Naturresurs rinnande vatten


Biology – Karlstad University

27

SEP 2018

Ecology and Evolutionary Ethology of Fishes 2018

Posted by Karl Filipsson | Conference

In June 2018, The Ecology and Evolutionary Ethology of Fishes Conference was held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Eva Bergman and Larry Greenberg from Karlstad University attended the conference, and participated in a symposium on the ecology of landlocked Atlantic salmon. You can read the abstracts from their talks here:

Conservation of landlocked salmon and trout in a regulated river – a holistic approach

Bergman, Eva; Calles, Olle; Greenberg, Larry; Hagelin, Anna; Norrgård, Johnny; Nyqvist, Daniel; Piccolo, John J

Populations of migratory salmon and trout have worldwide shown a decline due to human activities. Over the years numerous measures have been undertaken to maintain these populations, and conservation of migratory salmonids requires understanding of their ecology at multiple scales, combined with assessing anthropogenic impacts. The regulated River Klarälven and Lake Vänern host endemic populations of landlocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (Salmo trutta). The historically high abundances of the salmonids in the River Klarälven in the early 1800s have decreased dramatically, reaching all-time lows after the completion of nine Swedish hydroelectric power stations in the 1960s. After an extensive stocking program and transportation of spawners past eight hydroelectric plants, catches from commercial, maintenance and sport fishing have again increased. Recently, increases in the proportion of wild salmon returning to the river have generated interest in establishment of wild salmon inhabiting the entire river, including upstream of the Norwegian border where they historically occurred. How well are we equipped to meet these new goals, taking into account our limited knowledge of the species’ different life stages, coordination between different actors involved in the conservation processes, and our skills to communicate and understand everybody’s role in this conservation process?

Post-spawning survival and downstream passage of landlocked Atlantic salmon in the regulated river Klarälven

Greenberg, Larry; Bergman, Eva; Calles, Olle; Hagelin, Anna; Nyqvist, Daniel

Repeat salmonid spawners may make large contributions to total recruitment and long term population stability. Despite their potential importance, little is known about this life stage for landlocked populations. Here, we studied post-spawning behaviour and survival of landlocked Atlantic salmon in relation to downstream dam passage in the River Klarälven, Sweden from 2011-14. Eight hydropower stations separate the feeding grounds in Lake Vänern from the spawning grounds in the river, and no measures to facilitate downstream migration are present. Nearly half of the salmon survived spawning and initiated downstream migration. Females and small fish had higher post-spawning survival than males and large fish. During years with high spill, 84% of the fish passed the first dam, mostly via upward-opening spill gates after a median delay of 25 min. During a year of low spill, 41% of the fish passed the dam, mostly through the turbines, where mortality was high. In addition, most fish approached the turbine intake near the surface. For all years combined, only 2% of the tagged fish successfully passed all eight hydropower stations to reach Lake Vänern. This result underscores the need for remedial measures to increase survival of downstream migrating kelts.

Access the conference program here.

Group photo from the landlocked Atlantic salmon symposium at the Ecology and Evolutionary Ethology of Fishes (EEEF) Conference 2018

17

SEP 2018

Paper: New insights into island vegetation composition and species diversity – Consistent and conditional responses across contrasting insular habitats at the plot-scale

Posted by Karl Filipsson | Naturresurs rinnande vatten

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.

31

AUG 2018

Welcome to NRRV: Lovisa Lind

Posted by Karl Filipsson | Naturresurs rinnande vatten

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.

21

AUG 2018

Seminar: Can Big Complex Models be Useful? Lessons from 20 Years of Salmonid Modeling for River Management

Posted by Karl Filipsson | Events

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.

 

 

25

JUL 2018

Scientific methods in freshwater ecology 2018

Posted by Karl Filipsson | Naturresurs rinnande vatten

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.

Laboratory experiments in the stream aquarium lab at Karlstad University.

 

Field studies at river Mörrumsån.

 

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.

Fieldwork in river Rannån, where the students measured abiotic conditions and sampled benthic fauna.

 

Electrofishing in Djupedalsbäcken.

 

A brook lamprey (Lampetra planeri) captured during the electrofishing.

 

Teachers and students from Karlstad University and Northern Kentucky University at the electrofishing site.

25

JUN 2018

Dam Removal Crowdfunding Platform

Posted by Karl Filipsson | Dam removal

A crowdfunding platform has been initiated for dam removal projects across Europe, the site being hosted by WWF Netherlands.

In the past, thousands of dams have been used for hydropower throughout Europe. Many of these dams are not used anymore, and instead create barriers for migrating species and thus inhibit ecosystem connectivity. This affects both migrating fish that cannot reach their spawning and feeding grounds, but also other animals that depend on the fish, such as fish-eating birds and mammals. The aim with the Dam Removal Crowdfunding Platform is to raise financial support to remove old dams in Europe that currently are not in use, so that flee-flowing river ecosystems can be restored.

Read more about the Dam Removal Crowdfunding Platform here, and feel free to communicate the platform throughout your networks!

11

JUN 2018

International seminar on dam removal

Posted by Karl Filipsson | Conference

Karlstad University, Hudiksvall municipality, the county board in Gävleborg and Dam Removal Europe are arranging an international seminar on dam removal in Hudiksvall, Sweden, 24-26 September 2018. The aim of Dam Removal Europe is to restore European rivers by removing dams, and in that way ensure the preservation of free-flowing rivers full of fish.

Several different aspects of dam removal will be discussed during the three-day seminar, such as effects of dams on migratory fish and whole ecosystems, social issues, hydro-industry perspectives and existing policies. The seminar will also include presentations of case studies and a visit to dam removal sites.

Read more and register for the seminar here!

8

JUN 2018

Jobb: Sportfiskarna Värmland

Posted by Karl Filipsson | Jobs

Sportfiskarna, Sveriges Sportfiske- och Fiskevårdsförbund, söker en ny medarbetare till regionkontoret i Forshaga i Värmland, ca 25 km norr om Karlstad. Arbetsuppgifterna inkluderar bland annat arbete i fiskevårdsprojekt, konsultuppdrag, samt arbete inom den dagliga verksamheten på regionkontoret.

Läs mer om tjänsten här.

Sista ansökningsdag är 22 juni 2018.

21

MAY 2018

Seminar: Interannual variability in habitat selection and link to reproductive success: an example from Yellowstone wolves

Posted by Karl Filipsson | Events


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.