Kelly Aho, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology, Boston University
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Streams and Rivers: Linking Biogeochemistry, Aquatic Ecology, and Climate Change
The Department of Chemistry Presents: Kelly Aho, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology, Boston University
Streams and rivers play important roles in carbon and nitrogen cycling. They act as connectors, biogeochemically linking the land, ocean, and atmosphere, and as reactors, supporting high rates of biogeochemical activity. In this talk, I will present on processes controlling production and emission of greenhouse gases from these freshwater ecosystems, including how streams and rivers route terrestrially derived solutes to the atmosphere and how direct measurements of greenhouse gases can provide novel insights into existing ecological theory. This work has implications for not only understanding how freshwaters ecosystems function biogeochemically, but also for predicting responses to climate change and potential climate feedbacks.
BIO
Dr. Kelly Aho is an aquatic biogeochemist who studies carbon and nitrogen cycling in freshwater ecosystems. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Boston University in the Department of Biology. She holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MESc and a PhD from Yale University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). She has also worked a field technician for the USFS in the Tongass National Forest and a sustainable agriculture volunteer for Peace Corps in Panama.