Dr. Chris Weisener’s laboratory at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) focuses on central theme integrating disciplines within environmental science (geochemistry, molecular biology and microbiology) to better understand contaminant behavior in stressed ecosystems. Specifically, his research group investigates how bacterial mechanisms influence metal, nutrient and pathogen cycling in sediments and aquatic ecosystems.
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) and the associated hepatotoxins produced (e.g. microcystins, MCs) create a significant human health risk in freshwater lakes around the world. Microbial degradation has shown to be the most viable solution to MC removal due to it being safer, more…
Terrestrial environments provide important nutrients, such as phosphorus, to the freshwater tributaries that surround them. Despite current reduction efforts set out by agencies, there is still sufficient phosphorus loading discharged to freshwater systems inducing anthropogenically accelerated eutrophication. One method of phosphorus loading generates from…
**Stay tuned for details about some of our latest work in the Windsor-Essex Region, researching how nutrients pass through our ecosystems, their source/sink characteristics, and how they interact with particulate matter**