Bergstrom+Ann+Kristin+0571+110316+MPN_Original+1200x800px+72dpi.jpg

Ann-Kristin Bergström
(Professor)

Climate Impacts Research Centre
Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences

Research Summary

Special focus within my research lies within studying the importance of organic matter (humic substances) and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) for lake ecosystem productivity and food web structure. My current research projects concerns how global climate change are affecting lake water biogeochemistry, and what possible impacts these biogeochemical changes have on lake productivity and the ecosystem services of northern pristine lakes. We assess how nutrient availability and the N:P stoichiometry in lakes are affected by changes in atmospheric nitrogen deposition and by warming, and its effects on nutrient limitation of phytoplankton and zooplankton, nutrient regeneration and trophic transfer efficiencies, and productivity in northern boreal and subarctic lakes.

Recent Paper Summary

Lowered nutritional quality of plankton caused by global environmental changes. Global environmental changes reduce the levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in plankton of northern lakes, thereby lowering their supply to wildlife and humans.

This video summarizes the main findings of the research article: Lau, D. C. P., Jonsson, A., Isles, P. D., Creed, I. F., & Bergström, A.-K. (2021). Lowered nutritional quality of plankton caused by global environmental changes. Global Change Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15887

Current Projects

Our Projects

Global change depletes pelagic food webs in northern lakes (Web4Food)

The project will assess the extent to which global change has affected the availability of key nutrients (N, phosphorus (P)) and Ca), and phytoplankton nutrient limitation regimes, in oligotrophic Fennoscandian and North American lakes, and assess the consequences of these changes on phytoplankton and zooplankton.

Read More →

The invisible carbon: an early indication of ecosystem change!

Streams are sensitive sentinels for environmental change by their integration of processes in terrestrial and aquatic systems. Upland headwater streams in the north Swedish tundra show seasonally exceptional high concentrations of uncolored dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and high carbon dioxide concentrations.

Read More →

LOREX (The Limnology and Oceanography Research Exchange)

The Limnology and Oceanography Research Exchange (LOREX) is a formal training and professional development program in international research collaboration in the aquatic sciences offered by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO).

Read More →

Climate change induced regime shifts in Northern lake ecosystems

This project brings together new tools and concepts in biogeochemistry and ecology, with the aims of understanding and predicting the effects of climate change on the delivery of two major ecosystem services, fish production and the net greenhouse gas balance of Northern lakes.

Read More →

Monitoring and management of Arctic lakes in a changing climate

The purpose of this study is to improve knowledge and monitoring of climate impacts on Arctic lakes. Specific aims include to quantify and provide threshold variables for climate change-induced regime shifts in fish resource use and production, and to develop tools and guidelines to be used in monitoring programs.

Read More →

Global Nitrogen Enrichment Experiment (AGNEE)

We aim to establish how DIN:TP ratios influence biomass, composition and elemental stoichiometry of phyto- and zooplankton communities, and to determine nutrient limiting factors of phytoplankton and consumer-driven nutrient regeneration responses.

Read More →