Johan Elmberg – Research

Population and community ecology of waterfowl

I study resource limitation, population dynamics, and community composition of breeding waterfowl on nemoral and boreal lakes. This involves experimental as well as descriptive work with colleagues Gunnar Gunnarsson, Lisa Dessborn, and Pär Söderquist (Kristianstad university), and in collaboration with Kjell Sjöberg (Sweden), Hannu Pöysä (Joensuu, Finland), and Petri Nummi and Sari Holopainen (Helsinki, Finland).
I also study how processes on breeding grounds are related to those on staging and wintering areas farther south in Europe. The aim is to gain an around-the-year understanding of individual behaviour in relation to population- and community-level processes. This work is done in collaboration with Celine Arzel (Turku, Finland), and Matthieu Guillemain and Jocelyn Champagnon (ONCFS and Tour du Valat, Arles, France).
Other projects address the effects of avian influenza (AIV) on wild ducks. This work is done with Gunnar Gunnarsson in collaboration with Jonas Waldenström, Daniel Bengtsson and colleagues at Linneaus University (Sweden).

Goose management

There are more geese close to humans and agriculture than ever before over large areas in the Northern Hemisphere. In part this is a welcome comeback from historical population lows of geese, but some species have increased to levels that create widespread conflict with humans. Such conflicts include crop damage, eutrophication of wetlands and airstrike risk at airports.

In recent years I have been running projects addressing goose-human conflicts. This work is done in collaboration with Johan Månsson (SLU, Grimsö, Sweden), Ingunn Tombre (NINA, Tromsö, Norway), Tony Fox (Århus University, Denmark), Lotta Berg (SLU, Skara, Sweden), Henrik Lerner (Ersta Sköndal University College), and Magnus Tuvendal (Stockholm University).

Sea snake phylogeny

My devotion to biology started with snakes as a pre-teenager. I am happy to be able to do research 'on the side' about phylogeny and taxonomy of sea snakes together with Arne Rasmussen (KADK, Copenhagen, Denmark).

Forest bird communities

Modern forestry has a strong impact on bird communities. I have studied the effects of landscape composition and forestry-related fragmentation in boreal Swedish forests in co-operation with Lars Edenius (Umeå, Sweden). I have also worked with related questions in boreo-nemoral forests in the south of the country.

Ecology of amphibians

I did my ph.D. about the reproductive ecology of two boreal frog species in the late 1980´s at Umeå university, Sweden. Yes, I was on "the sexual selection bandwagon" of that time, but I managed to dabble a bit into ecophysiology and population ecology as well. Although I have not published much in this field lately, I remain a devoted herpetologist. Feel free to discuss any boreal aspect of herpetology with me.

My scientific papers

MY scientific papers and some popular are listed below. I will be glad to tell you more and to send you reprints or pdfs. Please write me at Johan.Elmberg@hkr.se.