Trent Canada Research Chair Recognized as One of Canada's Top Scientists

Dr. Tanentzap honoured with $250,000 for pioneering new frontiers in ecology, biology, and biogeochemistry.

Dr. Andrew Tanentzap, Canada Research Chair in Climate Change and Northern Ecosystems at Trent University, has been awarded the prestigious Arthur B. McDonald Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, a $250,000 research prize recognizing his international contributions spanning biology, chemistry and biogeochemistry with direct applications in nature conservation and climate action.

“Professor Tanentzap is a world-class researcher who is bringing multiple disciplines together in innovative ways to work on critical environmental challenges from the micro to the macro scale. He is grappling with consequential issues related to climate change and the preservation of global natural resources,” says Dr. Cathy Bruce, president and vice-chancellor of Trent University.

Prof. Tanentzap is a leading authority in restoration ecology, impacts of land-use change, aquatic ecosystem health, and forest management. The revolutionary nature of his work is due to the intersection of biology and chemistry. Prof. Tanentzap and his research team use advanced scientific tools to study how invisible things, like molecules and microorganisms, drive much larger processes, such as food webs and ecosystem services and biodiversity.

Learn more about Prof. Tanentzap in this short YouTube video:

“This fellowship is a tremendous honour, and it reflects the incredible team I’ve had the privilege to lead during my career,” says Prof. Tanentzap. “Research is never a solo journey. It really does take a village, and I’m especially grateful for the support of my family, my colleagues, and the students who bring energy and curiosity to everything we do.”

The funding from the fellowship will help grow Prof. Tanentzap’s dynamic and diverse research program at Trent University. He has built a research group of students, postdoctoral researchers, and international partners, including a network of more than 100 individuals from 70 sites worldwide tracking the molecular composition of carbon to understand its response to future climate change.

The big impact of molecular insights

As the world focuses on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Prof. Tanentzap is looking for solutions about where that carbon should go. Soils, forests, and freshwaters are large carbon reservoirs where organic molecules quietly shape the fate of ecosystems.

“We often talk about carbon as a single thing, but at the molecular level, it’s tens of thousands of different compounds,” says Prof. Tanentzap. “Some of these compounds help ecosystems thrive, others contribute to pollution or greenhouse gas emissions. If we want to protect our water and natural resources and slow climate change, we need to understand carbon at this level of detail. Our research has contributed a lot to our understanding about how environmental change like logging and wildlife impact the type of carbon that exists in different places.”

Transforming water quality monitoring

Prof. Tanentzap’s work has led to important discoveries linking human land use to plastic pollution and linking forest disturbances to aquatic nutrients. His recent publication in Science introduced a new method for tracking the fate of dissolved organic compounds in freshwater, a breakthrough that could revolutionize how we monitor water quality and pollution.

At the Trent Water Quality Centre, Prof. Tanentzap uses the Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FT-ICR-MS)—one of only three in Canada—to fingerprint the chemical diversity in water and trace pollutants back to their sources. This technology is helping distinguish whether contaminants come from agriculture, wastewater, or other human activities, and is being used to develop affordable, next-generation water sensors for real-time monitoring of mercury, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and microplastics.

Check out how these water sensors work in this short YouTube video:

“By measuring the chemical diversity in water, we can track the impact of environmental change and its implications for things we care about—like drinking water safety,” Prof. Tanentzap explains.

A novel learning landscape

Undergraduate and graduate student researchers in Prof. Tanentzap’s lab are on the leading edge of investigations using environmental DNA (eDNA), including tracking climate-sensitive pathogens like avian flu in Nunavik, the impact of warming temperatures on brook trout and aquatic species near Thunder Bay, and the introduction and spread of formerly frozen bacteria and viruses in the Arctic. His teaching at Trent is directly informed by this research, offering students hands-on experience with advanced tools and interdisciplinary thinking.

Ten of Prof. Tanentzap’s undergraduate students have been published in leading scientific journals, reflecting Prof. Tanentzap’s commitment to mentoring the next generation of scientists.

Prof. Tanentzap has published more than 145 scientific papers, including a revolutionary study in Nature Communications that demonstrated how the productivity of entire lake food webs varied with the type and amount of surrounding land cover. This study has been cited more than 157 times and led to speaking invitations for Prof. Tanentzap in 11 countries. This study was also featured in CBC’s The Nature of Things and CBC Kids, adding to the media coverage of research in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the BBC.

Learn more about Canada Research Chairs at Trent University and about studying and research in the School of the Environment.