Reinhard Pienitz

Reinhard Pienitz is a Professor in the Department of Geography at Université Laval (Québec City, Canada).  He is member of CentrEau and directs the Aquatic Paleoecology Laboratory at the Centre d’Études Nordiques (Centre for Northern Studies- CEN).  He supervises and co-supervises the research of graduate students and post-docs in the fields of paleolimnology, paleoceanography and geoarcheology in both the departments of geography and biology. The interdisciplinary research in his laboratory focuses on the use of biostratigraphic and geochemical markers as indicators of environmental change in lake and river sediment archives of temperate and arctic regions, as well as of marine coastal ecosystems. In addition, research projects are underway that reconstruct the historical evolution of contaminant levels and water quality in lakes, rivers and drinking water reservoirs impacted by natural and human disturbances, such as climate change, mining activities, as well as urban and agricultural pollution.  His laboratory administers the Circumpolar Diatom Database (CDD) since 1997. He is the senior editor of the book “Long-Term Environmental Change in Arctic and Antarctic Lakes” (DPER Vol. 8).