Naturresurs rinnande vatten


Biologi – Karlstads universitet

10

MAJ 2017

Studentrapport: Vetenskapliga metoder i sötvattensekologi

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Karlstads universitet

Kursdeltagare från Masterkursen ”Vetenskapliga metoder i sötvattenekologi” rapporterar om en intensiv fältvecka:

”Måndagen den 24 april gick startskottet för fältveckan på Karlstads Universitet. Under kurserns första del fick vi lära oss konsten att suturera fisk och designa experiment. Första dagen fick vi lyssna till professor Erik Petersson från SLU berätta om etik och lagar kring djurförsök. Dagen fortsatte med förberedelser inför ett labbexperiment där vi studerade hur temperaturen i vattnet under laxens äggstadie påverkar dess förmåga att födosöka som ung fisk.Tisdagen och oKknsdagen ägnades åt labbexperimentet respektive arbete med sutur, bedövning och märkning av lax. Vi förberedde också inför fältarbete och resa till Ätran och Hertings krafverk där merparten av resten av veckan spenderades.

Väl på plats i Herting fick vi en rundvandring för att få kunskap om hur det ser ut och vilka åtgärder som har gjorts för att förbättra fiskens vandring förbi vattenkraftverket. Dagen efter blev vi indelade i tre grupper där varje grupp körde varsin station per dag. Den första station behandlade telemetri, där vi fick lära oss pejla radiosändare med mobil radiomottagare. Vi fick även lära oss mycket om tekniken. Andra stationen gick ut på att artbestämma, mäta och märka ett givet antal fisk fångade i en Wolf –trap-liknande fälla. Resten av den infångade fisken artbestämdes, räknades och släpptes ut. I den tredje stationen fick vi lära oss att fiska med ryssjor. Utöver arbetet i de olika stationerna ägnades en av dagarna till att besöka mindre kraftverk uppströms i Ätran, och se hur de har löst fiskvandringen förbi kraftverken Nydala kvarn och Vebro kraftverk i Vessigebro. I Nydala kollade vi på en fiskfälla och i Vessigebro fick vi se en ålyngeluppsamlare. Vi besökte även laxlekvatten vid naturreservatet Sumpafallen.

Sammantaget en trevlig och givande vecka med nya kunskaper samt erfarenheter! Vi rekommenderar stark denna kurs för framtida studenter, speciellt om du har ett intresse för vatten och fisk!

Fokuserade studenter som undersöker de olika nivåer som finns uppstår vid bedövning av lax.

Fokuserade studenter som undersöker de olika nivåer som finns uppstår vid bedövning av lab.

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Maria Stjärnlöv och Lena Andersson pejlar efter radiosändare som har lagts ut på olika ställen runt Herting som är en av de olika stationerna.

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Helena Winser, Robin Lindgren, Niclas Carlsson och Edvin Rapp vittjar den Wolf-trap-liknande fällan.

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Mätning av Jessica Dolk och Niclas Carlsson av den stora gäddan som fångades i Wolf-trapen. Edvin Rapp ansvarade för protokollföringen.

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Sara Brodin, Geni Zanol och Jonas Elghagen vittjar och tar upp ryssor som var en av stationerna

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Ålyngeluppsamlare hos kraftverket i Vebro.

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Hela gänget – studenter och lärare.

12

APR 2017

Seminar: Conservation Genomics of Atlantic Salmon

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Events

On Tuesday, 18 April, Victoria Pritchard from the University of Turku, will give a seminar on ”Conservation Genomics of Atlantic Salmon”. The seminar will be given at 13:30 in room 5F416 at Karlstad University.

Victoria has worked in the UK, USA, and Finland, and has published over 20 articles in leading conservation, evolutionary and fisheries journals. Everyone is welcome to attend the seminar.

7

APR 2017

Conservation and human relationships with nature

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Nyheter

The new journal The Ecological Citizen aims to advance ecological knowledge, champion earth-centered action and promote ecocentrism in political debate. NRRV member John Piccolo recommends the journal as somewhere you’ll find much interesting reading about human relationships with nature. John is also a co-author of a recently published signable statement in support of ecocentric value that he urges our readers to read and consider signing. Access the statement here: Statement of Commitment to Ecocentrism. 

Also, related to the ecocentric debate, there is an ongoing survey of attitudes to conservation. Learn more and take the survey at www.futureconservation.org.

29

MAR 2017

Running Silver – Restoring Atlantic Rivers and Their Great Fish Migrations

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Nyheter

running_silver”Running Silver – Restoring Atlantic Rivers and Their Great Fish Migration” by John Waldman is a book about the history and future of anadromous fish in the Eastern United States. The books’s main characters are Atlantic salmon, alewife, blueback herring, American shad, striped bass, sea lamprey, Atlantic sturgeon, and American eel. The eel migrates from freshwater to the sea to spawn, whereas the other species typically migrate in the other direction – from feeding areas at sea to spawning areas in freshwater.

The author uses historical records, interviews, scientific literature and personal experiences to tell the story of the migrating fish. He describes the ecology and behavior of the migrating fish but also their great historical abundances, and high social and economic importance. He describes the decline of the populations of migrating fish due to dam building, habitat loss, fishing, and pollution, but also the modern day restoration efforts. The fish are put in a social context with stories about conflicts concerning dams and fish passage dating back several hundred years. Meetings with scientists and manager occur frequently in the book, contributing to the story and providing several inspiring portraits of fish ecologists.

The book is essential reading for anyone working with migrating fish and an important book for those interested in fish and our natural world. The book is a call to action for a future with healthy migrating fish populations. Read a short review here and borrow the book from a  well-stocked library.

 

20

MAR 2017

Short film: The hyporheic zone

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Nyheter

The hyporheic zone –  the region beneath the river bottom – is home to a wide range of minute life forms and processes of high importance for the ecology of the river. Learn more in the short film Secret Life of Rivers:

6

MAR 2017

Paper: Upstream and downstream passage of migrating adult Atlanticsalmon: Remedial measures improve passage performance at ahydropower dam

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Projekt Herting
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The Herting dam with the low sloping intake rack in the intake channel to the left and the large nature-like fishway to the right. (Photo from Fiskevårdstekniks film)

Recently, the paper ”Upstream and downstream passage of migrating adult Atlantic salmon: Remedial measures improve passage performance at a hydropower dam” was published in the journal Ecological Engineering. The paper was authored by Daniel Nyqvist, Anders Nilsson, Ingemar Alenäs, Jonas Elghagen, Mats Hebrand, Simon Karlsson, Stefan Kläppe and Olle Calles. They summarize the paper: ”Habitat connectivity is central for life-cycle progression for migrating organisms. Passage of hydropower dams is associated with mortality, delay, and migratory failure for migrating fish, and the need for remedial measures to facilitate passage is widely recognized. Lately, nature-like fishways have been promoted for upstream migrating fish, and low-sloping turbine intake racks for downstream migrating fish, but evaluations of these remedial measures are largely lacking. At Herting hydropower dam in southern Sweden, a technical fishway for upstream migrating salmonids, and a simple bypass entrance/trash gate for downstream migrating fish have been replaced by a large nature-like fishway for up and downstream migrating fish, and a low-sloping rack, guiding downstream migrating fish to the bypass entrance, has been installed. In this study, we evaluated these remedial measures for adult Atlantic salmon, spawners and kelts, in a before/after improved remedial measures radio telemetry study. Passage performance was improved for both up- and downstream migrating adult Atlantic salmon after remedial measures. Passage rate increased for fish migrating in both directions, and overall delay decreased while overall passage efficiency increased for upstream migrating fish. After the improved passage solutions almost all tagged fish passed the dam with very little delay. Before modifications, upstream passage performance through the technical fishway was higher at higher temperatures, at day compared to night, and for males compared to females. No such effects were observed for the after-measures nature-like fishway, indicating good passage performance for both sexes under a wide range of environmental conditions. Similarly, for downstream migrating kelts, discharge positively affected passage rate before but not after the fishway modifications. Altogether, our work demonstrates the possibility of coexistence between hydropower and Atlantic salmon in a regulated river.”

Access the paper here. For questions, e-mail the authors.

1

MAR 2017

Paper: Intrinsic values in nature – Objective good or simply half of an unhelpful dichotomy?

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Nyheter

John Piccolo, researcher at Karlstad University, recently published an article in Journal for Conservation of Nature about value in nature. The paper is titled”Intrinsic values in nature: Objective good or simply half of an unhelpful dichotomy?”. In the abstract John Piccolo writes: ”Two generations of conservationists and philosophers have built a strong case for intrinsic values in nature; they are the basis of the normative postulates of conservation biology. I argue that the recognition of intrinsic natural value is a fundamental and non-negotiable aspect of an eco-evolutionary worldview. Recently, relational values, “preferences, principles, and virtues associated with relationships”, have been proposed as a third category of values in nature, which may help to resolve the debate between instrumental and intrinsic valuation. By depicting intrinsic values as part of an unhelpful dichotomy between anthropocentric and ecocentric values, the current assessment of relational values fails to adequately account for the modern philosophical view of intrinsic natural value. The recognition of intrinsic natural value is not merely an academic exercise, but rather a vital aspect of conservation of the biosphere; recognition of value entails the obligation to do what is right, i.e., protect the good. Any attempt to reframe the discussion about values and environmental protection through more formal recognition of relational values will need to more clearly address how relational and intrinsic values coexist and how they can jointly form the basis for nature conservation.” 

Read the full paper here.

27

FEB 2017

Seminar: Downstream migration of anadromous brown trout

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Events

Tomorrow (Tuesday), February 28, David Aldvén from the University of Gothenburg and Vattenfall AB, will give a seminar titled ”Downstream migration of anadromous brown trout”. David Aldvén finished his PhD with a thesis titled ”Migration in anadromous brown trout”. The frame of his thesis is available online here.

The seminar will be given at 13:30 in room 5F416 on Karlstad University. Everyone is welcome to attend!

24

FEB 2017

Dr. Lea Schneider – PhD defense on the ecology of the thick-shelled river mussel

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Projekt Målarmusslan
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Caryn Vaughn (left) asking questions to Lea Schneider (right) during the PhD-defense.

Today Lea Schneider successfully defended her PhD-thesis ”Conservation ecology of the thick-shelled river mussel Unio crassus – the importance of parasite-host interactions” at Karlstad University. Caryn Vaughn (University of Oklahoma, USA) was the opponent, and Leonard Sandin (Swedish University of Agriculture), Niklas Janz (Stockholm University, Sweden), and Annie Jonsson (University of Skövde, Sweden) constituted the grading committee (betygskommitté).

Lea Schneiders supervisors during her PhD were Martin Österling and Anders Nilsson from Karlstad University, and Johan Höjesjö from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her work constituted on part of the LIFE-project UCforLife – Målarmusslans återkomst.

The thesis is available here. Contact Lea Schneider for questions and additional information.

22

FEB 2017

Paper: Intake Approach and Dam Passage by Downstream-migrating Atlantic Salmon Kelts

Posted by Daniel Nyqvist | Projekt Klarälven

The study focused on the behavior of kelts at the Edsforsen dam – the first dam that the downstream migrating kelts encounter.

The scientific paper ”Intake Approach and Dam Passage by Downstream-migrating Atlantic Salmon Kelts” by Daniel Nyqvist, Eva Bergman, Olle Calles, and Larry Greenberg was recently published in River Research and Applications. The paper presents a study on the behavior of downstream migrating kelts in the River Klarälven, Sweden. In the abstract the authors write:

”Studying fish behaviour at hydropower dams is needed to facilitate the design and improvement of fish passage solutions, but few studies have focused on Atlantic salmon kelts. Here, we used radio telemetry (n = 40, size range = 50–81 cm) and acoustic sonar to study kelt movements in the forebay as well as their dam passage survival and subsequent migration success past multiple dams. We also compare radio telemetry and acoustic sonar observations of fish behaviour and used acoustic sonar to measure the depth distribution of fish approaching the turbine intake zone. Passage success at the dam was 41%, and mortality was largely associated with turbine passage (62%). The two fish that passed via the spill gates survived and continued their downstream migration. At the dam, all but one radio-tagged kelt approached the intake zone shortly after arrival to the forebay, and sonar data showed that approaching fish were predominantly surface oriented (72%, 88% and 96% of the observations were less than 1, 2 and 3 m deep, respectively). Turbine passage rate from the intake zone was higher at night than at day, indicating that the lack of visual cues may reduce the barrier effect of the 70-mm conventional trash rack. Turbine passage rate also increased with increasing hydropower generation. The percentage of observed upstream movements away from the intake zone compared with the total number of observations was considerably greater in the radio telemetry data (41%) than in the sonar data (4%). Only one fish survived passage of all eight hydropower dams to reach the lake. This low-passage survival underscores the need for remedial measures to increase the survival of migrating kelts, and the fish’s surface orientation as well as their rapid approach to the intake rack should be taken into account when designing such measures.”

Read the paper here. If you don’t have access to the journal’s content, email any of the authors.