Danny Chun Pong Lau

I am a researcher at the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Section for Ecology and Biodiversity.

My research focuses on food webs, biodiversity and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. I am particularly interested in their responses to anthropogenic stressors (e.g. eutrophication, acidification, brownification, atmospheric nitrogen deposition, etc.) and climate change. My studies cover a broad range of ecosystems including lakes, ponds, rivers, and coastal waters. I frequently apply ecological tracers such as fatty-acid biomarkers and stable isotopes to investigate ecosystem processes and food-web dynamics in the changing environment, and assess the ecological impacts of multiple stressors acting together across space and time. 

My current research includes:

Development of an indicator for the assessment of nutrient depletion on benthic algal assemblages in Arctic/alpine lakes - Lead

Rapid climate change is driving shifts in the nutritional quality of aquatic food webs across the circumpolar North - Collaborator

Ecological change in Arctic/alpine lakes – Food web effects of ongoing climate-change induced oligotrophication (ARCWEB) - Lead

How do stoichiometry and nutritional quality of plankton communities in coastal ecosystems alter with climate change? - Lead

Effects of browning of coastal waters on marine food web function and quality - Co-lead

REFINE – Improved assessment of climate impact and eutrophication in arctic lakes - Collaborator

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

Species traits of benthic macroinvertebrates in Arctic freshwaters – temporal trends, latitudinal patterns, and the impacts of climate change - Collaborator

Full list of publications in Google Scholar

Publications (2017-present)

Peer-reviewed articles

• Paltsev, A., Bergström, A. K., Vuorio, K., Creed, I. F., Hessen, D. O., Kortelainen, P., Vuorenmaa, J., de Wit, H. A., Lau, D. C. P., Vrede, T., Isles, P. D. F., Jonsson, A., Geibrink, E., Kahilainen, K. K., & Drakare, S. (2024). Phytoplankton biomass in northern lakes reveals a complex response to global change. Science of The Total Environment, 173570.
• Chaguaceda, F., Lau, D. C. P., Goedkoop, W., Fadhlaoui, M., Lavoie, I., & Vrede, T. (2024). Zooplankton in northern lakes show taxon‐specific responses in fatty acids across climate‐productivity and ecosystem size gradients. Limnology and Oceanography, 69(4), 947-960.
• Bergström, A.-K., Creed, I. F., Paltsev, A., de Wit, H. A., Lau, D. C. P., Drakare, S., Vrede, T., Isles, P. D. F., Jonsson, A., Geibrink, E., Kortelainen, P., Vuorenmaa, J., Vuorio, K., Kahilainen, K. K., & Hessen, D. O. (2024). Declining calcium concentration drives shifts toward smaller and less nutritious zooplankton in northern lakes. Global Change Biology, 30, e17220. 
• Lau, D. C. P., Brua, B., Goedkoop, W., & Culp, J. M. (2023). Fatty-acid based assessment of benthic food-web responses to multiple stressors in a large river system. Environmental Pollution, 337, 122598.
  Preprint at SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4393620
• Lento, J., Lau, D. C. P., Brittain, J. E., Culp, J. M., & Goedkoop, W. (2023). Macroinvertebrate traits in Arctic streams reveal latitudinal patterns in physiology and habits that are strongly linked to climate. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 11, 1209612.
• Velle, G., Bodin, C. L., Arle, J., Austnes, K., Boggero, A., Bojkova, J., Fornaroli, R., Fölster, J., Goedkoop, W., Jones, I., Juggins, S., Lau, D. C. P., Monteith, D., Murphy, J., Musazzi, S., Shilland, E., Steingruber, S., Wiklund, M.-L., & de Wit, H. (2023). Responses of benthic invertebrates to chemical recovery from acidification. ICP Waters Report 153/2023. NIVA-rapport. Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, Norway. ISBN 978-82-577-7617-6.
• Bandara, T., Brugel, S., Andersson, A., & Lau, D. C. P. (2023). Retention of essential fatty acids in fish differs by species, habitat use, and nutritional quality of prey. Ecology and Evolution, 13(6), e10158.
• Hedberg, P., Lau, D. C. P., Albert, S., & Winder, M. (2023). Variation in fatty acid content among benthic invertebrates in a seasonally driven system. Limnology and Oceanography Letters, 8(5), 751-759.
• Grosbois, G., Lau, D. C. P., Berggren, M., Montoro, M., Goedkoop, W., Messier, C., Hjältén, J., & del Giorgio, P. (2023). Land and freshwater complex interactions in boreal forests: A neglected topic in forest management. In M. M. Girona, H. Morin, S. Gauthier, & Y. Bergeron (Eds.), Boreal Forests in the Face of Climate Change - Sustainable Management. Advances in Global Change Research, 74, Springer-Nature, Cham: Springer. ISBN 978-3-031-15987-9. 
• Bergström, A.-K., Lau, D. C. P., Isles, P. D., Jonsson, A., & Creed, I. F. (2022). Biomass, community composition and N:P recycling ratios of zooplankton in northern high-latitude lakes with contrasting levels of N deposition and DOC. Freshwater Biology, 67(9), 1508-1520.
• Guo, J., Brugel, S., Andersson, A., & Lau, D. C. P. (2022). Spatiotemporal carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometry in planktonic food web in a northern coastal area. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 272, 107903.
• Bandara, T., Brugel, S., Andersson, A., & Lau, D. C. P. (2022). Seawater browning alters community composition and reduces nutritional quality of plankton in a sub-Arctic marine ecosystem. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 79(8), 1291-1301.
• Wang, T.-W., Lau, D. C. P., Chan, T.-Y., & Chan, B. K. K. (2022). Autochthony and isotopic niches of benthic fauna at shallow-water hydrothermal vents. Scientific Reports, 12, 6248.
• Lento, J., Culp, J. M., Levenstein, B., Aroviita, J., Baturina, M. A., Bogan, D., Brittain, J. E., Chin, K., Christoffersen, K. S., Docherty, C., Friberg, N., Ingimarsson, F., Jacobsen, D., Lau, D. C. P., Loskutova, O. A., Milner, A., Mykrä, H., Novichkova, A. A., Ólafsson, J. S., Schartau, A. K., Shaftel, R., & Goedkoop, W. (2022). Temperature and spatial connectivity drive patterns in freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity across the Arctic. Freshwater Biology, 67(1), 159-175.
• Huser, B. J., Futter, M. N., Bogan, D., Brittain, J. E., Culp, J. M., Goedkoop, W., Gribovskaya, I., Karlsson, J., Lau, D. C. P., Rühland, K. M., Schartau, A. K., Shaftel, R., Smol, J. P., Vrede, T., & Lento, J. (2022). Spatial and temporal variation in Arctic freshwater chemistry—Reflecting climate‐induced landscape alterations and a changing template for biodiversity. Freshwater Biology, 67(1), 14-29.
• Lau, D. C. P., Christoffersen, K. S., Erkinaro, J., Hayden, B., Heino, J., Hellsten, S., Holmgren, K., Kahilainen, K. K., Kahlert, M., Karjalainen, S. M., Karlsson, J., Forsström, L., Lento, J., Mjelde, M., Ruuhijärvi, J., Sandøy, S., Schartau, A. K., Svenning, M.-A., Vrede, T., & Goedkoop, W. (2022). Multitrophic biodiversity patterns and environmental descriptors of sub‐Arctic lakes in northern Europe. Freshwater Biology, 67(1), 30-48.
• 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, 27(23), 6294-6306.
  Video summary
  Research highlight in Nature Climate Change:
  Armarego-Marriott, T. (2021). Plankton lose fats. Nature Climate Change, 11, 900.
• Olid, C., Zannella, A., & Lau, D. C. P. (2021). The role of methane transport from the active layer in sustaining methane emissions and food chains in subarctic ponds. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126(3), e2020JG005810.
• Goedkoop, W., Choudhury, M. I., Lau, D. C. P., & Grandin, U. (2021). Inverting nutrient fluxes across the land-water interface–Exploring the potential of zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) farming. Journal of Environmental Management, 281, 111889.
• Tao, L. S. R., Mak, Y. K. Y., Ho, V. C. M., Sham, R. C.-t., Hui, T. T. Y., Lau, D. C. P., & Leung, K. M. Y. (2021). Improvements of population fitness and trophic status of a benthic predatory fish following a trawling ban. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, 614219.
• Ramberg, E., Burdon, F. J., Sargac, J., Kupilas, B., Rîşnoveanu, G., Lau, D. C. P., Johnson, R. K., & McKie, B. G. (2020). The structure of riparian vegetation in agricultural landscapes influences spider communities and aquatic-terrestrial Linkages. Water, 12(10), 2855.
• Tao, L. S. R., Lau, D. C. P., Perkins, M. J., Hui, T. T. Y., Yau, J. K. C., Mak, Y. K. Y., Lau, E. T. C., Dudgeon, D., & Leung, K. M. Y. (2020). Stable-isotope based trophic metrics reveal early recovery of tropical crustacean assemblages following a trawl ban. Ecological Indicators, 117, 106610.
• Bergström, A. K., Jonsson, A., Isles, P. D., Creed, I. F., & Lau, D. C. P. (2020). Changes in nutritional quality and nutrient limitation regimes of phytoplankton in response to declining N deposition in mountain lakes. Aquatic Sciences, 82(2), 1-16.
• Lento, J., Goedkoop, W., Culp, J., Christoffersen, K., Fefilova, E., Guðbergsson, G., Lárusson, K. F., Liljaniemi, P., Ólafsson, J.S., Sandøy, S., Zimmerman, C., Christensen, T., Chambers, P., Heino, J., Hellsten, S., Kahlert, M., Keck, F., Laske, S., Lau, D. C. P., Lavoie, I., Levenstein, B., Mariash, H., Rühland, K., Saulnier-Talbot, E., Schartau, A. K., & Svenning, M. (2019). State of the Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna International Secretariat, Akureyri, Iceland. ISBN 978-9935-431-77-6
• Bidleman, T. F., Andersson, A., Brugel, S., Ericson, L., Haglund, P., Kupryianchyk, D., Lau, D. C. P., Liljelind, P., Lundin, L., Tysklind, A., & Tysklind, M. (2019). Bromoanisoles and methoxylated bromodiphenyl ethers in macroalgae from Nordic coastal regions. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 21(5), 881-892.
• Kupryianchyk, D., Giesler, R., Bidleman, T. F., Liljelind, P., Lau, D. C. P., Sponseller, R. A., & Andersson, P. L. (2018). Industrial and natural compounds in filter‐feeding black fly larvae and water in 3 tundra streams. Environmental toxicology and chemistry, 37(12), 3011-3017.
• Grieve, A., & Lau, D. C. P. (2018). Do autochthonous resources enhance trophic transfer of allochthonous organic matter to aquatic consumers, or vice versa?. Ecosphere, 9(6), e02307.
• Brett, M. T., Bunn, S. E., Chandra, S., Galloway, A. W., Guo, F., Kainz, M. J., Kankaala, P., Lau, D. C. P., Moulton, T. P., Power, M. E. Rasmussen, J. B., Taipale, S., Thorp, J. H., & Wehr, J. D. (2017). How important are terrestrial organic carbon inputs for secondary production in freshwater ecosystems?. Freshwater Biology, 62(5), 833-853.
• Lau, D. C. P., Vrede, T., & Goedkoop, W. (2017). Lake responses to long‐term disturbances and management practices. Freshwater Biology, 62(4), 792-806.

Datasets

• Chaguaceda, F., Lau, D. C. P., Goedkoop, W., Fadhlaoui, M., Lavoie, I., & Vrede, T. (2024). Zooplankton fatty acids across large environmental gradients in Sweden : Raw data for Chaguaceda et al (2024) Limnology and Oceanography [Data set]. 
• Winder, M., Hedberg, P., Lau, D. C. P., & Albert, S. (2023). Data for: Variation in fatty acid content among benthic invertebrates in a seasonally driven system. Dryad, Dataset.
• Bandara, T., Brugel, S., Andersson, A., & Lau, D. C. P. (2022). Dataset on seston and zooplankton fatty-acid composition, zooplankton and phytoplankton biomass, and environmental conditions of coastal and offshore waters of the northern Baltic Sea. Data in Brief, 42, 108158.

Popular science articles

• Bandara, T., Brugel, S., Andersson, A., & Lau, D. C. P. (2024). How might browner seawater affect marine organisms? Frontiers for Young Minds, 12:1310250.
• Hedberg, P., Lau, D. C. P., Albert, S., & Winder, M. (2023). Bottenlevande djur rustade för framtiden. Havsutsikt. 

External links:

Climate Impacts Research Centre