RivEM

Louis Addo (Doctoral Student), Mahboobeh Hajiesmaeli (Post-doctoral Researcher), John Piccolo (Professor) and John Watz (Associate Professor in Biology) all from the River Ecology and Management Research Group RivEM, Department of Environmental and Life Sciences at Karlstad University have recently published a paper entitled “Growth and mortality of sympatric Atlantic salmon and brown trout fry in fluctuating and stable flows” with the journal Ecology of Freshwater Fish.

In their paper, they explore the potential effects of hydropeaking or short-term regulated rivers on the growth and mortality of sympatric Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) at the fry life stage.

This paper is open-access and can be found at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eff.12685

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Post Doctoral Researcher Mahboobeh Hajiesmaeili and others from Karlstad University’s biology department and the River Ecology and Management (RivEM) group have recently published an article (open access) entitled Individual-based modelling of hydropeaking effects on brown trout and Atlantic salmon in a regulated river where they parameterized and used inSTREAM version 7.2-SD (an individual based model with the capability of considering important fish ecological behavior) as a soft river management tool to analyze the effect of hydropeaking on juvenile fish in Lilla Åråsforsen (located downstream of the Gullspång dam along the Gullspång River in Sweden). Different scenarios of flows with and without hydropeaking were tested to access the impact of hydropeaking on growth, survival and distribution of age 0+ to 1+ juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Perhaps the most interesting finding was that hydropeaking had a modest negative effect on the survival and growth of both species but survival was more negatively affected than growth, especially in smaller juveniles. Most importantly, the study has demonstrated the potential use of IBMs for testing different research questions and assessing and prioritizing alternative management strategies in regulated rivers.

The paper is open access and can be found at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rra.4037

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Congratulations to Kalle Filipsson for a successful Ph.D. defense held last Friday (18th March 2022) at Karlstad University. Thanks to External Reviewer Professor Neil Metcalfe (Glasgow University) and Examination Committee members Professor Gunilla Rosenqvist (Uppsala University), Professor Per Larsson (Linneuniversitet) and Professor Anders Finstad, (NTNU).

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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.

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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.

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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

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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