Mauro B. de Toledo, PhD student

College of Environment and Sustainability and Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS)

University of Saskatchewan

Contact

My current research interests are: water quality; aquatic ecology; global change; biogeochemical cycles; eutrophication; climate change, and GIS. My professional interests are merging my skills in paleoecology and climate change impacts on vegetation to my new acquired skills in limnology (e.g. water quality and biogeochemical cycles) and sustainability to tackle present and future environmental problems.

LakePulse survey sampling 680 lakes across Canada

Summer 2018: Sampling lakes in July and August with a field team.

Summer 2017: I participated in the 2017 field campaign working with my teammates on the Red Team – “The Lumberjacks” – and I was in the field for 7 weeks (July 10th – August 27th). I was a P2, so responsible for water filtration and “cleaning”.

Research project: Phosphorus Concentration in Canadian Lake Sediments: The Role of Regional Geology, Geography, Land Use, and Lake Characteristics

It is widely accepted that freshwater ecosystems in North America are more strongly affected by eutrophication than any other stressor. Phosphorus is a key limiting nutrient to algal growth. And in relatively high concentrations phosphorus can accelerate eutrophication, which leads to decreased water quality. Phosphorus is present in lakes under different forms (e.g. organic x inorganic and dissolved x particulate). Sediments are important stores of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, serving as significant nutrient sources, when phosphorus becomes available to the biota.

In this project, I will quantify concentration and ratios of different phosphorus species across Canadian lakes sampled during LakePulse campaigns. I will attempt to recognize geographical patterns of phosphorus concentrations, and assess relationships with geology, land use, geography, and lake characteristics. These combined data will support development of empirical models of internal loading as a function of sediment P speciation for different regions of Canada.

Specific aims of your project:

• Quantify concentration and ratios of different phosphorus species in Canadian lakes;
• Identify geographical patterns of phosphorus concentration throughout Canadian lakes;
• Assess relationships among phosphorus concentration, geology, land use, geography, and lake characteristics.

Project start to finish dates: July 2017 to June 2021

Supervisor: Dr. Helen Baulch