Suzanne Tank - Directory@UAlberta.ca

Contact

Associate Professor, Faculty of Science - Biological Sciences

Email: suzanne.tank@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 248-1152
Address: 1-283 Centennial Ctr For Interdisciplinary SCS I
11355 - Saskatchewan Drive

Edmonton AB

T6G 2H5

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

carbon cycle land-ocean change Arctic permafrost

Research

Research in our lab is broadly focused on understanding the current and future functioning of the land-freshwater-ocean continuum, with a particular focus on biogeochemistry (the cycling of various elements, which underpins all life) and ecology, and the connections between them. We think about climate change, permafrost, carbon cycling, and nutrient dynamics, and how these processes act and interact in freshwaters and connected systems from the Canadian Arctic to the Pacific Coast.

Although our research is field focused, much of what we do also has a strong analytical component. Students in the lab master a variety of skills, including an array of laboratory, statistical, and experimental techniques. Our work is inherently multi-disciplinary, and we therefore collaborate with other scientists from across Canada and internationally.

Courses

BIOL 364 - Freshwater Ecology

An introduction to the ecology of freshwater ecosystems. Lectures will examine the roles of biota in ecological patterns and processes in lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams, emphasizing north-temperate and boreal regions. Seminars will focus on recent papers from the primary literature. Designed to stand-alone or to provide a biological complement to BIOL 464. Prerequisite: BIOL 208.

Fall Term 2024

BIOL 442 - Global Biogeochemical Cycles

This course explores the intersecting biological, chemical, and geological processes and reactions governing the cycling of elements that control our environment. Course discussions will include consideration of the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, and will be framed by our understanding that elemental cycling on Earth is fundamentally altered by organisms. Coursework will incorporate current topics in anthropogenic alteration of the natural cycles critical for organismal and planetary function. Prerequisites: CHEM 101 and BIOL 208. Credit cannot be obtained for both BIOL 442 and 542.

Winter Term 2025

BIOL 542 - Advanced Global Biogeochemical Cycles

This course explores the intersecting biological, chemical, and geological processes and reactions governing the cycling of elements that control our environment. Course discussions will include consideration of the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, and will be framed by our understanding that elemental cycling on Earth is fundamentally altered by organisms. Coursework will incorporate current topics in anthropogenic alteration of the natural cycles critical for organismal and planetary function. Seminars are the same as for BIOL 442, but with additional assignments and evaluation appropriate to graduate studies. Prerequisite: consent of Instructor. Credit cannot be obtained for both BIOL 442 and 542.

Winter Term 2025

Browse more courses taught by Suzanne Tank

Featured Publications

Recent trends in the chemistry of major northern rivers signal widespread Arctic change

Suzanne E. Tank, James W. McClelland, Robert G. M. Spencer, Alexander I. Shiklomanov, Anya Suslova, Florentina Moatar, Rainer M. W. Amon, Lee W. Cooper, Greg Elias, Vyacheslav V. Gordeev, Christopher Guay, Tatiana Yu. Gurtovaya, Lyudmila S. Kosmenko, Edda A. Mutter, Bruce J. Peterson, Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Peter A. Raymond, Paul F. Schuster, Lindsay Scott, Robin Staples, Robert G. Striegl, Mikhail Tretiakov, Alexander V. Zhulidov, Nikita Zimov, Sergey Zimov, Robert M. Holmes

Nature Geoscience. 2023 September; 10.1038/s41561-023-01247-7