Karin Eklöf

My research aims to study mercury in soils, water, and biota, and how the transformation and mobilization of mercury is influenced by natural and man-made perturbations. High mercury concentrations is a critical concern in Swedish inland waters, with high concentrations of mercury in fish and other aquatic biota. Forest management may increase the already high concentrations of mercury in water and biota. My main research interest is to understand how various activities in the forest landscape, such as forestry operations,  wetland restoration beaver activities, influence the formation of bioavailable methylmercury and the mobilization of methylmercury from soil to surface waters and up in the food webs. By this research we hope to form adequate recommendations for measures to mitigate Hg export from land-use activities in the forest landscape.

Coars leader BI1360: Energisystemens biogeokemiska förutsättningar (in Swedish), 10hp

Coarse leader BI1254: Grundkurs i Biologi och Miljövetenskap (in Swedish), 15hp

Teacher in the courses BI1360, BI1254 and MX0134 (Environmental Assessment)

Ongoing projects

Mercury in runoff water: Identifying site specific factors and mitigation measures that influences mercury export and methyl-mercury formation at forest harvest, 2018-2020. Proejct leader. The project is financed by Formas (The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning). Read more about the project here. 

Newly inundated forest landscapes as hotspots for mercury bioaccumulation and transfer across the aquatic-terrestrial food web (INFORM-Hg), 2021-2024. Project leader. The project is financed by Formas.

Ditch cleaning versus wetland restoration – Effects on mercury in water. The project is financed by The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Project leader. Read more about the project here. 

WAMBAF (Water management in Baltic Forests) is an EU founded (European Regional Development Fund) project that aims to reduce nutrient and mercury export from forestry to streams, lakes and the Baltic Sea. The project is led by the Swedish Forestry Agency. Read more about the project here. 

Storlek och varaktighet på en eventuell ökning av nitrat i vattendrag efter slutavverkning (in Swedish), 2020-2021. Project leader. The project is financed by SLU's environmental monitoring and assessment programmes Acidification.  

von Brömssen, S., Betnér, S., Fölster, J., Eklöf, K. 2021. A toolbox for visualizing trends in large-scale environmental data. Environmental Modelling & Software 136, 104949. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2020.104949.

de Wit, HA, Lepistö, A, Marttila, H, Wenng, H., Bechmann M., Blicher‐Mathiesen, G., Eklöf, K., Futter, M.N., Kortelainen, P., Kronvang, B., Kyllmar, K., Rakovic, J. 2020. Land‐use dominates climate controls on nitrogen and phosphorus export from managed and natural Nordic headwater catchments. Hydrological Processes. 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13939

Bishop, K., J. B. Shanley, A. Riscassi, H. A. de Wit, K. Eklöf, B. Meng, C. Mitchell, S. Osterwalder, P. F. Schuster, J. Webster, and W. Zhu. 2020. Recent advances in understanding and measurement of mercury in the environment: Terrestrial Hg cycling. Science of the Total Environment:137647.

Wang, B., M. B. Nilsson, K. Eklöf, H. Hu, B. Ehnvall, A. G. Bravo, S. Zhong, S. Åkeblom, E. Björn, S. Bertilsson, U. Skyllberg, and K. Bishop. 2020. Opposing spatial trends in methylmercury and total mercury along a peatland chronosequence trophic gradient. Science of the Total Environment 718:137306.Xu, J., Buck, M., Eklöf, K., Ahmed, O.O., Schaefer, J.K., Bishop, K., Skyllberg, U., Björn, E., Bertilsson, S. and Bravo, A.G. 2019. Mercury methylating microbial communities of boreal forest soils. Scientific Reports. DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-37383-z

Xu, J., M. Buck, K. Eklöf, O. O. Ahmed, J. K. Schaefer, K. Bishop, U. Skyllberg, E. Björn, S. Bertilsson, and A. G. Bravo. 2019. Mercury methylating microbial communities of boreal forest soils. Scientific Reports 9:518.

Lidskog, R., Bishop, K., Eklöf, K., Ring, E., Åkerblom, S., and Sandström, C. 2018. From wicked problem to governable entity? The effects of forestry on mercury in aquatic ecosystems. Forest Policy and Economics 90:90-96.

Ranius, T., Hämäläinen, A., Egnell, G., Olsson, B.A., Eklöf, K., Stendahl, J., Rudolphi, J., Sténs, A. and Felton, A. 2018. The effects of logging residue extraction for energy on ecosystem services and biodiversity: A synthesis. Journal of Environmental Management 209:409-425.

Wu, P., Bishop, K., von Brömssen, C., Eklöf, K., Futter, M., Hultberg, H., Martin, J. and Åkerblom, S. 2018. Does forest harvest increase the mercury concentrations in fish? Evidence from Swedish lakes. Science of the Total Environment 622-623:1353-1362.

Eklöf, K., Bishop, K., Bertilsson, S., Björn, E., Buck, M., Skyllberg, U., Osman, O.A.,

Kronberg, RM., Bravo, A.G. 2018. Formation of mercury methylation hotspots as a consequence of forestry operations. Science of The Total Environment 613: 1069-1078.

Ecke, F., Levanoni, O., Audet, J., Carlson, P., Eklöf, K., Hartman, G., McKie, B., Ledesma, J.L., Segersten, J., Trychy, A., Futter, M. 2017. Meta-analysis of the environmental effects of beavers in relation to artificial dams. Environmental Research Letters 12: 112002

Olsson, B.A., Åkerblom, S., Bishop, K., Eklöf, K., Ring, E. 2017. Does the harvest of logging residues and wood ash application affect the mobilization and bioavailability of trace metals? Forest Ecology and Management 383, 61–72

Eklöf, K., Lidskog, R. & Bishop, K. 2016. Managing Swedish forestry’s impact on mercury in fish: Defining the impact and mitigation measures. Ambio 45(Suppl 2): 163. doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0752-7.

Levanoni, O., K. Bishop, B. G. McKie, G. Hartman, K. Eklöf and F. Ecke. 2015. Impact of Beaver Pond Colonization History on Methylmercury Concentrations in Surface Water. Environmental Science & Technology 49(21): 12679-12687.

Eklöf, K., A. Kraus, M. Futter, J. Schelker, M. Meili, E. W. Boyer and K. Bishop. 2015. Parsimonious Model for Simulating Total Mercury and Methylmercury in Boreal Streams Based on Riparian Flow Paths and Seasonality. Environmental Science & Technology 49(13): 7851-7859.

Eklöf, K., Schelker, J., M. Meili, H. Laudon, C. von Bromssen, and K. Bishop. 2014. Impact of forestry on total and methyl-mercury in surface water: distinguishing effects of logging and site preparation Environmental Science and Technology, DOI: 10.1021/es404879p

Eklöf, K., M. Meili, S. Akerblom, C. von Bromssen, and K. Bishop. 2013. Impact of stump harvest on run-off concentrations of total mercury and methylmercury, Forest Ecology and Management, 290, 83-94.

Schelker, J., Kuglerova, L., Eklöf, K., Bishop, K. and Laudon. H. 2013. Hydrological Effects of Clear- cutting in a Boreal Forest – Snowpack dynamics, Snowmelt and Streamflow Responses. Journal of Hydrology. 484, 105-110.

Eklöf, K., Fölster, J., Sonesten, L. and Bishop, K. 2012. Spatial and temporal variation of THg concentrations in run-off water from 19 boreal catchments, 2000-2010. Environmental Pollution 164, 102-109.

Schelker, J., Eklöf, K., Bishop, K., Laudon, H., 2012. Effects of forestry operations on dissolved organic carbon concentrations and export in boreal first-order streams. Journal of Geophysical Research. 117, G01011.

Eklöf, K., Kraus, A., Weyhenmeyer, G.A., Meili, M. and Bishop, K. 2012. Forestry influence by stump harvest and site preparation on methylmercury, total mercury and other stream water chemistry parameters across a boreal landscape. Ecosystems. 15 (8), 1308-1320.

You can find me on Researchgate