Symposium on Dispersal in Lund!

On January 30th - February 1st, 2013 CAnMove and BECC will co-host a symposium - "the Causes and Consequences of Organism Dispersal", arranged by CAnMove postdoc Sylvie Tesson.
The aim of the symposium is to gather people from a range of empirical and theoretical backgrounds to share and discuss ideas on the causes and consequences of organism dispersal. Eight research scientists from Europe and Canada, involved in different scientific domains (ecology, physiology, behavior studies, tracing devices, prediction and conservation), have confirmed their participation.

The registration to the symposium is free of charge, and participants are encouraged to attend or bring posters to share their work during the symposium. We hope to see many of you there!

Preliminary program and registration to the symposium are available here!

An ode to the technical development lab of CAnMove

One of the pillars of the CAnMove research environment is the advanced technical development laboratory and now, a few years after the start of the programme, the investments in this laboratory are indeed carrying fruits. For example, the advanced temperature steering system applied in the large-scale aquatic experimental set-up, the “WarmBrown experiment”, was developed by the CAnMove technical development lab. This temperature steering system continuously adjusts the temperature in treatment enclosure 3^oC above the ambient, allowing us to mimic future temperature regimes in a climate change perspective.   

Based on this technology (and some biological thoughts…), we recently showed that the spring dynamics in freshwater systems will change considerably in the future. However, the different trophic levels will advance their peak abundances in a similar pattern, i.e. there will be no mis-match between consumer and prey (Nicolleet. al 2012, Freshwater Biology). Moreover, we have shown that future elevated temperatures will mainly benefit the top trophic level, and each second level below (Hansson et al. Nature ClimateChange 2012), a finding allowing us to mechanistically connect traditional food web theory with climate change scenarios. 

Recruitment trap

Finally, we show that elevated temperatures will lead to stronger and earlier recruitment of zooplankton from the sediment to the water column (recruitment quantified by means of submerged traps, see photo), i.e. affect movement and dispersal (Ekvall & Hansson, PloS one, 2012). However, this effect is stronger for some species than for others, suggesting considerable alterations in community composition in future aquatic ecosystems. 

Hence, the technical laboratory platform of CanMove, lead by professional and service minded personnel, in combination with proper application of those advancements to scientific questions, have indeed been a fruitful strategy and the above studies are just examples. There are more to come! 

/Lars-Anders Hansson

Take part in shaping analysis tools for biodiversity research! - Cancelled; look out for new date in November

On Tuesday next week CAnMove will be co-hosting a workshop on analysis tools for biodiversity research, organized by Swedish LifeWatch - which is a collaboration between the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Lund University, The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), The Swedish Museum of Natural History and GBIF, University of Gothenburg, and Umeå University. Financial support comes from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

• Are you working with research within biodiversity, ecology or taxonomy?
• Do you handle large or complex datasets in your research?
• What data and analysis functions would you like to have access to in order to facilitate your research?
• Would you like to know more about the Swedish LifeWatch project?

Then you should join the workshop!

Tuesday September 25 2012, 13:15-16:00
Red Room, Ecology Building, Lund University

What data and functions would you like access in the Analysis Portal? Welcome to a seminar / workshop, arranged by CAnMove and ArtDatabanken SLU! The afternoon will begin with a presentation of Swedish LifeWatch and continue with a workshop where the participants will discuss the planned Analysis portal and contribute with ideas and suggestions.

No cost, but please tell us if your coming by e-mail to slw@slu.se by 21 September.

For more information contact Anna Maria Wremp, ArtDatabanken SLU, anna-maria.wremp @ slu.se, phone 018-671394 or see www.svenskalifewatch.se

Light logger project on Naturmorgon

A few weeks ago, Radio P1:s "Naturmorgon" visited Susanne Åkesson on Öland to report on her research on the common swift. Listen to the programme on Naturmorgon's web or read more about the project in "Norrbottenskuriren"!