KELLY AHO, PhD

This website is no longer being updated. 

Please visit the new Aho Biogeochemistry Lab website: https://aholab.com

In Jan 2023, I moved to Michigan State University as an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) and Integrative Biology (IBIO).  If you're interested in joining my lab group for an undergraduate thesis or internship, Master's or PhD degree, or postdoc, please get in touch!

I am an aquatic biogeochemist interested in carbon and nitrogen cycling in inland waters.  I aim to understand freshwater ecosystems as both 1) biogeochemically important ecosystems and 2) connectors of other ecosystem components (e.g., land, ocean, atmosphere).  I am particularly interested in greenhouse gas emissions from streams and rivers.  This research is relevant to aquatic ecology, carbon and nitrogen cycle models, and greenhouse gas budgets.

In practice, I use field-scale studies to empirically examine the role of inland waters in carbon and nitrogen cycles, and statistical and process-based models to synthesize and upscale these findings.  One unique aspect of my research is using novel measurements of dissolved greenhouse gases as a lens on ecosystem processes, like aquatic metabolism, disturbance, and terrestrial subsidies. 

Publications

Liu, Shaoda, Catherine Kuhn, Giusseppe Amatuli, Kelly Aho, David Butman, George Allen, Peirong Ling, Ming Pan, Dai Yamazaki, Craig Brinkerhoff, Colin Gleason, Xinghui Xia, and Peter Raymond. "The importance of water throughput in routing terrestrial carbon to the atmosphere via global streams and rivers." Accepted to PNAS.

Dwivedi, Dipankar, Andre Santos, Malcolm Barnard, Theresa Crimmins, Avni Malhotra, Kent

Rod, Kelly Aho, … Samantha Weintraub-Leff. “Biogeosciences Perspectives on Integrated,

Coordinated, Open, and Networked (ICON) Science.” Accepted to Special Collection on

Open Collaboration Across Geosciences in Earth and Space Science.

​Ghosh, Anwesha, Andrew Robison, Ariana Chiapella, Brittni Bertolet, Corday Selden, Danielle Perry, Hannah Reich, Isabella Oleksy, Jana Isanta-Navarro, Kelly Aho, Laura Ganley, Laura Melo Vieira Soares, Liam Heffernan, Ohad Peleg, Pfananani Ramulifho, Patricia Thibodeau, Paula Reis, Matthew Sasakim Nicholas Ray, Rebecca Maher, Richard LaBrie, and Shannon Speir. “Eco-DAS: an effective platform for developing professional collaborations among early career aquatic scientists.” Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1002/lob.10485 

Aho, Kelly, Jenn Fair, Jake Hosen, Ethan Kyzivat, Laura Logozzo, Lisa Weber, Byungman Yoon, Jay Zarnetske, and Peter Raymond. " An intense precipitation event causes a temperate forested drainage network to shift from N2O source to sink." Limnology and Oceanography, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12006

Aho, Kelly, Jenn Fair, Jake Hosen, Ethan Kyzivat, Laura Logozzo, Gerard Rocher-Ros, Lisa Weber, Byungman Yoon, and Peter Raymond. " Distinct concentration-discharge dynamics in temperate streams and rivers: CO2 exhibits chemostasis while CH4 exhibits source limitation due to temperature control." Limnology and Oceanography, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11906

Maavara, Taylor, Laura Logozzo, Aron Stubbins, Kelly Aho, Craig Brinkerhoff, Jake Hosen, Peter Raymond. “Does photomineralization of dissolved organics matter in temperate rivers?” Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeoscience, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006402 

Aho, Kelly, Jake Hosen, Laura Logozzo, Wade McGillis, and Peter Raymond. "Highest rates of primary productivity maintained despite CO2 depletion in a temperate river network." Limnology and Oceanography Letters, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10195

Yoon, Byungman, Jake Hosen, Ethan Kyzivat, Jenn Fair, Lisa Weber, Kelly Aho, Rachel Lowenthal, Serena Matt, William Sobczak, Jamie Shanley, Joh Morrison, James Saiers, Aron Stubbins, and Peter Raymond. "Export of photolabile and photoprimable dissolved organic carbon from the Connecticut River." Aquatic Sciences, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00514-7

Brinkerhoff, Craig, Peter Raymond, Taylor Maavara, Yuta Ishitsuka, Kelly Aho, and Collin Gleason. “Lake morphometry and river network controls on evasion of terrestrially sourced headwater CO2.” Geophysical Research Letters, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090068

Hosen, Jacob, Kelly Aho, Jennifer Fair, Ethan Kyzivat, Serena Matt, Jon Morrison, Aron Stubbins, Lisa Weber, Byungman Yoon, Peter Raymond. "Source switching maintains dissolved organic matter chemostasis across discharge levels in a large temperate river network." Ecosystems (2020)

Mwanake, Ricky M., Gretchen Gettel, Kelly Aho, David Namwaya, Frank Masese, Klaus Butterback-Bahl, Peter Raymond. "Land use, not stream order, controls N2O concentration and flux in the upper Mara River basin, Kenya." Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (2019)

Hosen, Jacob, Kelly Aho, Alison Appling, Elizabeth Creech, Jennifer Fair, Robert Hall Jr., Ethan Kyzivat, Rachel Lowenthal, Serena Matt, Jon Morrison, James Saiers, Jamie Shanley, Lisa Weber, Byungman Yoon, Peter Raymond. "Enhancement of primary production during drought in a temperate watershed is greater in larger rivers than headwater streams." Limnology and Oceanography (2019)

Aho, Kelly, and Peter Raymond. "Differential Response of Greenhouse Gas Evasion to Storms in Forested and Wetland Streams." Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (2019)

Yan, Fangping, Mika Sillanpaa, Shichang Kang, Kelly Aho, Bin Qu, Da Wei, Xiafei Li, Chaoliu Li, and Peter Raymond. “Lakes on the Tibetan Plateau as Conduits of Greenhouse Gases to the Atmosphere.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 2 (2018). 

Aho, Kelly, T. Chakraborty (TC), Bowen Fang, Kangning Huang, Ava Liang, Natalie Schultz, Charlotte Stanley, Anna Walsh, Zhongwang Wei, Yichen Yang, Bowen Zhao, and Xuhui Lee. Fundamentals of Boundary-Layer Meteorology: Solution Manual. (2017)

​Qu, Bin, Kelly Aho, Chaoliu Li, Shichang Kang, Mika Sillanpää, Fangping Yan, and Peter Raymond. “Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Rivers of the Tibetan Plateau.” Scientific Reports 7 (2017). doi:10.1038/s41598-017-16552-6

​Qu, Bin, Mika Sillanpää, Chaoliu Li, Shichang Kang, Aron Stubbins, Fangping Yan, Kelly Aho, Feng Zhou, and Peter Raymond. “Aged Dissolved Organic Carbon Exported from Rivers of the Tibetan Plateau.” PloS one 12(2017). 

​Obbard, Rachel W., Theresa Cassano, Kelly Aho, Greg Troderman, and Ian Baker. "Using Borehole Logging and Electron Backscatter Diffraction to Orient an Ice Core from Upper Fremont Glacier, Wyoming, USA." Journal of Glaciology 57.205 (2011): 832-40.