A river basin consists of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems which are tightly linked at multi-scale.  Land use changes due to the human activities and climate changes can pose serious threats to the economic development and ecological sustainability at river basins due to many factors, such as soil degradation, erosion, nutrient runoff, flooding and draught. The physics and biogeochemistry of a river basin is complicated as the biogeochemistry can result in a large response to hydrological processes. In recent years, there has been a significant interest in understanding the interaction between hydrological and biogeochemical processes in watersheds. In this talk, I will summarize our recent work on modelling of integrated aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and face challenges and opportunities of watershed modelling and management through coupling hydrological and biogeochemical processes. We will use Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) as modelling framework of watershed hydrology to quantify the impacts of climate change and agricultural activities on water quality and water resources. Then, we will integrate the biogeochemical models of agroecosystem into the SWAT model to enhance capacities of the nitrification, denitrification and soil respiration of the SWAT.  Finally, we will apply the integrated model into Athabasca river basin (ARB) to test the simulation of water quality, N₂O and CO₂ emissions.

Dr. Junye Wang is a Professor and the Campus Alberta Innovation Program (CAIP) Research Chair at Athabasca University, Canada. He received his M.Sc. degree in thermo-physics from Harbin Shipbuilding Engineering Institute, Ph.D. degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering from East China University of Science and Technology in 1989 and 1996, respectively. Then he joined Shanghai Jiaotong University as an associate professor in 1996. From 1999 till 2012 he worked at the Universities of Sheffield, Greenwich, and Loughborough, and Scottish Crop Research Institute and Rothamsted Research, UK, as research associate, research scientist and principal research scientist, respectively. Dr. Wang has over 30 years’ experience of multi-scale and multidisciplinary modelling and is internationally recognized leader in energy, environment and sustainability. Prof. Wang and his team has been developing a modelling framework of integrated terrestrial and aquatic systems by utilizing innovative computational technologies. He has authored/co-authored over 150 papers, including over 80 refereed journal papers, and serves as associate editor and editorial board member on several international journals. He is also a reviewer of papers for over 80 international journals.