A picture of Velizara (on the left) and her lab work (on the right) at the Älvkarleby flume, Sweden
Velizara Stoilova (RivEM and Norconsult’s industry Ph.D. student) from the biology department of Karlstad University will be giving a seminar about her ongoing doctoral research entitled Existing approaches to facilitate downstream migrating fish. Velizara mainly works on solutions for fish migration and connectivity of rivers impacted by dams. As the title suggests, Velizara will be giving a talk on existing approaches to facilitate downstream migrating fish in rivers with limited connectivity and outlining her planned research.
This seminar will be streamed live on zoom on the 18th of January at 13.15 (CET). To join the seminar live on zoom, use the link https://kau-se.zoom.us/my/kaubiology. You are all welcome.
Dr. Mahboobeh Hajiesmaeli, a PostDoc Researcher from Karlstad University’s biology department and a member of the River Ecology and Management (RivEM) group will be giving a talk on how individual-based models (IBMs) of salmonid populations can be used as an effective tool for understanding and managing fish population responses to hydropeaking (hydropower short-term regulation) practices. The main focus is on the first application of an individual-based model, inSTREAM 7.2-SD, to assess the effects of peaking flows on growth, survival and distribution of Atlantic salmon (Salmo Salar) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) in the lower Gullspång River, Sweden. Lilla Åråsforsen (see picture below) was used as the study site for the IBM modeling.
Lilla Åråsforsen (Gullspång River, Sweden) and habitat cells of the study reach created with QGIS to be used as input into the inSTREAM model
This seminar will be streamed live on zoom on the 21st December at 13.15 (CET) at the link https://kau-se.zoom.us/my/kaubiology
Peter Lampert, a post-doctoral researcher from the didactics group of Karlstad University’s Biology department will give a seminar entitled Developing Action Competence for Insect Preservation (DACIP): An educational research project promoting young citizens competences to take action for insects. The seminar will be streamed live on zoom on 14 December at 13.15 (CET). You are welcome to join the seminar through https://kau-se.zoom.us/my/kaubiology.
A landlocked Atlantic salmon spawner leaping in the rapids of the River Gullspång, Sweden, just below the hydroelectric dam that has been a complete migration barrier since the early 1900s (Lund Bjørnås et al., 2021)
Associate Professor Johan Watz from Karlstad University’s River Ecology Management Research Group (RivEm) and others have recently published a review article entitled Atlantic salmon in regulated rivers: Understanding river management through the ecosystem services lens. The authors synthesized peer-reviewed literature (related to the effects of hydropower on ecosystem services of Atlantic salmon in regulated rivers throughout its native range) to understand how Atlantic salmon conservation has been addressed within the ecosystem services framework. The paper is published open access and can be found at:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/faf.12628
Professor John Piccolo was involved in two recently published articles and a podcast about ecological sustainability. The two articles and the podcast are part of a larger project on ecological sustainability that John is part of, with researchers from around the globe.
The focus of the research is on sustaining biodiversity in social-ecological systems, and on understanding social and ecological values. Upcoming events include a webinar organized by the Society for Conservation Biology Europe Section https://conbio.org/groups/sections/europe/activities-fall-2021-webinar-series/ And the 2022 European Congress for Conservation Biology (ECCB) in Prague, Czech Republic: https://www.eccb2022.eu/ The network is always interested in developing new partnerships, so feel free to contact John (john.piccolo@kau.se.) if you are interested.
The US Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, and The World Fish Migration Foundation invite you to save the date and register for an exciting upcoming webinar entitled: Removing “Road Dams” in Europe? taking place on 19th January, 2022 from 15:00-18:00 CET.
This is a free, international webinar that will highlight the need and opportunities to improve road and stream crossings to enhance the biodiversity of rivers across Europe!
We invite all river and restoration practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and students, as well as road planning, maintenance, design and construction experts to join!
Confirmed speakers include:
Carlos García de Leaniz of Swansea University, Wales | Topic: An overview of Europe’s current policies and research needs
Bob Gubernick of the US Forest Service, USA | Topic: Stream simulation principles and applications in the USA
Sofia Perä, County Administrative Board of Norrbotten, Sweden | Topic: Culverts in Sweden and lessons from the LIFE REMIBAR project
Joshua Royte, Nature Conservancy Maine, USA | Topic: Opening up headwaters in Maine, USA
Nat Gillespie, US Forest Service, USA | Topic: What is the problem with culverts and road-crossings?
The full program, which includes speakers from both Europe and the USA, will be released in the coming month. Make sure to register so you don’t miss any important updates! We hope to see you there.
Sponsor deals for companies: The webinar is additionally open for sponsorship from 6 companies. At this point, we have 5 spots left. For 1,000 euros, companies can show a 30-second commercial video about how they are involved in culvert replacement or the removal of culverts. The logo of sponsors will be shown on Eventbrite, announcement, and conference program. Please contact herman@fishmigration.org for more information about sponsorships.
Watch Part 2 of the epic aquatic documentary (part of a trilogy) this Sunday, 24 October, 19.00-20.00 on Swedish National TV (SVT2). This epic aquatic trilogy (the first of its kind on Swedish TV) covers three years of filming work by a team of experts. The team while making this documentary in 2019 spent two days with the University of Karlstads’ master course in river Ätran. Find out more on: https://www.svtplay.se/fiskarnas-rike ¨ https://fiskarnasrike.se/
A snapshot of the trilogy on the websites of Fiskarnasrike (left) and SVTplay (right)
In addition to that, there’s another documentary broadcasted on SVT’s “Kalla fakta” next week (Part 3 THE SEA is broadcast on Sunday 31 October, 19.00-20.00 on SVT2) on “eel conservation”. Watch out for Professor Olle Calles (a lecturer at the University of Karlstad and a member of the River Ecology and management research group) answering very important questions concerning eels.
On Tuesday 28 September 2021, Herman Wanningen, a Ductch aquatic ecologist, entrepreneur specializing in fish migration and water management and founder of the World Fish Migration Foundation and initiator of Dam Removal Europe and Global Swimways, will give a seminar on dam removal as an ecological restoration measure of rivers which have been negatively impacted by the construction and operation of dams. The presentation will highlight how European river managers, inspired by a growing movement, are getting ready to restore rivers by removing dams.
Herman Wanningen
The seminar starts at 13.15 and will be streamed live over Zoom. Contact Olle Calles (olle.calles@kau.se) to receive the zoom link to this seminar.
Professor Lutz Eckstein is involved in a new report led by Tommy Lennartsson (SLU) and co-authored by Jörgen Wissman and Jan Olof Helldin (SLU), published by TRIEKOL, a group of scientists dedicated to applied rail and road ecology.
The report summarizes the role of invasive alien plants (IAP) in the context of infrastructure habitats, focusing on the importance of research for the development of measures for the management and monitoring of invasive species. It elaborates on three problem complexes with IAP:
(A) Effects of IAP on biological diversity and the possibility to reach the Swedish environmental objectives;
(B) The role of the organization and activities of the Swedish Transport Administration and of community valuations, laws and rules for the work with IAP; and
(C) The development and evaluation of measures for control of IAP. For each problem complex, a number of specific questions are formulated highlighting critical knowledge gaps that need to be addressed by scientists.
Download the report here: https://triekol.se/project/kunskapsbrister-invasiver/.
Garden Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) native to North America has been classified as an invasive species in Sweden. In Sweden, they are mainly distributed in road verges. A group of researchers at Karlstad University led by Prof. Lutz Eckstein has been tasked with finding efficient management strategies to control their spread. The research aims at finding out when the garden lupine can be controlled most effectively. Watch Prof. Lutz Eckstein and doctoral student Elin Blomqvist talk about this research in a video interview as they collect and examine lupines at different stages of development.
Collection of garden lupine for examination. Photo by Dahlia Poignant Khafagi / SVT
Watch the full video here : https://tinyurl.com/mbnjhmh
RivEM – Karlstad University
… is a research group associated to the subject of Biology and the Department of Environmental and Life Sciences at Karlstad University, Sweden. We conduct both basic and applied research on human impact on river ecosystems, and how this impact can be minimized.
In Swedish the research group is called Naturresurs Rinnande vatten (Acronym NRRV, hence the url nrrv.se).
