Research Team >> M.Sc. Students >> Jarvis Singer

Jarvis Singer (2013-Present)

My interest in aquatic ecology arose in a roundabout way. After graduating with BSc in Neuroscience and Math from Dalhousie University in Halifax, I volunteered with a non-profit water and sanitation organisation and suddenly discovered I had a strong interest in all things water. Since then, I have been employed as a wastewater treatment plant operator for the City of Calgary, while concurrently studying watershed management through the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. I joined Dr. Jackson's lab to further my understanding of wastewater effluent's effects on river systems. How do we manage nutrient pollution going into the future? My research focuses on the different roles that wastewater derived nitrogen and phosphorus play in regulating primary productivity in a river environment. I am especially interested in examining spatial heterogeneity of localized patterns between water column and sediment nutrient concentrations, and the resulting consequences to rooted macrophyte growth. I will also be investigating the influence of nitrogen and phosphorus loading on macrophyte and periphyton re-establishment after the 2013 flood in the Bow River Basin. Understanding the spatial scale of nitrogen and/or phosphorus limitation could help guide future decisions about tailoring wastewater treatment processes and ensuring they have the desired effects on the receiving environment. I'm looking forward to learning ecological concepts and skills which will help me to better understand the role that wastewater treatment will play in society over the next few decades.