Conference

We (V. van ‘t Hoff & P. Cabral & F. O. Akinyemi, et al.) would like to bring to your attention an exciting session at the upcoming ESP Europe 2024 conference.

Conference Session: Artificial Intelligence and Ecosystem Services – Advancements in AI in the field of ecosystem services for transformative change
Date: 18-22 November 2024
Location: Wageningen, The Netherlands
Abstract Submission: Open from 15 May to 15 July 2024 (https://espconference.org/europe2024/home)

Hosted by: Felicia O. Akinyemi, Pedro Cabral, and Vince van ‘t HoffCo-hosts: Sara Alibakhshi, Bruna Almeida, Jan Haas, Ewa Orlikowska, Xi-Lillian Pang, Mieke Siebers, Guojie Wang Aim: This session explores the transformative potential of AI in understanding, monitoring, and managing ecosystem services (ES). It will highlight innovative AI solutions, such as satellite image analysis and natural language processing, which offer new ways to gather and analyze complex data. The session will cover various AI methodologies, including machine learning, deep learning, and GeoAI, and discuss their applications in assessing and modelling ES and ecosystem functions (EF).

For more information and to submit your abstract, please visit the ESP Europe 2024 website.

Why to attend?

1) This session is an excellent opportunity to stay at the forefront of advancements in AI and its applications in ecosystem services. I highly encourage you to attend and consider contributing your knowledge.

2) The communications presented at this session may be considered for inclusion in a synthesis paper or a review paper highlighting knowledge gaps in the use of AI for ecosystem services in both empirical and modelling contexts.

Biologi på Karlstads universitet anordnar en karriärdag för biologistudenter onsdagen 25 november, fylld med presentationer och diskussioner med potentiella arbetsgivare, helt online. Läs mer nedan, välkommen och glöm inte att anmäla dig!

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.

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!

The Lake Champlain research conference Lake Champlain: Our future is now was held at the Davis Center, University of Vermont, in Burlington 8-9 January 2018. The conference covered a variety of topics, including climate change and native fish restoration. Larry Greenberg, professor at Karlstad University, was invited as keynote speaker at the conference and gave the talk “Conservation of landlocked Atlantic salmon in a regulated river: Taking a holistic approach.” Read more about the conference here.