Suzanne Tank
Pronouns: she/her
Personal Website: https://www.suzannetank.net/
Contact
Professor, Faculty of Science - Biological Sciences
- stank@ualberta.ca
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 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.
Featured Publications
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
Steven V. Kokelj, Justin Kokoszka, Jurjen van der Sluijs, Ashley C. A. Rudy, Jon Tunnicliffe, Sarah Shakil, Suzanne E. Tank, Scott Zolkos
The Cryosphere. 2021 July; 10.5194/tc-15-3059-2021
S Shakil, S E Tank, S V Kokelj, J E Vonk, S Zolkos
Environmental Research Letters. 2020 November; 10.1088/1748-9326/abac36
Suzanne E. Tank, Jorien E. Vonk, Michelle A. Walvoord, James W. McClelland, Isabelle Laurion, Benjamin W. Abbott
Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. 2020 July; 10.1002/ppp.2057
Scott Zolkos, Suzanne E. Tank, Steven V. Kokelj
Geophysical Research Letters. 2018 September; 10.1029/2018GL078748
Allison A. Oliver, Suzanne E. Tank, Ian Giesbrecht, Maartje C. Korver, William C. Floyd, Paul Sanborn, Chuck Bulmer, Ken P. Lertzman
Biogeosciences. 2017 August; 10.5194/bg-14-3743-2017
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