Lars-Anders Hansson,
Professor

My research interests are very broad and prior to entering the field of limnology and aquatic ecology, I spent some time with studying bird population dynamics (mainly Magpie (Pica pica) and also planned to work with plant genetics. After having been attracted to limnology I focused on competitive interactions between periphyton, phytoplankton and macrophytes, which was also the theme of my thesis. During my active research career I have focused mainly on aquatic food web interactions and on habitat shifts by algae and zooplankton from sediment to water. Most of my studies have been carried out in southern Sweden, but I have also worked in Wisconsin, USA, as well as in polar regions, such as Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Antarctica. In these high latitude lakes, food web complexity is very low allowing tests of theoretical predictions which would not have been possible in more complex food webs. I also work with more applied issues, such as biomanipulation of lakes through fish removal and effects of climate change on aquatic ecosystems. I´m also involved in a project aiming at assessing the causes and consequences of large-scale fish migrations from lakes to predator refuges in surrounding wetlands. Moreover I study how zooplankton utilize their morphological and behavioral plasticity to handle simultaneous multiple threats, such as ultraviolet radiation and predation. In order to move this research field forward I have initiated methodological developments within nanotechnology in order to track movements and migration in individual zooplankton and their food. Besides research I teach classes in Aquatic Ecology and also serve in several Scientific Advisory Boards, e.g. in The Netherlands, Austria and Denmark.

Selected publications

Lard, M., Bäckman, J., Yakovleva, M., and Danielsson, B., Hansson, L-A. 2010. Tracking the small with the smallest – using nanotechnology in tracking zooplankton. PloS-one 5(10): e13516. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013516.

Skov, C., Baktoft, H., Brodersen, J., Brönmark, C., Chapman, B., Hansson, L-A., Nilsson, PA. 2010. Sizing up your enemy: individual predation vulnerability predicts migratory probability. Proc. R Soc. B.

Hansson, L-A & Hylander, S. 2009. Effects of ultraviolet radiation on pigmentation, photoenzymatic repair, behavior, and community ecology of zooplankton. Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences 8: 1266-1275.

Hylander, S., Larsson, N., & Hansson, L-A. 2009. Zooplankton vertical migration and plasticity of pigmentation arising from simultaneous UV and predation threats Limnol. Oceanogr. 54: 483-491.

Hansson, L-A. and Hylander, S. 2009. Size-structured risk assessments govern Daphnia migration Proc. R. Soc. B. 276:331-336.

Hansson, L-A., Gustafsson, S., Rengefors, K., Bomark, L. 2007. Cyanobacterial chemical warfare alters zooplankton commuinty composition. Freshwater Biology 52: 1290-1301.

Hansson, L-A., Hylander, S., Sommaruga, R. 2007. Escape from UV threats in zooplankton: a cocktail of behavioral and phenotypic traits. Ecology 88(8): 1932-1939.

Hansson, L-A. 2000. Synergistic effects of food web dynamics and induced behavioral responses in aquatic ecosystems. Ecology 81: 842-851.

Brönmark, C. & Hansson, L-A. 2000. Chemical communication in aquatic systems: an introduction. Oikos 88:103-111.

Hansson, L-A. 2000. Induced pigmentation in zooplankton: a trade-off between threats from predation and UV-damage. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 267: 2327-2331.