UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO PROFILE
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Background
A Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) grant has funded the construction and fitting out of Wetland Ecosystem Terrain System Simulator (WETSyS) laboratory that is located within the Faculty of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo. WETSyS will provide space for large, living, dynamically active mesocosms of wetland plants and soils:
1) In a closed atmosphere chamber with controlled gas concentrations and temperatures that can mimic the changing climate.
2) With controlled (horizontal) flows of contaminants and water through undisturbed soils (it is akin to a flume but for groundwater) to test their transport and attenuation capacity.
3) To sample and analyze the flows of energy and matter as the system responds to the above drivers.
WETSyS allows for unique research by facilitating independent manipulation of state variables associated with disturbance, while holding others constant in a way that permits detailed characterization and quantification of specific ecosystem responses. The improvement in understanding of these key ecosystem processes will allow for the development of best management practices, and it will give Canadian wetland scientists the ability to adequately replicate the complex ecosystem drivers to test responses of Canadian wetland plants and soils in their ecosystem responses to climate change and development stresses.
Linking biogeochemical cycling in the soil and water to plant physiological processes and atmospheric greenhouse gas exchange is one of the key components of WETSyS’s objectives. As such an XRF unit is being sought for the analysis of elemental composition. An XRF spectrometry unit is being sought as it is non-destructive method that can rapidly estimate soil constituents across many orders of magnitude working range. This spectrometer is an analytical tool used for the elemental analysis of liquid, gas and solid that does not require extractions of soil samples, which permits rapid analysis. Such analysis will provide high-quality data of elemental soil/water nutrient and elemental chemical concentrations for WETSyS process experiments. This infrastructure will also see significant use by WETSyS associated field research projects. The XRF spectrometer can be used for metal (multi-element) analysis in solid phase samples (vegetation, mineral, particulate, filters, tissue, scales and shells) and has the major advantage of being able to do semi-quantitative analysis with no sample preparation.
The proposed, sought XRF is required to sample for both carbon and nitrogen, and as such must be able to measure both elements within its range.
The budget for the project is capped at $130,000 CAD, plus HST.
Questions regarding this Request for Proposal may be submitted in writing (via email) to the RFP Contact Person as follows:
Suhair Gilbert, Buyer - Procurement and Contract Services
200 University Avenue West
University of Waterloo, East Campus 2
Waterloo ON N2L 5Z5
Email: suhair.gilbert@uwaterloo.ca or, procure@uwaterloo.ca
