Are you interested in conducting mesocosm experiments on lakes? SITES AquaNet provides a standardized infrastructure for running mesocosm studies across various lakes. This system features floating platforms with mesocosm enclosures, automatic sensors linked to a data-logging system, and handheld sensors for precise measurements. In this video you can find more information about SITES AquaNet!
A heavy rainstorm, exceeding 91 millimeters of precipitation over just a few days, caused flooding of the SITES Water infrastructure at Röbäcksdalen near Umeå. After four days of rain, the storm surge from Degernäsbäcken and Röbäcken carved new routes across normally dry land.
The flooding damage at Röbäcksdalen was limited to two specific locations, site 1 and site 6: at site 1, the flooding caused temporary data loss from sensors; at site 6, one ring of a concrete water pipe tipped over, requiring work to retrieve it from the bottom of Röbäcken.
Busy September at Svartberget Research Station!
From 19th to 26th September, 30 PhD students from 7 countries arrive to Vindeln for the Watershed Ecology and Biogeochemistry course 2024. Over six intense days, students participated in presentations, poster discussions, and field visits, enhancing their understanding of key topics such as:
In 2025, a government evaluation is planned to assess the current hunting periods for various small mammal species (SEPA). To support this effort with updated data and insights on the reproductive periods of these species, a research program titled “Reproductive timing in relation to hunting season in small mammals” was launched this year. The program includes several sub-projects (post docs), each using different methods and focusing on different species.
SITES provides users access to long-term monitoring of forests, through the Unit for Field-based Forest Research at SLU, connected to both SITES Asa and Svartberget Research Stations, which has several decades of data.
SITES enables researchers to enhance field-based ecosystem research by supporting a network of field stations across Sweden. SITES offers expert technical competence at the stations for helping plan and implement research projects and provides open access to local monitoring and remote sensing data as well as contextual information about the surrounding ecosystems. Taken together, SITES provides a rich context for setting up field sampling and experiments at one or multiple stations across Sweden.
As part of the IUFRO World Congress in Stockholm this week, Erken Laboratory hosted an excursion, where around 150 IUFRO participants visited the station to learn about environmental monitoring and field-based research infrastructure.
The spring flood at Svartberget Research Station has started and with it, water sampling in the Krycklan catchment is taking place 2 times a week. The snow is rapidly melting, with the lysimeters (see picture) measuring over 100 kg of flow over a 3-day period.
At the same time, the field station is preparing for the summer forest field trial season with seasonal staff already starting in May and in total 12 extra persons working at the station by the beginning of June.