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Pieter J. K. Aukes (he/his)

Postdoctoral Fellow

Wilfrid Laurier University

About Me

Thanks for the interest in my work! In short, I’m interested in how a changing climate influences carbon cycling in arctic and sub-arctic systems, and what that means for ecosystem health and drinking water quality.

I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Wilfrid Laurier University, working with Dr. Jason Venkiteswaran and Dr. Sherry Schiff. We use field work and laboratory experiments to gain a better understanding of the processes that govern carbon fate.

When not in the field or lab, you can probably find me out and about in the mountains or woods with my toddler or cycling the rural roads nearby.

Interests

  • Dissolved organic matter
  • Arctic systems
  • Biogeochemistry
  • Science communication

Education

  • PhD in Earth Sciences (Water), 2019

    University of Waterloo

  • MSc in Geochemistry & Isotopes, 2012

    University of Waterloo

  • BSc in Environmental Geosciences, 2010

    University of Calgary

Recent Publications

Aukes, P. J. K., Schiff, S. L., Venkiteswaran, J. J., Elgood, R. J., & J. Spoelstra. 2020. Size‐based characterization of freshwater dissolved organic matter finds similarities within a waterbody type across different Canadian ecozones. Limnology & Oceanography Letters. doi:10.1002/lol2.10180

St. Pierre, K. A., St. Louis, V., Schiff, S. L., Lehnherr, I., Dainard, P. G., Gardner, A. S., Aukes, P. J. K., & M. J. Sharp. 2019. Proglacial freshwaters are significant and previously unrecognized sinks of atmospheric CO2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (36): 17690-17695. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1904241116

Aukes, P. J. K., Schiff, S. L., & W. D. Robertson. 2019. Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter Along a Septic System Plume: Evidence of Sustained biogeochemical Activity in the Groundwater Zone. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 124: 1389-1400. doi: 10.1029/2018JG004758

Hutchins, R. H. S., Aukes, P. J. K., Schiff, S. L., Dittmar, T., Prairie, Y. T., & P. A. del Giorgio. 2017. The Optical, Chemical, and Molecular Dissolved Organic Matter Succession Along a Boreal Soil-Stream-River Continuum. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 122: 2892-2908. doi: 10.1002/2017JG004094

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