Suzanne Tank
Contact
Associate Professor, Faculty of Science - Biological Sciences
- stank@ualberta.ca
- Phone
- (780) 248-1152
- Address
-
1-283 (C29 Centennial Ctr For Interdisciplinary SCS I
11355 - Saskatchewan DriveEdmonton ABT6G 2H5
Overview
Research
Welcome to the Tank lab at the University of Alberta. Our research is broadly focused on understanding the current and future functioning of aquatic ecosystems. Our work has a particular focus on connections between ecology, biogeochemistry, and processes occurring across the land-freshwater-ocean continuum. We think about climate change, permafrost, carbon cycling, and nutrient dynamics, and how these processes act and interact in freshwater 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 collaborate with other scientists from across Canada and internationally. Please click on the link to the right to enter our lab website.
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.
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.
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.