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Magdalena Bieroza

Magdalena Bieroza
I am a catchment hydrologist, biogeochemist and computer scientist by profession. I am interested in nutrient, sediment and organic matter dynamics in agricultural catchments and streams. I am particularly interested in high-temporal resolution hydrochemical monitoring with in situ sensors.

Presentation

NEWS

Publications in 2025

  • Creed, I.F., D.A. Aldred, J. Leach, K. Webster, and M. Bieroza, In press. Cycles in hydrologic intensification and de-intensification create instabilities in spring nitrate-N export C-Q relationships in northern temperate forests. Water Resources Research, DOI: 10.1029/2024WR038560.
  • Rozemeijer, J., Jordan P., Hooijboer, A., Kronvang, B., Glendell M., Hensley R., Rinke K., Stutter M., Bieroza M., Turner R., Mellander PE., Thorburn P., Cassidy R., Appels J., Ouwerkerk, K., M. Rode, In Press. Best practice in high-frequency water quality monitoring for improved management and assessment; a novel decision workflow. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.

 

CURRENT POSITION (Department of Soil and Environment, SLU)

01/2021-         Senior Lecturer in Water Quality in Agricultural Landscapes

12/2018-         Associate Professor in Soil Sciences - Water Quality Management  

five people posing at a staircase in front of a mansion

Our group July 2023! From the left John Livsey (postdoc), Laura-Ainhoa Prischl (MSc student), Magda Bieroza, Lukas Hallberg (PhD student) and Maarten Wynants (post-doc)

Teaching

MSc course Land use and watershed management to reduce eutrophication

Do you want to learn more about water quality pollution and how to combat eutrophication? Join the MSc course which runs annully in November.

https://www.slu.se/en/education/programmes-courses/courses/?sprak=en&anmkod=20155.2021

Happy students on a row in a brown field, photo.

PhD course Aquatic systems through the lens of organic matter stability and fate – a coordinated distributed experiment, 4 ECTS

https://www.slu.se/globalassets/ew/org/fsk/fosw/activities/2021/2022-aquatic-sciences_flyer.pdf

PhD Course, High Temporal Resolution Water Quality Monitoring and Analysis, 1.5 ECTS

https://www.slu.se/globalassets/ew/org/fsk/fosw/activities/2021/2021-high-resolution-water-quality-phd-course---flyer.pdf

PhD course Agricultural catchments in a changing world, 3 ECTS

Do you want to learn about hydrological, biogeochemical, ecological, economic and societal processes controlling agricultural landscapes? Then this course is for you. 

https://www.slu.se/globalassets/ew/org/fsk/fosw/activities/phdcourses/2020/2020_agricultural-catchments_flyer.pdf

Research

CURRENT RESEARCH

1.  Phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon dynamics in human-impacted streams.

2.  Diffuse pollution in agricultural catchments: monitoring, modelling and management.

3.  High-frequency water quality monitoring.

4. Global change impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

Canoe and a small viking ship on a river, photo.

 

ONGOING PROJECTS

2025-2028         EU MSCA Doctoral Networks BEYOND Beyond the current: Improving European flowing waters in an era of global change - Coordinator.

BEYOND will train the next generation of water professionals who will deliver scientific and technological innovation across disciplines, institutions and countries needed to solve European water quality problems in an era of global change. We will be employing 10 PhD students across Europe from 2025, so stay tuned for further news! 

https://www.slu.se/beyond

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101169293

2025-2027      Stiftelsen Lantbruksforskning Retention-irrigation system to reduce negative impacts of climate change in agricultural landscapes - Prinicipal Investigator

2024-2026     Åforsk, Retention-irrigation system: a new measure to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and diffuse pollution in agricultural landscapes - Principal Investigator.

2022-2025     Stiftelsen Lantbruksforskning Remediated agricultural ditches in Sweden: evaluation of ecological and chemical status and water quality at a catchment scale under current and future climate – Principal Investigator.

 

COMPLETED PROJECTS

  • 2023-2025      BalticWaters2030 Long-term and high-frequency water quality monitoring for improved prediction of the effects of remediation and climate change - Principal Investigator.
  • 2022-2023      Stiftelsen Oscar & Lili Lamms Minne Reducing erosion in agricultural ditches in Sweden - Principal Investigator.
  • 2020-2024      Stiftelsen Oscar & Lili Lamms Minne Why eutrophication mitigation measures show mixed success in reducing nutrient and sediment losses? - Principal Investigator.
  • 2020-2022       HaV Two-stage ditches in Sweden - Principal Investigator.
  • 2019-2022       FORMAS Two-stage ditches in Sweden – Principal Investigator. https://www.slu.se/two-stage-ditches
  • 2020-2022       FORMAS  TaRgEting Low-Sorption Soils to reduce phosphorus losses – Co-applicant.
  • 2018-2021       Jordbruksverket Phosphorus ponds with and without sediment removal –  Principal Investigator.
  • 2017-2020       Stiftelsen Lantbruksforskning Towards environmentally friendly Swedish agriculture – Principal Investigator.
  • 2017-2020       FORMAS Are anaerobic conditions in soil the main reason for large leaching losses of phosphorus from arable land? – Co-applicant.
  • 2019-2020      Vetenskapsrådet Conference Grant 4th International Workshop on High Temporal Resolution Water Quality Monitoring and Analysis - Principal Investigator.
  • 2019                  Jordbruksverket Do agri-environmental mitigation measures increase emissions of N2O?  Principal Investigator.
  • 2018-2019       Stiftelsen Carl Tryggers Denitrification in bed sediments of a two-stage ditch and a sedimentation pondPrincipal Investigator.
  • 2017-2019     Stiftelsen ÅForsk Evaluation of the effects of phosphorus and suspended sediments mitigation measures in agricultural catchments Principal Investigator.
  • 2016 - 2017     Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship at Department of Soil and Environment (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU, SE) Hot-spots of phosphorus and nitrogen delivery in time and space in agricultural catchments (HotPaNTS) – Principal Investigator.
  • 2016-2017       Stiftelsen Oscar & Lili Lamms Minne Improved evidence of nutrient hot-spots in agricultural catchments inferred from optical sensorsPrincipal Investigator.

 

Background

PREVIOUS POSITIONS AND APPOINTMENTS

2018 - 2021 Chair, vice-chair and board member of the SLU Future Faculty

2018- 2021 Study Director of the PhD school Focus on Soils and Water (SLU, SE).

2016-2017 Marie Curie Fellowship at Department of Soil and Environment (SLU, SE) Hot-spots of phosphorus and nitrogen delivery in time and space in agricultural catchments - HotPaNTS.

2015-2016 Natural Environment Research Council NERC and Environment Agency Research Fellow (Lancaster University, UK) Nitrate from agriculture: moving from uncertain data to operational responses.

2011-2015 Senior Research Associate in Nutrient Biogeochemistry (Lancaster University, UK) NERC project (PI AL Heathwaite) Phosphorus dynamics in groundwater-fed rivers.

2010-2011 Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Catchment Hydrology (Engineering, Bristol University, UK) Long-term nitrate trends in the Thames with N Howden (PI).

 

ACADEMIC DEGREES

2018 Associate professor (docent) in Water Quality Management (SLU, Sweden)

2010 PhD in Water Engineering, Characterising water treatment works performance using fluorescence spectroscopy (University of Birmingham, UK), Supervisors J Bridgeman and A Baker. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/651/.

2006 BEng (Hons) in Computer Science (Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology, PL).

2005 MSc (Hons) in Hydrology (Mathematical & Natural Sciences, Warsaw University, PL).

2003 BSc (Hons) in Geography (Mathematical & Natural Sciences, Warsaw University, PL).

 

Supervision

CURRENT STUDENTS AND RESEARCHERS (as main supervisor)

Livsey, John, Post-doc, 2022-2025, Agricultural stream remediation in Sweden

Kuśmierz, Katarzyna, Post-doc, 2025, Agriculture and Water – Dynamics of Biogenic Compounds and their Migration

Weber, Nikolaus, PhD, 2024-2025, The impact of data quality and outlier detection in high frequency water quality data on water management and process understanding

Chamerska, Aleksandra, PhD, 2025, Modelling of concentration-discharge relationships

Bornaz Torres, Valeri Nicolle, MSc, 2025, Ecological analysis of macroinvertebrates in remediated ditches based on their functional
traits

 

PREVIOUS STUDENTS (as main supervisor)

Wynants, Maarten, Post-doc, 2021-2024, Water quality modelling

Hallberg, Lukas, PhD, 2020-2024, Floodplain remediation in agricultural streams: improved process understanding for reduced eutrophication

Prischl, Laura-Ainhoa, MSc, 2023, Nutrient legacies in agricultural catchments.

Houweling, Diederick, MSc, 2022, The longitudinal water quality patterns in agricultural streams.

Sakponou, Pierre-Henri , MSc, 2022, The role of macrophytes in controlling the effectiveness of remediated ditches in Sweden.

Ryding, Emma, MSc, 2022,  The role of bed sediments for fractionation of phosphorus in remediated ditches in Sweden.

Holgersson, Linus, MSc, 2022, The role of bed sediments for sorption of phosphorus in remediated ditches in Sweden.

Åström, Sheryl, MSc, 2021,  A two-stage ditch - a source or sink of nutrients and sediments?

Nagarajan, Neerajaa, MSc, 2021, The role of agricultural drainage in controlling the effectiveness of two-stage ditches in Sweden.

Gire, Côme, MSc internship, 2021, Hydrochemical and biogeochemical controls of nutrient removal in agricultural streams.

Casali, Emilien, MSc internship, 2021, The role of stream bed sediments in controlling dentirification and phosphorus sorption. 

Eriksson, Adam, MSc, 2020. Water quality and organic matter linkages in waters draining arable fields.

Englund, Sofia, 2020. Optimizing the design of two-stage ditches to improve
nutrient and sediment retention. MSc thesis, Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences.

Hodenana, Juan, 2020. Efforts for eutrophication mitigation on the Santa Lucía River Basin: farmers’ experiences, attitudes and motivations. MSc thesis, Uppsala University, Department of Earth Sciences.

Uwera, Honorine, 2020. How robust is water quality determination with optical measurements for highly polluted agricultural waters? MSc thesis, SLU, Department of Soil and Environment.

Larsson, Åsa, 2018. Nutrient concentrations before and after the Focus on Phosphorus project in E23 catchment. BSc thesis, SLU, Department of Soil and Environment.

Abade Smoginski, Ana Paula, 2017. Can we use optical sensors in highly turbid agricultural streams?. MSc thesis, SLU, Department of Soil and Environment.

Ehnvall, Betty, 2017. Organic matter properties and their relation to phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations in Swedish agricultural streams. Second cycle, A2E. Uppsala: SLU, Dept. of Soil and Environment.

 

PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Please contact me if you are interested in a post-doc, Phd, MSc or BSc project in any of my current research fields. A list of available MSc projects:

https://www.slu.se/en/departments/soil-environment/education/undergraduate-education/independent-projectdegree-project-1/

 

Selected publications

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Bieroza M., Hallberg L., Livsey J., Prischl L-A. and M. Wynants (2024), Recognizing Agricultural Headwaters as Critical Ecosystems, Environmental Science and Technology, doi/epdf/10.1021/acs.est.3c10165.

Bieroza M, Hallberg L., Livsey J. and M. Wynants (2024), Climate change accelerates water and biogeochemical cycles in temperate agricultural catchments, Science of the Total Environment 951.

Hallberg, L., Djodjic F, Hallin S, and M. Bieroza (2024), Trade-offs between nitrogen and phosphorus removal with floodplain remediation in agricultural streams, Water Research, doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2024.121770.

Hallberg, L., F. Djodjic, and M. Bieroza (2024), Phosphorus supply and floodplain design govern phosphorus reduction capacity in remediated agricultural streams. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 28(2), 341–355.

Wynants, M., J. Strömqvist, L. Hallberg, J. Livsey, G. Lindström, and M. Z. Bieroza, 2024, How to Achieve a 50% Reduction in Nutrient Losses from Agricultural Catchments under Different Climate Trajectories? Earth's Future 12.

Hallberg, L., Bernal, S., and M. Bieroza (2024), Seasonal Variation in Flow and Metabolic Activity Drive Nitrate and Carbon Supply and Demand in a Temperate Agricultural Stream. JGR Biogeosciences 129, 11.

Bieroza M, Acharya S, Benisch J, ter Borg R, Hallberg L, Negri C, Pruitt A, Pucher M, Saavedra F, Staniszewska K, van’t Veen S, Vincent A, Winter C, Basu N, Jarvie H, Kirchner J, 2023, Advances in Catchment Science, Hydrochemistry, and Aquatic Ecology Enabled by High-Frequency Water Quality Measurements. Environ. Sci. Technol., https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c07798.

Skarbøvik E, van’t Veen S, Lannergård E, Wenng H, Stutter M, Bieroza M, Atcheson K, Jordan P, Folster J, Mellander PE, Kronvang B, Marttila H, Lepisto O, Kamari M, 2023, Comparing in situ turbidity sensor measurements as a proxy for suspended sediments in North-Western European streams. Catena, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2023.107006.

Rezanezhad F, Bieroza M, Contosta A and Van Cappellen P, 2023, Editorial: The cold regions in transition: Impacts on soil and groundwater biogeochemistry. Front. Environ. Sci. 11:1143388. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2023.1143388.

Hallberg L, Hallin S, Bieroza M, 2022, Catchment controls of denitrification and nitrous oxide production rates in headwater remediated agricultural streams. Science of the Total Environment, 156513, doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156513.

Berggren M, Guillemette F, Bieroza M, Buffam I, Deininger A, Hawkes JA, Kothawala DN, LaBrie R, Lapierre J-F, Murphy KR, Al-Kharusi E, Rulli M, Hensgens G, Younes H, Wünsch U, 2022, Unified understanding of intrinsic and extrinsic controls of dissolved organic carbon reactivity in aquatic ecosystems. Ecology, doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3763.

Campeaua A, Eklöf K,Soerensen A, Åkerblom S, Yuan S, Hintelmann H, Bieroza M, Köhler S, Zdanowicz C, 2022, Sources of riverine mercury across the Mackenzie River Basin; inferences from a combined Hg C isotopes and optical properties approach. Science of The Total Environment, 150808.

Kurajica L, Ujević Bošnjak M, Kinsela AS, Bieroza M, Štiglić J, Waite TD, Capak K,  Romić Ž, 2022, Mixing of arsenic-rich groundwater and surface water in drinking water distribution systems: Implications for contaminants, disinfection byproducts and organic components. Chemosphere, 292, 133406.

Speir S, Tank J, Bieroza M, Mahl U, Royer T, 2021, Storm size and hydrologic modification influence nitrate mobilization and transport in agricultural watersheds. Biogeochemistry, 181, 8.

Bieroza M, Bol R, Glendell M, 2021What is the deal with the Green Deal: Will the new strategy help to improve European freshwater quality beyond the Water Framework Directive? Science of the Total Environment, 791, 148080.

Pi K, Bieroza M, Brouchkov A, et al., 2021, The Cold Region Critical Zone in Transition: Responses to Climate Warming and Land Use Change. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 46.

Djodjic F, Bieroza M, Bergström L, 2021, Land use, geology and soil properties control nutrient concentrations in headwater streams. Science of the Total Environment, 772, 145108.

Heathwaite AL and Bieroza M, 2020, Fingerprinting hydrological and biogeochemical drivers of freshwater quality. Hydrological Processes. doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13973

Bieroza M, Dupas R, Glendell M, McGrath G, Mellander P-E, 2020, Hydrological and Chemical Controls on Nutrient and Contaminant Loss to Water in Agricultural Landscapes. Water. doi.org/10.3390/w12123379

Bieroza M, Bergström L, Ulén B, Djodjic F, Tonderski K, Heeb A, Svensson J and 
Malgeryd J, 2019, Hydrologic Extremes and Legacy Sources Can Override Efforts to Mitigate Nutrient and Sediment Losses at the Catchment Scale. Journal of Environmental Quality. doi:10.2134/jeq2019.02.0063. 

Ulén B, Geranmayeh P, Blomberg M, Bieroza M, 2019, Seasonal variation in nutrient retention in a free water surface constructed wetland monitored with flow-proportional sampling and optical sensors. Ecological Engineering. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2019.105588.

Bol R, Gruau G, Mellander P-E, Dupas R, Bechmann M, Skarbøvik E, Bieroza M, Djodjic F, Glendell M, Jordan P, Van der Grift B, Rode M, Smolders E, Verbeeck M, Gu S, Klumpp E, Pohle I, Fresne M and Gascuel-Odoux C, 2018, Challenges of Reducing Phosphorus Based Water Eutrophication in the Agricultural Landscapes of Northwest Europe. Front. Mar. Sci. 5:276. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00276.

Bieroza MZ, Heathwaite AL, Bechmann M, Kyllmar K & Jordan P, 2018, The concentration-discharge slope as a tool for water quality management, Sci Total Environ, 630, 738–749.

 

All publications are available through self-archiving on my Research Gate profile at

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Magdalena_Bieroza

If you would like a copy of any of my articles, please send me an email. 


Contact

Senior Lecturer at the Department of Soil and Environment; Agricultural water management
Telephone: +4618673537
Postal address:
Institutionen för mark och miljö
Box 7014
750 07 Uppsala
Visiting address: Lennart Hjelms väg 9, Uppsala