About us

The Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment is located on the fourth floor of the MVM building in Ultuna, a few kilometers south of the center of Uppsala.

Directions to Ultuna and maps of the campus

Addresses

Visit address (MVM building): Lennart Hjelms väg 9, Uppsala

Postal address: Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Box 7050, 750 07 Uppsala

Delivery address (goods): Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Gerda Nilssons väg 5, 756 51 Uppsala

Lars Sonesten is Head of the Department. The management of the department is assisted by a Department Board and a Research Board.

Department Board

Lars Sonesten, Head of Department
Stina Drakare, Head of Division of Ecology and biodiversity, and Deputy head of the department
Stefan Bertilsson, Head of Division of Microbial ecology
Jens Fölster, Head of Division of Geochemistry and hydrology
Karin Wiberg, Head of Division of Organic environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology
Christian Demandt, Laboratory manager for the Geochemistry laboratory
Dorte Westin, Head of Administration
Martyn Futter, Director of post-graduate studies
Svante Rehnstam, PhD student representative
Henrik Jernstedt, Safety representative (co-opted)
Pia Geranmayeh, Environmental representative (co-opted)
Maria Kahlert, Gender equality and equal opportunities (co-opted)
Karin Eklöf, Gender equality and equal opportunities (co-opted)
Andreas Gulde, Union representative (co-opted)

Research Board

Lars Sonesten, Head of Department
Stina Drakare, Deputy head of the department
Stefan Bertilsson, Professor (full)
Kevin Bishop, Professor (full)
Brendan McKie, Professor (full)
Karin Wiberg, Professor (full)
Martyn Futter, Director of post-graduate studies (co-opted)

Divisions

Our work is performed in four research divisions: Ecology and biodiversity, Microbial ecology, Geochemistry and hydrology, and Organic environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology.

The Division of Ecology and Biodiversity works with research and environmental analysis as a way to understand aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

We are specialised in developing biological indicators for measuring ecosystem health, for example, to meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD, Directive 2000/60/EC). Important human-induced environmental changes we are currently focusing on are eutrophication, acidification, climate change, metal contamination, pesticides, invasive species, and the combined effect of multiple stressors.

Management

Head of division: Stina Drakare
Faculty professor: Brendan McKie
Professor: Willem Goedkoop

Research

Research at the Division of Ecology and Biodiversity aims to understand the structural and functional diversity of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, often related to changes in the environment.

Examples of research projects

Arctic expeditions: MOSAiC and the Synoptic Arctic Survey
ARCTIC-BIODIVER – filling gaps in Arctic freshwater biodiversity knowledge
CENTURION - Cumulative effects of climate change and eutrophication on Swedish lakes
CROSSLINK – Cross-habitat linkages between stream and riparian habitats

Environmental monitoring and assessment

We are also responsible for implementing the national monitoring programmes of phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic diatoms, aquatic plants, and benthic invertebrates in lakes and streams on behalf of the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management.

At the Division of Microbial Ecology we study ecosystems and the cycling of carbon and other bioactive elements. Understanding the functional ecology and diversity of microorganisms aid efficient and sustainable management of ecosystems and natural resources.

At the Division of Microbial Ecology, we share a passion for understanding the diversity, metabolism, and ecology of microbial ecosystem engineers. The group use methods such as environmental genomics, biogeochemical assays for field studies and experiments to address an array of interlinked questions on functional ecology, diversity, and microbial evolution. Our focus is on aquatic ecosystems, but the research also covers bacteria, archaea, microeukaryotes, and viruses in a wide range of ecosystems.

Management

Head of division: Stefan Bertilsson

Research

We are involved in several research projects. Examples of some of these projects:

Necromass - the fate of small organic compounds in lakes
ARAMIS - adaptive radiation of aquatic microbial species
PEACE - Plasmid evolutionary arms race
Improvafish - Improving aquaculture sustainability by modulating the feed-microbiome-host axis in fish
Covid -19 in wastewater
Interactions between phytoplankton and bacteria
MOSAiC and the Synoptic Arctic Survey
 

Environmental monitoring and assessment

Our division shares the responsibility of a national environmental monitoring of waste water för seasonal influensa and the SARS-CoV2 virus.  We publish the results regularly at the "Swedish Covid-19 data portal/svenska Covid-19-dataportalen".

The Division of Geochemistry and Hydrology conducts research and environmental assessment on the chemical quality of water, including eutrophication, mercury and carbon cycling.

To support improved management of our lakes and watercourses, we seek to understand the processes that control water quality. We also want to be able to distinguish human impact from natural variation.

Management

Head of division: Jens Fölster
Faculty professor: Kevin Bishop

Head of laboratory: Christian Demandt

Research

We seek to understand the processes that control water quality in time and space. This knowledge is fundamental for different actors in society to be able to assess how human activities such as climate change, agriculture and forestry affect aquatic life, and what measures are most effective to achieve society's goals for a sustainable water environment.

Our studies aim to describe the temporal and spatial variation in key water chemistry parameters and to understand the processes that control water quality. This knowledge is necessary for society to develop sustainably. Examples of research areas are the optimisation of measures against eutrophication from agricultural land and against internal loads in lakes, causes of water pollution, the turnover of mercury in the forest landscape, wetlands as nature-based solutions for various environmental problems and the interaction of climate with aquatic ecosystems.

The division hosts the Secretariat of SITES (Swedish Infrastructure for Ecosystem Science).

Environmental monitoring and assessment

We monitor the effects of changes in environmental impact and environmental measures to provide a basis for cost-effective environmental management. We are responsible for the water chemistry parts of the national environmental monitoring programmes of water quality on behalf of the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management. This includes River outlets, Trend watercourses, Trend lakes and Cyclically low-intensity monitored lakes. The analyses are performed by our accredited water chemistry laboratory.

Examples of data we produce are tools for status classification of acidification and eutrophication, map tools for placing the right measure in the right place in the agricultural landscape, and decision support for the treatment of eutrophic lake sediments.

Through SLU Water Hub, we contribute to Sweden's reporting to HELCOM regarding the load on the Baltic Sea. We are responsible for ICP-Integrated Monitoring and ICP-Waters under the UN Convention on Air Quality.

The Division of Environmental Organic Chemistry and Ecotoxicology focuses on understanding the environmental aspects of organic chemicals, with main focus on sources, transport, fate and effects in the aquatic environment.

Our goal is to develop advanced analytical methods and cutting-edge tools for improved monitoring and research at different scales and in various matrices. 

Management

Head of division and Faculty professor: Karin Wiberg
Professor: Lutz Ahrens

Research

We study a variety of organic contaminants ranging from legacy to emerging pollutants, with main focus on current-use pesticides, perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs), pharmaceuticals, and endocrine disruptor chemicals.

Environmental monitoring and assessment

Our division has the responsibility for the national pesticide monitoring program on behalf of the Swedish EPA, which includes monitoring of pesticides in surface water, ground water and sediments in agricultural areas of Sweden, and also monitoring in deposition and air. We are also involved in the SLU Centre for Pesticides in the Environment (CKB) and interact intensively with different stakeholders for continuous knowledge transfer and improved management of chemical risks.