of Reading, U.K.

  • 1991, BA (Geography), University of Oxford, U.K.

Awards

  • 2026, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair

  • 2024, University Research Chair, University of Waterloo

  • 2022, Outstanding Paper of the Year Award, Journal of Environmental Quality (for Jarvie et al. (2020) Biogeochemical and Climate Drivers of Wetland Phosphorus and Nitrogen Release. Journal of Environmental Quality 49, 1703-1716).

  • 2018, Best Paper Award, Journal of Environmental Quality (for Jarvie et al. (2017) Increased Soluble Phosphorus Loads to Lake Erie: Unintended Consequences of Conservation Practices? Journal of Environmental Quality, 46, 123-132)

Professional associations

  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

Affiliations and volunteer work

  • Honorary Fellow of the U.K. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, U.K.

  • Visiting Professor in Water Quality Science, University of Tokyo, Japan

  • Adjunct Professor in Fluvial Sciences, University of Arkansas, U.S.

  • Visiting Professor in Environmental Chemistry, University of Plymouth, U.K.

Teaching*

  • GEOG 403 - Eutrophication: From Process to Water-Quality Management
    • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
  • GEOG 656 - Eutrophication: From Process to Water Quality Management
    • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

Selected/recent publications

  • Costa, D., Baulch, H., Jarvie, H., Liu, J., Macrae, M. (2026). Global analysis reveals persistent land-cover thresholds for river water quality across climates and decades. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-73708-z

  • Gospodyn, L., Jarvie, H., Williams, M., Plach, J., Macrae, M. (2026) Separating flow components in tile drainage and streamflow in a headwater agricultural catchment. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 2026, 63, 103081 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.103081

  • White, A.B., Brua, R, Friesen A., Jarvie, H.P., Yates, A.G. (2026) Spatial patterns in long-term nutrient concentration and stoichiometry trends in northern Prairie rivers. Biogeochemistry, 169, 7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-025-01302-y

  • Jarvie, H.P.; Worrall, F.; Burt, T.P.; Howden, N.J.K. (2025) A 150-year river water quality record shows reductions in phosphorus loads but not in algal growth potential. Communications Earth & Environ, 6, 62. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01978-4

  • White, A.B.; Brua, R.B.; Painter, K.J.; Jarvie, H.P.; Adam G Yates (2025) Prairie stream nutrient stoichiometry across space and time: Influence of discharge, season, and crop type. Limnology and Oceanography 70, (8) 2284–2298. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.70117

  • Shober, A.L.; Simpson, Z.P.; Jarvie, H.P.; Macrae, M.L.; et al. (2025) Towards a transdisciplinary and unifying definition of legacy phosphorus. Journal of Environmental Quality, 54, 882–892. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20659

  • Kleinman, P.; Flaten, D.; Osmond, D.; Jarvie, H.; McDowell R.; Simpson Z.; Mott, J. (2025) Through the lens of phosphorus - The legacy of Andrew Sharpley. Journal of Environmental Quality 2025, 54, 763–769. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.70032

  • Worrall, F., Howden, N.J.K, Burt, T.P, Jarvie, H.P. Changes in Chlorophyll-a in English rivers over the last 50 years. Journal of Hydrology (2025), 664, Part A, 134394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134394

  • Tye, A.M.; Jarvie, H.P.; Spears, B.M.; Dise, N.B.; Williamson, J.L.; Lapworth, D.J.; Monteith, D.; Sanders, R. et al.. Riverine concentrations and export of dissolved silicon, and potential controls on nutrient stoichiometry, across the land–ocean continuum in Great Britain. Journal of Hydrology 2024, 640, 131738. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.131738

  • Pharaoh, E.; Diamond, M.; Jarvie, H.P.; Ormerod, S.J.; Rutt, G.; Vaughan, I.P. (2024) Potential drivers of changing ecological conditions in English and Welsh rivers since 1990. Science of the Total Environment, 946, 174369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174369

  • Noyes, I.; Koiter, A.; Jarvie, H.P.; Plach, J.M.; Lobb, D.A.; Glasauer, S.; Macrae, M.L. (2024) Potential phosphorus mobilization from riparian vegetation following freezing. Journal of Environmental Management, 370, 122710. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122710

  • Yang, X., Zhang, X., Graeber, D., Hensley, R., Jarvie, H., Lorke, A., Borchardt, D., Li, Q, Rode, M. (2023). Large-stream nitrate retention patterns shift during droughts: seasonal to sub-daily insights from high-frequency data-model fusion. Water Research, Volume 243, 1, 120347 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.120347

  • Bieroza, M., Acharya, S., Benisch, J., Ter Borg, R.N., Hallberg, L., Negri, C., Pruitt, A., Pucher, M., Saavedra, F, Staniszewska K., van’t Veen, S.G.M., Vincent, A., Winter, C., Basu, N.B. Jarvie, H.P., James W Kirchner, J.W. (2023). Advances in Catchment Science, Hydrochemistry, and Aquatic Ecology Enabled by High-Frequency Water Quality Measurements. Environmental Science & Technology 57 (12), 4701 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c07798

  • Hogan, S.C, O’Sullivan, J.J., Bruen, M., Jarvie, H.P., Cox, E.J., Bowes, M.J., Kelly-Quinn, M. (2023). A review of the nature and source of nutrient impairment in small streams: a desk based characterisation for targeted mitigation measures. Hydrobiologia, 850, 3293–3311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-05114-1

  • Macrae, M.L., Plach, J.M., Carlow, R. Little, C, Jarvie, H.P, McKague, K., Pluer, W.T., Joosse. P. (2023). Trade‐offs in nutrient and sediment losses in tile drainage from no‐till versus conventional till cropping systems. Journal of Environmental Quality. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20502

  • Carlow, R., Plach, J.M., Pluer, W.T., Lam, W.V., Kompanizare, M., Brunke, R., McKague, K., Jarvie, H.P., Macrae, M.L. (2023). Performance of simple low-cost edge-of-field filters for mitigating P losses in surface runoff from agricultural fields. Agricultural Water Management, 284, 108362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108362

  • Jarvie, H.P., Macrae, M.L., Anderson, M., Celmer-Repin, D., Plach, J., King, S.M. (2022). River metabolic fingerprints and regimes reveal ecosystem responses to enhanced wastewater treatment. Journal of Environmental Quality. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20401

  • Costa, D., Sutter, C. Shepherd, A, Jarvie, H., Wilson, H.F., Elliott, J.A., Liu, J., Macrae, M.L. (2022) Impact of climate change on catchment nutrient dynamics: insights from around the world. Environmental Reviews https://doi.org/10.1139/er-2021-0109

  • Kleinman, P.J.A., Osmond, D.L., Christianson,L.E., Flaten, D.N., Ippolito, J.A., Jarvie, H.P., et al.. (2022). Addressing conservation practice limitations and trade‐offs for reducing phosphorus loss from agricultural fields. Agricultural & Environmental Letters 2022;7:e20084. https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.20084

  • Tye, A.M., Williamson, J.L., Jarvie, H.P., Dise, N.B., Lapworth, D.J. et al (2022). Dissolved inorganic carbon export from rivers of Great Britain: Spatial distribution and potential catchment-scale controls. Journal of Hydrology, 615, 128677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128677

  • Macrae, M., Jarvie, H., Brouwer, R., Gunn, G., et al. (2021). One size does not fit all: Toward regional conservation practice guidance to reduce phosphorus loss risk in the Lake Erie watershed. Journal of Environmental Quality. 50: 529-546. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20218

  • Price, D.W., Plach, J.M., Jarvie, H.P., Macrae, M.L. (2021). Contribution of bunker silo effluent discharged via a riparian zone to watershed phosphorus loads. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 47, 1296-1304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2021.08.004

  • Simpson Z.P., McDowell R.W., Condron L.M., McDaniel M.D., Jarvie H.P., Abell J.M. (2021). Sediment phosphorus buffering in streams at baseflow: A meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Quality. 50: 287-311. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20202

  • Burt, T.P., Worrall, F., Howden, N.J.K., Jarvie H.P., Pratt, A., Hutchinson, T.H. (2021). A 50-year record of nitrate concentrations in the Slapton Ley Catchment, Devon, United Kingdom. Hydrological Processes. 35:e13955. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13955

  • Jarvie, H.P., Pallett D.W., Schäfer, S.M. Macrae, M.L, et al. (2020). Biogeochemical and Climate Drivers of Wetland Phosphorus and Nitrogen Release: Implications for Nutrient Legacies and Eutrophication Risk. Journal of Environmental Quality, 49:1703–1716 https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20155

  • Jarvie, H.P., Sharpley, A.N., Flaten. D., and Kleinman, P.J.A. (2019). Phosphorus Mirabilis: Illuminating the Past and Future of Phosphorus Stewardship. Journal of Environmental Quality 48, 1127-1132. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2019.07.0266

  • Jarvie, H.P., Smith, D.R., Norton, L.R., Edwards, F., Bowes, M.J., King, S.M., Scarlett P., Davies, S., Dils, R., Bachiller-Jareno, N. (2018). Phosphorus and Nitrogen Limitation and Impairment of Headwater Streams Relative to Rivers in Great Britain: A National Perspective on Eutrophication. Science of the Total Environment, 621, 849-862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.128

  • Jarvie, H.P., Johnson, L.T., Sharpley, A.N., Smith D.R., Baker D.B., Bruulsema, T.W., Confesor, R. (2017). Increased Soluble Phosphorus Loads to Lake Erie: Unintended Consequences of Conservation Practices? Journal of Environmental Quality, 46, 123-132. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2016.07.0248

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