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Byun, Eunji; Price, Jonathan; Quinton, William; Basiliko, Nathan; Roy-Leveillee, Pascal; Huynh, Mercedes; Tran, Kelly; Fairbairn, Linden; Vandergriendt, Marianne; Li, Shuhuan; Dominico, Mason; Balliston, Nicole; Townsend, Heather; Seward, James; Rezanezhad, Fereidoun; Van Cappellen, Philippe; Webster, Kara; Gauthier, Tasha-Leigh; Slowinski, Stephanie — 2022-11-01 This dataset contains results from laboratory soil incubations with peat samples of different depth intervals retrieved at seven Canadian peatland locations. CO2 release fluxes (and CH4 fluxes for some samples) from peat samples were measured using Li-8100 and Li-8150 system under variable moisture levels across a temperature sequence ranging from -10 to 35 °C in an environmental chamber. The resulting CO2 production rates were fitted to equations describing the observed moisture and temperature trends. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Huang, Lu; Parsons, Christopher T; Van Cappellen, Philippe; Slowinski, Stephanie — 2023-03-13 This dataset contains results of laboratory batch experiments in the Ecohydrology Research Group in Waterloo, Ontario. The goal of the research was to study the rates of amorphous silica dissolution as a function of solution chemical composition. The dataset includes time series chemical concentration data of dissolved silicon concentrations in the dissolution batch experiment systems for different batch system treatments representing different solution chemical compositions. Specifically, the solution composition effects studied were: pH, ferrous iron (Fe(II) concentration and salinity. These time series concentration data were used to calculate dissolution rate constants. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Markelov, Igor; Van Cappellen, Philippe; Couture, Raoul-Marie — 2019-04-16 The main goal of this work is to quantify seasonal effluxes of soluble phosphorus from sediments in lakes and reservoirs by means of mechanistic biogeochemical modelling. The MyLake-Sediment model, available freely on GitHub (https://github.com/biogeochemistry/MyLake_v2_Vansjo), was used to reproduce daily water quality variables and predict sediment-water column exchange fluxes over the boreal Lake Vansjø, Norway. MyLake-Sediment was first used to simulate the impacts of increasing air temperature on algal growth. In another scenario, phosphorus loading from the watershed to the lake was halted in order to quantify the response to internal P loading. Finally, we simulated the decreasing dissolved phosphate efflux from the sediment when reactive iron was added to the water column. The data provided here contains the input variables used in the modelling study as well as the model output variables. Funding is acknowledged from: i) Lakes in Transition (Research Council of Norway project no. 244558/E50) held at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research-NIVA, ii) the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ecohydrology, iii) Lake Futures - Work Package 2 (Global Water Futures, a Canada First Research Excellence Fund Program) and iv) Sentinel North Research Chair in Aquatic Geochemistry (Sentinel North, a Canada First Research Excellence Fund Program). https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Tetlock, Erica; Pardo Lara, Renato; Berg, Aaron — 2020-04-14 The aim of this research project is to develop an in situ method to measure hydrological processes in frozen soils through the characterization of coaxial impedance dielectric reflectometry probe response to soil freeze-thaw events. Details on the collection process are outlined in the README file ‘LabInSituPermittivityTemperature.txt’ and in the publication https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-787-2019. This dataset will also support the project titled Transformative sensor Technologies and Smart Watershed (TTWS), which is a Pillar 3 project under the Global Water Futures Program funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Slowinski, Stephanie; Ramezanzadeh, Mehdi; Rezanezhad, Fereidoun; Lam, Christina; Murr, Kathleen; Alibert, Clement; VanderGriendt, Marianne; Smeaton, Christina; Van Cappellen, Philippe — 2023-10-01 Experimental results and numerical simulation results for study investigating the effects of freeze-thaw cycling on methanogenic hydrocarbon degradation. Experiment was a soil batch incubation experiment. Experimental results include: porewater chemistry data (e.g., dissolved organic carbon, toluene, dissolved inorganic carbon, acetate concentrations), headspace gas concentration data, and headspace gas isotope composition data. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Huang, Po-Jung Jimmy; Liu, Juewen — 2023-03-09 L-lactate is a key metabolite indicative of physiological states, glycolysis pathways, and various diseases such as sepsis, heart attack, lactate acidosis, and cancer. Detection of lactate has been relying on a few enzymes that need other substrates. In this work, DNA aptamers for L-lactate were obtained using a library-immobilization selection method and the highest affinity aptamer reached a Kd of 0.43 mM as determined using isothermal titration calorimetry. The aptamers showed up to 50-fold selectivity for L-lactate over D-lactate and had little responses to other closely related analogs such as pyruvate and 3-hydroxybutyrate. A fluorescent biosensor based on the strand displacement method showed a limit of detection of 0.55 mM L-lactate, and the sensor worked in 90% serum. Simultaneous detection of L-lactate and D-glucose in the same solution was achieved. This work has broadened the scope of aptamers to simple metabolites and provided a useful probe for continuous and multiplexed monitoring. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Menkveld, Paul G.; Hillier, Cailin E.; Mesec, Emilie; Rudolph, David L.; Wiebe, Andrew J. — 2019-09-20 The Alder Creek field observatory was instrumented by the Southern Ontario Water Consortium as the middle member of three watersheds with different degrees of urbanization. Field data were collected via the deployment of electronic instruments and manual measurements in the Alder Creek watershed to answer questions related to water management at the watershed scale. Field sites were chosen based on: 1) an attempt to distribute measurement locations spatially throughout the watershed, 2) permissions obtained from local residents, businesses, and stakeholders (e.g., the Regional Municipality of Waterloo) for installations, and 3) interest in monitoring local processes such as depression focused recharge. Cellular network telemetry was used to regularly transmit remote field data to a computer at the University of Waterloo. This was part of a “smart” watershed design whereby field data could be reviewed by technicians to make decisions regarding field monitoring and equipment maintenance. Data collection schedules could also be adjusted remotely. This datasets will be also used to support the research objectives of the Global Water Futures Program https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Pi, Kunfu; Van Cappellen, Philippe; Markelova, Ekaterina; Zhang, Peng — 2020-02-29 The objective of this research is to see how the redox and pH conditions impact the oxidation of arsenic (As) in the presence of reduced and oxidized riboflavin species. Batch experiments using simple dark-brown glass reactors were conducted under anoxic (glovebox filled with 97-98% nitrogen and 2-3% hydrogen gases) and oxic (purified air introduced to the reactors through tubes) conditions and a range of pre-designed solution pH from 5.2 to 9.0. Variables collected in this research include the concentrations of arsenate (As(V)), arsenite (As(III)), total riboflavin, oxidized riboflavin and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), all as a function of time. As(V) and As(III) concentrations in solution samples collected at different time points from 1 to 55 min were determined by hydrogen-generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS, PS Analytical) with a detection limit of 0.5 μg/L. To measure As concentrations below this limit, anodic stripping voltammetry was performed using a 797 VA Computrace equipped with the TRACE Gold sensor (Metrohm, Application Bulletin 416/3). The total riboflavin concentrations were determined by measuring the fluorescence signal at the excitation/emission wavelength of 450/520 nm with a Flexstation-3 Multimode Reader (Molecular Devices) equipped with black/clear bottom 96-well microplates. The concentrations of oxidized riboflavin were measured by UV-vis spectrophotometry, with absorbance measured on a Flexstation-3 Multimode Reader (Molecular Devices). The detection limit of total riboflavin and oxidized riboflavin is 16 nmol/L. The concentrations of H2O2 were measured following the protocol of the commercial Fluorimetric Hydrogen Peroxide Assay Kit (Sigma-Aldrich). The fluorescence was measured at the excitation/emission wavelength of 540/590 nm, with a detection limit of 0.01 μmol/L. Additional details on the experimental setup for data collection can be found in the Supporting Information at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b03188. The data in this research were collected in the Ecohydrology Research Group laboratories at the University of Waterloo. Funding for this work was provided by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ecohydrology, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Huang, Po-Jung Jimmy; Liu, Juewen — 2022-06-10 With the growing consumption of caffeine-containing beverages, detection of caffeine has become an important biomedical, bioanalytical, and environmental topic. Four high-quality aptamers for caffeine were isolated and were carefully characterized. A structure-switching fluorescent sensor was designed showing a detection limit of 1.2 μM caffeine, which reflected the labeled caffeine concentration within 6.1% difference for eight commercial beverages. In 20% human serum, a detection limit of 4.0 μM caffeine was achieved. In addition, these four fluorescent aptamer sensors can form a sensing array, caffeine and the three analogues were well separated from nine other closely related molecules. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Parsons, Chris; Rezanezhad, Fereidoun; Van Cappellen, Philippe — 2023-07-01 Abstract: Nutrient phosphorus (P) export from urban areas via stormwater runoff contributes to eutrophication of downstream aquatic ecosystems. Bioretention cells are a Low Impact Development (LID) technology promoted as a green solution to attenuate urban peak flow discharge, as well as the export of excess nutrients and other contaminants. Despite their rapidly growing implementation worldwide, a predictive understanding of the efficiency of bioretention cells in reducing P runoff remains limited. Here, we present a reaction-transport model data and codes that was used to simulate the fate and transport of P in a bioretention cell facility in the greater Toronto metropolitan area. The model incorporates a representation of the biogeochemical reaction network that controls P cycling within the cell. We used the model as a diagnostic tool to determine the relative importance of processes immobilizing P in the bioretention cell. The model predictions were compared to multi-year observational data on 1) the outflow loads of total P (TP) and soluble reactive P (SRP) during the 2012-2017 period, 2) TP depth profiles collected at 4 time points during the 2012-2019 period, and 3) sequential chemical P extractions performed on core samples from the filter media layer obtained in 2019. According to the modeling results, groundwater recharge was principally responsible for decreasing the surface water discharge from the bioretention cell (63% runoff reduction). From 2012 to 2017, the cumulative outflow export loads of TP and SRP only accounted for 1% and 2% of the corresponding inflow loads, respectively. Accumulation in the filter media layer was the predominant mechanism responsible for the reduction in P outflow loading (57% retention of TP inflow load) followed by plant uptake (21% TP retention). Of the P retained within the filter media layer, 48% occurred in stable, 41% in potentially mobilizable, and 11% in easily mobilizable forms. There were no signs that the P retention capacity of the bioretention cell would approach saturation in the near future. The design of this bioretention facility seems therefore especially efficient at controlling urban P runoff. This Dataset includes the model scripts and modelled results dataset for Elm Drive bio retention cell. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Akbarzadeh, Zahra; Maavara, Taylor; Van Cappellen, Philippe; Slowinski, Stephanie — 2019-03-19 This code, developed in MATLAB R2018a, is a process based mass balance model for simulating the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen in dam reservoirs. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Tia, Jenkins — 2022-04-30 The rapidly growing corpus of microplastics research and its data-scape influences research and funding priorities, public perception, and policy development. Ensuring that microplastics data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) is essential. This bibliographic dataset includes data that have been used to investigate the current state of data management and reporting in the microplastics research community, with a focus on publicly accessible datasets associated with peer-reviewed published studies. This dataset also contains a summary of the metadata attributes of published microplastics datasets in ten open access data repositories and documents whether the (meta)data were findable and accessible. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Moon, Woohyun Jennifer; Huang, Po-Jung Jimmy; Liu, Juewen — 2022-06-10 The RNA-cleaving 17E DNAzyme exhibits different levels of cleavage activity in the presence of various divalent metal ions, with Pb2+ giving the fastest cleavage. In this study, the metal–phosphate interaction is probed to understand the trend of activity with different metal ions. For the first-row transition metals, the lowest activity shown by Ni2+ correlates with the inhibition by the inorganic phosphate and its water ligand exchange rate, suggesting inner-sphere metal coordination. Cleavage activity with the two stereoisomers of the phosphorothioate-modified substrates, Rp and Sp, indicated that Mg2+, Mn2+, Fe2+, and Co2+ had the highest Sp:Rp activity ratio of >900. Comparatively, the activity was much less affected using the thiophilic metals, including Pb2+, suggesting inner-sphere coordination. The pH–rate profiles showed that Pb2+ was different than the rest of the metal ions in having a smaller slope and a similar fitted apparent pKa and the pKa of metal-bound water. Combining previous reports and our current results, we propose that Pb2+ most likely plays the role of a general acid while the other metal ions are Lewis acid catalysts interacting with the scissile phosphate. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Rafat, Arash A.R.; Rezanezhad, Fereidoun; Humphreys, Elyn R.; Webster, Kara; Van Cappellen, Philippe; Quinton, William L. — 2021-05-10 In this study, we determine key environmental variables affecting non-growing season net ecosystem exchanges of CO2 (NGS-NEE) from a temperate peatland (Mer Bleue Bog; Ottawa, Canada) and predict future NGS-NEE under three climate scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5) using a variable selection methodology, global sensitivity analysis, and data-driven model. Future NGS-NEE predictions, model training parameters, and global sensitivity analysis results are provided. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Garcia-Hernandez, Jorge; Brouwer, Roy; Pinto, Rute — 2022-04-13 These data contains the loss of value-added (VA) to the Canadian economy in million CAD due to the implementation of Total Phosphorus reduction policies, targeting different lake sub-basins on the Great Lakes and different polluting sectors. The loss in VA is aggregated and presented by region where this occur: -DIR_COST_GLB -> VA loss on the industries directly targeted within the Great Lakes Basin (GLB). -IND_COST_GLB -> VA loss caused indirectly on the remaining industries within the GLB. -IND_COST_ROP -> VA loss caused indirectly on the industries located on the rest of the province of Ontario. -IND_COST_ROC -> VA loss caused indirectly on the industries located on the rest of Canada. -TOTAL_COST -> Total VA loss caused by the target reduction. These dataset contains the results of the manuscript: Garcia-Hernandez, J. A., Brouwer, R., & Pinto, R. (2022). Estimating the Total Economic Costs of Nutrient Emission Reduction Policies to Halt Eutrophication in the Great Lakes. Water Resources Research, 58, e2021WR030772. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030772. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Pi, Kunfu; Liu, Juewen; Van Cappellen, Philippe — 2020-03-12 This project focuses on the evaluation of a DNA-based biosensor for aqueous mercury(II) under variable pH, temperature and competing ligand compositions. In particular, this study shows that the DNA-functionalized hydrogel sensor could be a better choice than the simple DNA solution for measuring mercury(II) concentrations in complex solutions and in natural waters. The data in this research were collected in the Ecohydrology Research Group laboratories at the University of Waterloo. Funding for this work was provided by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ecohydrology and the Strategic Partnership Grant for Project funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Note, that this data set will also be used to support research objectives in the Global Water Futures Project project titled “Sensor and Sensing Systems for Water Quality Monitoring” https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Papangelakis, Elli; MacVicar, Bruce — 2021-01-01 This project monitors the movement of coarse sediment and morphological change through a newly restored section of Wilket Creek (Toronto), and directly compares bedload transport processes with an adjacent un-restored section. This study presents a means of monitoring bedload transport processes in restored rivers, and results can inform future river restoration designs. Data was collected from an un-restored reach and a restored reach of Wilket Creek, Toronto, Canada. The grain size distribution of the restored reach was done using a Wolman Pebble count with a 200-stone sample size. Bedload transport was monitored over three years using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracer stones. Two waves of tracers were seeded. The first wave was seeded in August, 2013, and comprised of 143 tracers in the unrestored reach and 299 tracers in the restored reach in 5 size classes. The second tracer wave was seeded in August, 2015 and comprised of 300 tracers seeded in the restored reach in 3 size classes. Tracer positions were recorded after each major rainfall event during the active field season each year, resulting in a total of 10 recoveries of the first tracer wave, and 12 recoveries of the second tracer wave. With each recovery, the travel distance of each tracer since its last known position is calculated. Repeat cross section surveys were conducted through the restored reach to monitor morphologic change. A total of 19 cross sections were surveyed 4 – 6 times between February 2013 and July 2018. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Laverman, Anniet; Viollier, Eric; Shafei, Babak; Akbarzadeh, Zahra; Raimonet, Mélanie; Van Cappellen, Philippe; Rezanezhad, Fereidoun — 2019-02-04 We expanded the reaction network for benthic N cycling in an existing early diagenetic computer code in order to explicitly include the reaction pathways producing and consuming nitrite. Reactive transport calculations are then used to interpret a data set comprising pore water profiles and benthic exchange fluxes of nitrate, nitrite and ammonium collected in the Seine River upstream and downstream of the SAV WWTP. Because of the highly dynamic and heterogeneous nature of streambed sediments, we primarily aim to capture the general trends of the measured pore water depth profiles and benthic fluxes. We then use the model as a sensitivity tool to delineate the main controls on benthic exchange fluxes of nitrite. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Jensen, Grant; Krogstad, Konrad; Gharasoo, Mehdi; Hug, Laura; Van Cappellen, Philippe; Rezanezhad, Fereidoun — 2022-09-30 This projects aims to examine the impact of freeze-thaw cycling on fertilizer leaching and nitrification inhibitor efficacy. Results suggest that nitrogen fertilizer is susceptible to nitrification following freeze-thaw cycling in agricultural soil and nitrification inhibitor effectiveness may be detrimentally affected by freeze-thaw cycling. Samples for both experiments were collected at the rare Charitable Reserve and project data was collected at the University of Waterloo Ecohydrology Research Group laboratories. Funding for this project was provided by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund under the Global Water Futures Program. For the dissolved organic carbon/total nitrogen and dissolved inorganic carbon data for both the soil column and sacrificial batch experiment, measurements were taken using a Shimadzu TOC-LCPH/CPN analyzer. For the ion chromatography data for both experiments, measurements were taken using a Dionex ICS-5000. pH and EC measurements were taken using LAQUA Horiba B-213 Twin meters. For the inductively coupled plasma measurements for both experiments, measurements were taken using a Thermo Scientific iCAP 6300. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Green, Danielle; Rezanezhad, Fereidoun; Van Cappellen, Philippe; Jordan, Sean; Wagner-Riddle, Claudia; Henry, Hugh; Slowinski, Stephanie — 2022-09-26 A lysimeter study assessing the impacts of freeze-thaw cycling on nitrogen cycling in agricultural soils. Data was generated using four lysimeter systems at the University of Guelph's Elora Research Station. Two of the lysimeters contained loamy sand soil and two contained silt loam soil. One lysimeter of each soil type was exposed to cold winter temperatures by using ceramic infrared heaters to melt the insulating snow layer throughout the winter. Nitrogen species were then analyzed for and compared in the four lysimeters to determine the effects of soil and type and freeze thaw cycling on nitrogen cycling in agricultural soils. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/