Christer Nilsson | Umeå University (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Christer Nilsson

Journal of Applied Ecology, 2016

Summary Understanding and predicting ecosystem responses to multiple environmental pressures is a... more Summary Understanding and predicting ecosystem responses to multiple environmental pressures is a long‐standing interest in ecology and environmental management. However, few studies have examined how the functional features of freshwater biological communities vary along multiple gradients of environmental stress. Furthermore, modelling these functional features for a whole river network constitutes a strong potential basis to improve ecosystem management. We explored how functional redundancy of biological communities (FR, a functional feature related to the stability, resistance and resilience of ecosystems) responds to single and multiple environmental filters. We compared these responses with those of functional richness, evenness and divergence. We used riparian vegetation of a Mediterranean basin, and three of the main environmental filters affecting freshwater communities in such regions, that is drought, flow regulation and agricultural intensity, thus considering the poten...

Ecology and evolution, 2016

Environmental fluctuations exert strong control on behavior, survival, and fitness of stream biot... more Environmental fluctuations exert strong control on behavior, survival, and fitness of stream biota. Technical improvements increasingly allow for tracking the response of large numbers of individuals to environmental fluctuations, for instance, by remote detection of animals equipped with PIT (passive integrated transponder) tags. PIT tags were implanted into 393 juvenile and adult brown trout Salmo trutta L. and European sculpin Cottus gobio L. in a boreal stream subjected to considerable ice formation. With weekly trackings over 6 months, we quantified apparent survival and detection probability in relation to biological, environmental, and methodological factors. Individuals with a higher physical condition in autumn showed a higher apparent survival; this pattern was consistent across all species and age classes. Detection probability decreased with increasing thickness of the surface ice layer; this effect was most pronounced for juvenile trout and benthic-living sculpin, both ...

Journal of Plant Ecology, 2014

Hydrological Processes, 2011

Evapotranspiration (ET), which links water, energy and the carbon cycle in terrestrial ecosystems... more Evapotranspiration (ET), which links water, energy and the carbon cycle in terrestrial ecosystems, is an important eco‐hydrological process, especially in arid and semi‐arid regions. To determine the crop coefficient (Kc) over a 2‐year period for a temperate desert steppe in Inner Mongolia, China, ET was measured using the eddy covariance method and the reference evapotranspiration (ET0) was estimated from site meteorological data. The results showed that the seasonal variation of ET differed on an annual timescale between the 2 consecutive years, exhibiting a multi‐peak curve in 2008 and a single peak in 2009. The mean daily Kc values were 0·15 and 0·17 in 2 years, varying from 0·009 to 0·75 in 2008 and from 0·005 to 0·58 in 2009. The 5‐day moving average for Kc values was mainly affected by SWC10cm and Rn, and the regression coefficients (R2) were 58·9 and 69·5%, respectively. These results will aid in making accurate and quantitative assessments of the vulnerability of the sparse...

Journal of Climate, 2009

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees growing on shingle fields offer a unique possibility to re... more Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees growing on shingle fields offer a unique possibility to reconstruct precipitation and study climate variability in the fairly humid eastern part of central Sweden. Tree-ring characteristics were compared with monthly (1890–2001) and daily (1961–2001) climate data from an adjacent meteorological station. Chronologies for latewood (LW), earlywood (EW), and tree-ring widths (RW) were constructed from 73 living and dead trees. Correlation analyses show that tree growth is most sensitive to early summer precipitation. EW shows the strongest correlation with precipitation in May and June while LW is best correlated with June and July precipitation. A reconstruction model for May–June precipitation was calculated using principal component analysis (PCA) regression (regular regression) including EW, LW, and RW for present and previous years. The model explained 46% of the variation in May–June precipitation and allowed a reconstruction back to 1560. In...

Vi vet idag mycket mer om de skadliga effekterna av dammar och flodesreglering, an vad som var ka... more Vi vet idag mycket mer om de skadliga effekterna av dammar och flodesreglering, an vad som var kant da vattenkraften byggdes ut i Sverige. I en ny utredning foreslas ocksa flera viktiga atgarder da ...

Water, 2020

The computational tool InSTHAn (indicators of short-term hydrological alteration) was developed t... more The computational tool InSTHAn (indicators of short-term hydrological alteration) was developed to summarize data on subdaily stream flows or water levels into manageable, comprehensive and ecologically meaningful metrics, and to qualify and quantify their deviation from unaltered states. The pronunciation of the acronym refers to the recording interval of input data (i.e., instant). We compared InSTHAn with the tool COSH-Tool in a characterization of the subdaily flow variability of the Colorado River downstream from the Glen Canyon dam, and in an evaluation of the effects of the dam on this variability. Both tools captured the hydropeaking caused by a dam operation, but only InSTHAn quantified the alteration of key flow attributes, highlighting significant increases in the range of within-day flow variations and in their rates of change. This information is vital to evaluate the potential ecological consequences of the hydrological alteration, and whether they may be irreversible,...

Water, 2018

Many stream restoration projects aim to increase geomorphic complexity, assuming that this increa... more Many stream restoration projects aim to increase geomorphic complexity, assuming that this increases habitat heterogeneity and, thus, biodiversity. However, empirical data supporting these linkages remain scant. Previous assessments of stream restoration suffer from incomplete quantification of habitat complexity, or a narrow focus on only one organism group and/or one restoration measure, limiting learning. Based on a comprehensive quantification of geomorphic complexity in 20 stream reaches in northern Sweden, ranging from streams channelized for timber floating to restored and reference reaches, we investigated responses of macroinvertebrates, diatoms, and macrophytes to multiple geomorphic metrics. Sediment size heterogeneity, which was generally improved in restored sites, favored macroinvertebrate and diatom diversity and macroinvertebrate abundance. In contrast, macrophyte diversity responded to increased variation along the longitudinal stream profile (e.g., step-pools), whi...

Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Jan 17, 2017

Hydropeaking refers to frequent, rapid and short-term fluctuations in water flow and water levels... more Hydropeaking refers to frequent, rapid and short-term fluctuations in water flow and water levels downstream and upstream of hydropower stations. Such fluctuations are becoming increasingly common worldwide and are known to have far-reaching effects on riverine vegetation. Novel hydrology caused by hydropeaking has no natural correspondence in freshwater systems, and hence few species have adaptations to all its aspects. Here, we review the literature on hydropeaking effects on riverine plants and define the state of the information on this human alteration of riverine ecosystems. We focus on riparian plants, but also draw on information from aquatic plant species, which exhibit a wide variety of adaptations to inundation and associated processes. Riparian plants face both physiological and physical constraints because of the shifts between submergence and drainage, and erosion of substrates. At the population level, hydropeaking may favour dispersal within, but not between, reservo...

Ecological Applications, 2017

Logging residues and forest edges affect bryophyte vitality and growth in boreal forest clear-cuts

Restaurering av vattendrag i ett landskapsperspektiv : – en syntes av ”Second international Sympo... more Restaurering av vattendrag i ett landskapsperspektiv : – en syntes av ”Second international Symposium on Riverine Landscapes”

Longitudinal variation in vegetation responses to disturbance in a riparian corridor along a bore... more Longitudinal variation in vegetation responses to disturbance in a riparian corridor along a boreal river

Journal of Applied Ecology, 2016

Summary Understanding and predicting ecosystem responses to multiple environmental pressures is a... more Summary Understanding and predicting ecosystem responses to multiple environmental pressures is a long‐standing interest in ecology and environmental management. However, few studies have examined how the functional features of freshwater biological communities vary along multiple gradients of environmental stress. Furthermore, modelling these functional features for a whole river network constitutes a strong potential basis to improve ecosystem management. We explored how functional redundancy of biological communities (FR, a functional feature related to the stability, resistance and resilience of ecosystems) responds to single and multiple environmental filters. We compared these responses with those of functional richness, evenness and divergence. We used riparian vegetation of a Mediterranean basin, and three of the main environmental filters affecting freshwater communities in such regions, that is drought, flow regulation and agricultural intensity, thus considering the poten...

Ecology and evolution, 2016

Environmental fluctuations exert strong control on behavior, survival, and fitness of stream biot... more Environmental fluctuations exert strong control on behavior, survival, and fitness of stream biota. Technical improvements increasingly allow for tracking the response of large numbers of individuals to environmental fluctuations, for instance, by remote detection of animals equipped with PIT (passive integrated transponder) tags. PIT tags were implanted into 393 juvenile and adult brown trout Salmo trutta L. and European sculpin Cottus gobio L. in a boreal stream subjected to considerable ice formation. With weekly trackings over 6 months, we quantified apparent survival and detection probability in relation to biological, environmental, and methodological factors. Individuals with a higher physical condition in autumn showed a higher apparent survival; this pattern was consistent across all species and age classes. Detection probability decreased with increasing thickness of the surface ice layer; this effect was most pronounced for juvenile trout and benthic-living sculpin, both ...

Journal of Plant Ecology, 2014

Hydrological Processes, 2011

Evapotranspiration (ET), which links water, energy and the carbon cycle in terrestrial ecosystems... more Evapotranspiration (ET), which links water, energy and the carbon cycle in terrestrial ecosystems, is an important eco‐hydrological process, especially in arid and semi‐arid regions. To determine the crop coefficient (Kc) over a 2‐year period for a temperate desert steppe in Inner Mongolia, China, ET was measured using the eddy covariance method and the reference evapotranspiration (ET0) was estimated from site meteorological data. The results showed that the seasonal variation of ET differed on an annual timescale between the 2 consecutive years, exhibiting a multi‐peak curve in 2008 and a single peak in 2009. The mean daily Kc values were 0·15 and 0·17 in 2 years, varying from 0·009 to 0·75 in 2008 and from 0·005 to 0·58 in 2009. The 5‐day moving average for Kc values was mainly affected by SWC10cm and Rn, and the regression coefficients (R2) were 58·9 and 69·5%, respectively. These results will aid in making accurate and quantitative assessments of the vulnerability of the sparse...

Journal of Climate, 2009

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees growing on shingle fields offer a unique possibility to re... more Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees growing on shingle fields offer a unique possibility to reconstruct precipitation and study climate variability in the fairly humid eastern part of central Sweden. Tree-ring characteristics were compared with monthly (1890–2001) and daily (1961–2001) climate data from an adjacent meteorological station. Chronologies for latewood (LW), earlywood (EW), and tree-ring widths (RW) were constructed from 73 living and dead trees. Correlation analyses show that tree growth is most sensitive to early summer precipitation. EW shows the strongest correlation with precipitation in May and June while LW is best correlated with June and July precipitation. A reconstruction model for May–June precipitation was calculated using principal component analysis (PCA) regression (regular regression) including EW, LW, and RW for present and previous years. The model explained 46% of the variation in May–June precipitation and allowed a reconstruction back to 1560. In...

Vi vet idag mycket mer om de skadliga effekterna av dammar och flodesreglering, an vad som var ka... more Vi vet idag mycket mer om de skadliga effekterna av dammar och flodesreglering, an vad som var kant da vattenkraften byggdes ut i Sverige. I en ny utredning foreslas ocksa flera viktiga atgarder da ...

Water, 2020

The computational tool InSTHAn (indicators of short-term hydrological alteration) was developed t... more The computational tool InSTHAn (indicators of short-term hydrological alteration) was developed to summarize data on subdaily stream flows or water levels into manageable, comprehensive and ecologically meaningful metrics, and to qualify and quantify their deviation from unaltered states. The pronunciation of the acronym refers to the recording interval of input data (i.e., instant). We compared InSTHAn with the tool COSH-Tool in a characterization of the subdaily flow variability of the Colorado River downstream from the Glen Canyon dam, and in an evaluation of the effects of the dam on this variability. Both tools captured the hydropeaking caused by a dam operation, but only InSTHAn quantified the alteration of key flow attributes, highlighting significant increases in the range of within-day flow variations and in their rates of change. This information is vital to evaluate the potential ecological consequences of the hydrological alteration, and whether they may be irreversible,...

Water, 2018

Many stream restoration projects aim to increase geomorphic complexity, assuming that this increa... more Many stream restoration projects aim to increase geomorphic complexity, assuming that this increases habitat heterogeneity and, thus, biodiversity. However, empirical data supporting these linkages remain scant. Previous assessments of stream restoration suffer from incomplete quantification of habitat complexity, or a narrow focus on only one organism group and/or one restoration measure, limiting learning. Based on a comprehensive quantification of geomorphic complexity in 20 stream reaches in northern Sweden, ranging from streams channelized for timber floating to restored and reference reaches, we investigated responses of macroinvertebrates, diatoms, and macrophytes to multiple geomorphic metrics. Sediment size heterogeneity, which was generally improved in restored sites, favored macroinvertebrate and diatom diversity and macroinvertebrate abundance. In contrast, macrophyte diversity responded to increased variation along the longitudinal stream profile (e.g., step-pools), whi...

Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Jan 17, 2017

Hydropeaking refers to frequent, rapid and short-term fluctuations in water flow and water levels... more Hydropeaking refers to frequent, rapid and short-term fluctuations in water flow and water levels downstream and upstream of hydropower stations. Such fluctuations are becoming increasingly common worldwide and are known to have far-reaching effects on riverine vegetation. Novel hydrology caused by hydropeaking has no natural correspondence in freshwater systems, and hence few species have adaptations to all its aspects. Here, we review the literature on hydropeaking effects on riverine plants and define the state of the information on this human alteration of riverine ecosystems. We focus on riparian plants, but also draw on information from aquatic plant species, which exhibit a wide variety of adaptations to inundation and associated processes. Riparian plants face both physiological and physical constraints because of the shifts between submergence and drainage, and erosion of substrates. At the population level, hydropeaking may favour dispersal within, but not between, reservo...

Ecological Applications, 2017

Logging residues and forest edges affect bryophyte vitality and growth in boreal forest clear-cuts

Restaurering av vattendrag i ett landskapsperspektiv : – en syntes av ”Second international Sympo... more Restaurering av vattendrag i ett landskapsperspektiv : – en syntes av ”Second international Symposium on Riverine Landscapes”

Longitudinal variation in vegetation responses to disturbance in a riparian corridor along a bore... more Longitudinal variation in vegetation responses to disturbance in a riparian corridor along a boreal river