Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Canada is rich in water resources, which provide ecological, cultural and economic benefits to Canadian communities. Lakes, streams, and wetlands are linked to their watersheds, and changes which occur across the landscape can affect water quality in aquatic ecosystems. In particular, changes to climate including rising temperatures, changes to precipitation patterns and declining snow cover will fundamentally alter fluxes of water and chemicals through the environment, which implications for the ways in which nutrients cycle through terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This Tier II Canada Research Chair in Environmental Influences on Water Quality will elucidate relationship between water and nutrient cycling, so that we can better understand how these processes will respond to environmental stressors such as climate change. This innovative research program will investigate how hydrological and ecological processes interact with the shape and structure of the landscape, resulting in heterogeneous patterns of biogeochemical cycling, and how these patterns ultimately impact the surface waters that drain these landscapes. The overarching objectives of this CRC research program are to: • enhance understanding of impacts of global change on carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous transport and cycling; • investigate effects of changing hydrological regimes on nutrient cycling and water quality; and • explore the consequences of landscape variability on water quality responses to climatic and hydrological change. A robust understanding of the environmental controls on nutrient cycling is critical for predicting the effects of future climate change and informing decisions aimed at mitigating negative impacts on water quality. This research aims to expand our understanding of how human activities impact ecosystems. It will achieve this goal by delving deep into the fundamental mechanisms that underpin observed changes, as well as by looking broadly at controls on patterns at a regional scale. Through interdisciplinary collaboration with researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers, the results of this research will inform management decisions to protect water quality and associated ecosystem services.