Naturresurs rinnande vatten

Forskare i NRRV har under hösten påbörjat ett projekt inom ett för forskargruppen helt nytt ämnesområde. Det handlar om rörelsemönster hos den spanska skogssnigeln, även kallad mördarsnigel. Mördarsnigeln är en ovälkommen gäst i mångas trädgårdar, där den kan orsaka stor skada genom att äta rent i odlingar och blomsterrabatter. Det är en främmande art i Sverige, som mest troligt har kommit hit när ägg följt med plantor, jord, krukor och annan trädgårdsutrustning.

Frågor om sniglarnas spridningsmönster och koloniseringsförmåga när de väl har kommit till ett område skulle kunna besvaras med hjälp av studien. Till en början diskuterades sniglarna under en fikarast på universitetet, sedan följde att Johan Watz (projektledare) med flera på Karlstads universitet sökte och fick pengar av Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien för att genomföra studien.

Nu har ca 50 mördarsniglar i en trädgård i Karlstad märkts med små chip (så kallade pit-tags, samma typ av märkning som används i forskningen om fisk), så att sniglarna kan pejlas och deras rörelsemönster och levnadsvanor studeras.

Tidningen Värmlands folkblad (VF) skrev om projektet måndag 1 oktober, som på flera platser i Karlstad tog plats på löpsedlarna.

Även SVT uppmärksammade studien 3 oktober, och reportaget når du genom att trycka här.

Dirk Hattermann (Justus Liebig University Giessen), Markus Bernhardt-Römermann (Friedrich Schiller University Jena), Annette Otte (Justus Liebig University Giessen) and Lutz Eckstein (Karlstad University) recently published the paper “New insights into island vegetation composition and species diversity – Consistent and conditional responses across contrasting insular habitats at the plot-scale” in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

In the abstract the authors write:

“Most island-ecology studies focus on the properties of entire island communities, thus neglecting species-environment relationships operating at the habitat-level. Habitat-specific variation in the strength and sign of these relationships will conceal patterns observed on the island scale and may preclude a mechanistic interpretation of patterns and processes. Habitat-specific species-environment relationships may also depend on the descriptor of ecological communities. This paper presents a comprehensive plot-based analysis of local vegetation composition and species diversity (species richness and species evenness) of (i) rocky shore, (ii) semi-natural grassland and (iii) coniferous forest habitats in three Baltic archipelagos in Sweden. To identify differences and consistencies between habitats and descriptors, we assessed the relative contributions of the variable-sets “region”, “topography”, “soil morphology”, “soil fertility”, “soil water”, “light availability”, “distance” and “island configuration” on local vegetation composition, species richness and species evenness. We quantified the impact of “management history” on the descriptors of local grassland communities by a newly introduced grazing history index (GHI). Unlike species diversity, changes in vegetation composition were related to most of the variable-sets. The relative contributions of the variable-sets were mostly habitat-specific and strongly contingent on the descriptor involved. Within each habitat, richness and evenness were only partly affected by the same variable-sets, and if so, their relative contribution varied between diversity proxies. Across all habitats, soil variable-sets showed highly consistent effects on vegetation composition and species diversity and contributed most to the variance explained. GHI was a powerful predictor, explaining high proportions of variation in all three descriptors of grassland species communities. The proportion of unexplained variance was habitat-specific, possibly reflecting a community maturity gradient. Our results reveal that species richness alone is an incomplete representation of local species diversity. Finally, we stress the need of including habitat-based approaches when analyzing complex species-environment relationships on islands.”

You can access the paper here.

On Tuesday 11 September (tomorrow) Christer Nilsson, Professor emeritus at Umeå University, will hold a seminar at Karlstad University titled ”Three decades of river restoration in Sweden: Lessons learned and future challenges”. The seminar will start at 13:15 in room 5F416, everyone is welcome to attend the seminar.

Lovisa Lind recently started her position as Associate Professor in landscape ecology at Karlstad University and the NRRV research group. Here she presents her scientific background and research interests:

“Hello, I’m Lovisa Lind and I am very excited to join such a great research group. For the past years, I have been working enthusiastically as an ecologist with a specific focus on riparian, aquatic and winter ecology, and hydrology. My research strategy is to take a basic research approach to answer ecological and management questions with a focus on riparian zones. More specifically, I study interactions between terrestrial and aquatic processes, and how species diversity, distribution of organisms and ecosystem services respond to such interactions. I apply these research findings to current land use problems to develop best management practices to protect and optimize ecosystem services in the landscape.

My PhD work combined fundamental and applied questions. My thesis describes mechanisms structuring riparian vegetation along streams and rivers in relation to river ice formation, as well as the spatial variability of ecosystem services provided by riparian zones in boreal Sweden. As scientists predict climate change to influence ice formation, snow cover and winter temperatures in cold regions there is great need to study its influence on the river ecosystems. Hence, my research has provided novel evidence that different types of ice formation in streams and rivers influence the species diversity in the riparian zone, and that future changes in climate might decrease the river ice season and therefore affect the riparian flora. In addition, I have collaborated with a Norwegian hydrologist to complement my ecological understanding with hydrological processes during winter. This collaboration resulted in a simple model over river ice formation, which can be beneficial for managers in cold-water regions. Working on a large spatial scale also has provided me with a very thorough river system knowledge and I was therefore involved in several restoration projects. The Vindel River LIFE project, which was an EU funded restoration project involved many different stakeholders and opened up for new findings and new questions regarding river restoration. I have also worked on identifying the channel topography that is optimal for restoration efforts to sustain the biodiversity that is typical for boreal streams.

In 2015, I joined the Jefferson Project at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for a one-year postdoctoral position. The Jefferson project is a collaboration between RPI, IBM and the FUND for Lake George and combines data analytics with experimentation to understand how human activity affects Lake George. The goal of the Jefferson Project was to revolutionize the way we research, monitor, conserve, and interact with aquatic ecosystems. By combining cutting-edge sensing technology (e.g., underwater sensors, weather stations) with state-of-the-art computing and visualization power, we aimed to fast-forward our understanding of lake ecosystems and to make Lake George a global model for ecosystem understanding and protection. My role in this large project was to investigate the effects of road salt usage and eutrophication on aquatic ecosystems.

After the postdoctoral position at RPI, I joined Hjalmar Laudon´s lab at SLU, Umeå for another postdoctoral position. There I focused on how to optimize buffer zones in agricultural landscapes by conducting a meta-analysis. One of the goals of my project was to provide landowners and managers with guidelines on how to adjust buffer zones in their catchment in order to sustain resilient landscapes. In the meantime, I was in charge of two projects funded by HaV (The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management) regarding buffer zones in agricultural landscapes.

Thereafter, I once again joined the Landscape Ecology Group at Umeå University. The research involves various aspects of watershed science and management. Mainly, I study how the position in the landscape influences the biological variation in streams and riparian zones. I also explore the role of different process domains (lakes, rapids, slow-flowing reaches) in determining the species composition in restored sites further downstream. I also address how anthropogenic disturbance within a catchment or landscape influences the restoration success. Within a catchment or a landscape the anthropogenic influence on the rivers and streams varies with for example the number of and closeness to roads, and agricultural or forestry land-use. Therefore, I will determine the degree of anthropogenic disturbance by using GIS and field visits to restored river segments and thereafter connect it to the species richness and diversity of riparian and instream vegetation.

In my research, I have worked with ecology, hydrology, restoration ecology, food webs, river ice and biogeochemistry, and therefore gained a holistic understanding of watershed science and management. Even though I am enthusiastic about conducting fundamental and empirical research, I always want to link my findings to applied questions. Applying research findings to today’s nature management is an important part of being a scientist and I am keen to creating collaborations with managers and companies as well as being involved in teaching and communication of research findings.”

Find out more about Lovisa and her research on her website.

On Thursday 23 August Steve Railsback from Humboldt State University, California USA, will give a seminar at Karlstad University titled: “Can Big Complex Models be Useful? Lessons from 20 Years of Salmonid Modeling for River Management”.

The seminar will start at 10:00 in room 5F416, everyone is welcome to attend the seminar.

Steve will give a brief overview and history of individual-based trout and salmon models, and provide examples of how the modeling experience produced general knowledge about ecology and fish.

Read more about Steve’s work on individual-based modeling and ecology here.

 

 

During the spring semester the master’s course Scientific methods in freshwater ecology is given at Karlstad University. The course is held by researchers from the NRRV research group, and is included in the master program in ecology and conservation biology at Karlstad University. The course is available for distance students, and most students on the course live in other places in Sweden than Karlstad. We also have international students on the course, this year from both Europe, North America and Africa. In 2018, some parts of the course were carried out together with a visiting student group from Northern Kentucky University.

Here follows a report of the field and laboratory work carried out by the students on the course in 2018.

The first practical session started Monday 24 April, and focused on fish tagging and laboratory studies. The week started with Professor Erik Petersson from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) having a lecture on ethics and legislation concerning animal experimentation. Thereafter the students had practical training in fish handling and sedation. The following days were spent at the laboratory facilities at Karlstad University, where students practiced different methods for tagging fish. The students also conducted experiments in the stream aquarium laboratory, where they examined how the drift-feeding behavior of juvenile brown trout changed in the presence of a predatory fish. This gave the students an opportunity to plan and conduct a laboratory study from the beginning to the end.

After the laboratory session in Karlstad, the week continued in Mörrum in southeastern Sweden. The course was given a tour of the area and shown remedial measures to facilitate fish migration in the regulated river Mörrumsån. In addition, the students conducted a field study where they looked at downstream migration of Atlantic salmon.

 

 

A month later, a second course gathering was held in Karlstad, this time focusing on benthic invertebrate sampling and electrofishing. This course module was carried out together with a visiting student group from Northern Kentucky University. The first day was spent at river Rannån, where students learned different methods to measure abiotic conditions in running waters and how to sample benthic fauna. The second day was spent at river Djupedalsbäcken where the students practiced electrofishing, which resulted in that all students on the course became certified electrofishers. Electrofishing is the most common method used for monitoring fish populations in streams. Therefore, it is a valuable skill for people interested in pursuing a career in stream fish ecology.

 

 

 

On Tuesday 22 May 2018, Alessia Uboni from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and University of Oslo will give a seminar titled “Interannual variability in habitat selection and link to reproductive success: an example from Yellowstone wolves”.

The seminar begins at 13:15 in room 5F322 at Karlstad University. Everyone is welcome to attend the seminar.

On Tuesday 15 May 2018, Jörgen Rudolphi from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Umeå and Sebastian Sobek from Uppsala University will give two seminars at Karlstad University:

Forest biodiversity conservation – old challenges and new solutions – Jörgen Rudolphi

The carbon footprints of hydropower – Sebastian Sobek

The seminars will start at 13:15 in room 21A342 at Karlstad University. Everyone is welcome to attend the seminars.

On Tuesday May 8th Bengt Gunnar Jonsson, professor at Mid Sweden University, will give a seminar titled: “The future of the Swedish forest landscape – environmental objectives and their implementation”. The seminar will start 13.15 in the Risklab (room 21A259) at Karlstad University. Everyone is welcome to attend the seminar.

In April 2018, Anissa Bengattat from France visited Karlstad University and did an internship with NRRV. Here she writes about her weeks in Sweden.

Hej där!

I’m Anissa Bengattat, a French student in HND ‘Management and Protection of Nature’ in a town located in France, named Vic-en-Bigorre. As a practical training, I have been doing my three-weeks internship at Karlstad University with the Ecology and Conservation Biology program.           

During these weeks, I have learned vastly about different aspects of  freshwater ecology.  My main mission has been to collect, sort, identify and archive macro-invertebrates, collected in the field, in the freshwater stream Rannån. With the help of Richard Durtsche, guest-professor from the USA, and his student Rachel Prokopius, I managed to follow a project from the start to the end.

I have tested digital imaging of the identified invertebrates, and I have seen the calorimetry process, used in order to make links with the fishes‘ energetics consumption.

 I have also been in the stream aquarium laboratory to participate in some interesting experiments. First, I have learned about the whole fishes respirometry system, made up by R. Durtsche, where we studied oxygen consumption for brown trout. Then, I’ve learned about Karl Filipsson’s experiments about climate change effects on predation on brown trout. Their behaviour, linked to the temperature and the presence or not of burbot, and how to identify it scientifically by extracting trouts‘ RNA.

 Finally, I have attended master classes for these three last weeks, which consolidated my idea to do a bachelor after my HND, and then a master, if possible, abroad.

This internship wasn’t only about studies to me, it was also about meeting new people in another country with a different way of living, and a different way of teaching. It was about making concrete links in my mind between how much I still have to learn, and how to develop into an accomplished scientist.

Thanks to John Piccolo who set up my internship, thanks to the international office of Karlstad university which helped, and thanks to Elio Bottagisio, the French master student who told me about this program. And finally, thanks to all the people who taught me things during this internship,  Richard Durtsche, Rachel Prokopius, Olle Calles, and Karl Filipsson. I hope to come back.