National Ambassadors

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Brazil

Adjunct professor at the Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil

I am a coordinator and permanent teacher of the postgraduate course in Biodiversity. My main research interest focuses on the effects of drought and multiple stressors such as salinity on the resilience of dryland systems and aquatic communities.

Czech & Slovak Republics

Professor of ecology at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague

My research focuses on biological invasions (especially on the model of crayfish and crayfish plague), evolutionary ecology of crustacean zooplankton, particularly Daphnia, and studies on phylogeny and diversification of various invertebrate groups. I will serve as a contact between SIL and the Czech as well as Slovak Limnological Societies, with the hope that the membership from Czechia and Slovakia will eventually increase.

Finland

Senior Scientist, Finnish Environment Institute

My current research is focused on restoration of lakes and waterfowl habitats and also on the impacts of land use, especially forestry, on eutrophication and browning of lentic ecosystems. I am also interested in aquatic biodiversity, especially crustacean zooplankton. I am involved in the working committee of the limnological division of Water Association of Finland. As a NR and by that network, I hope to attract and encourage more professionals, especially Early Career scientists to join SIL.
Hungary
Researcher, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research

I am an aquatic ecologist with a solid background in phytoplankton ecology. I am eager to couple ecosystem functioning to functional diversity (BEF) in planktic algal communities in a mechanistic way and to better understand the importance of Chytrid algal parasites in aquatic food webs.

As a national representative of SIL, I will work towards a larger pool of active members from Hungary and for more active international cooperation in the region.

Ireland

Senior lecturer in the School of Biology & Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Ireland

My primary research activities focus on the assessment of land-use and other anthropogenic activities on the hydrochemical and ecological quality of surface waters. I have completed studies on the aquatic habitats of peatlands, agricultural, upland, urban and forested landscapes.

My main goal as Ireland’s SIL representative is to enable improved communication among Irish freshwater researchers and to promote the advantages of SIL membership especially among students and early career freshwater scientists.

Israel

Senior researcher at the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Kinneret Limnological Laboratory

My research interests are climate change; general limnology, impact of physical processes on ecology of lakes; greenhouse gas emission; sedimentation; organic carbon fluxes; ecological impacts of lake water level fluctuations; fishery acoustics; underwater acoustics.

My main goals as SIL’s National Representative are to support scientific communication in limnology across countries and societies, to promote studying the freshwater ecosystems, understanding their functioning, and finding solutions for proper management.

Japan

My research focus is on protistan ecology from lakes, streams and coastal seas, together with ecology of heterotrophic bacteria and cyanobacteria. My main goal as a National Representative is to have more communication with all the activities organized by the SIL for more membership from Japan.

Mexico

Full professor at National Autonomous University of Mexico, Campus Iztacala

My research interests are limno-ecology of different aquatic organisms (Rotifera, Cladocera, Copepoda, Ostracoda, Anostraca, Cnidaria, fish larvae) with special reference to life table demography, population dynamics, body size, and predator-prey interactions. Taxonomy of Rotifera and Cladocera, and aquatic ecotoxicology.

My goals as NR for Mexico are to increase the membership in SIL from Mexico, conduct workshops/conferences under the auspices of SIL, invite prominent SIL members to Mexico for imparting courses on basic and applied limnology, and to contribute to SILNews regarding the latest developments on the Mexican limnology.

New Zealand
Researcher, University of Otago
I am a research fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago. My research interests are the assessment of anthropogenic impacts on lake ecosystems, the structure and functioning of planktonic communities along environmental gradients, aquatic microbial ecology and palaeolimnological reconstruction of historic environments.
Norway
Researcher, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre
I work mainly with topics related to the effects of eutrophication. This includes monitoring activities and environmental assessment studies in a range of lakes and rivers in the Jæren region, which is the main area of livestock farming in Norway. My primary focus is on phytoplankton ecology.
Philippines
Professor, Biological Sciences and Dean of the College of Science, University of Santo Tomas
My research interests are on tropical freshwater microcrustacean zooplankton ecology and systematics as well as lake ecology. My laboratory houses and maintains the UST Zooplankton Reference Collection (UST-ZRC), the first and so far, only organized repository of freshwater zooplankton in the Philippines. As SIL National Representative, my goal is to promote the science of limnology among interested students and to ensure the active participation of Filipino limnologists in the study, conservation, and management of freshwater ecosystems in our country. I would also like to maintain the link between SIL and the newly-established Philippine Society for Freshwater Science
South Korea

Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the Pusan National University, Republic of Korea

My research is on 1) long-term ecological research of a regulated river (Nakdong River), 2) ecological mechanism of plankton blooms in a regulated river system, 3) food web dynamics in the flood-plain wetlands, 4) impact of aquatic invasive species, 5) scientific understanding of traditional knowledge and culture in the wetlands. My laboratory studies diverse taxa and wide-ranging issues in the study of aquatic ecosystems. As a national representative of SIL my main goal is to encourage the participation of Korean SIL members. I will also try to enhance capacity building of young limnologists by strengthening relationships with international research networks, knowledge sharing, and collaboration.

Spain
Professor, Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia
My research focus is on ecological quality of wetlands, lagoons, permanent and temporary ponds and recently also in limnology of reservoirs, with emphasis in trophic status and Ecological Quality Ratio under the Water Framework Directive of the European Union. My main goals as SIL’s National Representative are the collection of dues and distribution of the information from SIL to Spanish members.
Sweden
Professor, Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
My research interests are largely focused on understanding the importance of local and large-scale drivers of the biodiversity of lakes and streams, and how human intervention alters these patterns. Recent research interests include the importance of cross-habitat linkages for biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and resilience. As a SIL national representative, I endeavour to spread knowledge of inland aquatic systems and their management to stakeholders and encourage young professionals to join SIL’s mission.
Switzerland
Group Leader, Aquatic Ecology, Eawag
My main research focus is on the processes that influence the diversity in freshwater plankton populations. As main model system I use Daphnia. We study for example the influence of cyanobacteria on Daphnia populations and their parasites. Recently we sequenced the genome of Daphnia galeata. I see SIL, with its broad representation from countries all over the world, as the ideal organisation to support international collaboration among limnologists. As Swiss SIL representative I want to continue what I do in my work: integrate science and practice. Water is a very valuable good which is under threat even in Switzerland, as witnessed by ongoing discussions on, for instance, micropollutants or whether lakes are now “too clean.” With my contacts within Switzerland and abroad I hope to connect colleagues in such discussions.
The Netherlands

My present research interests are plankton dynamics in a changing world, eutrophication control of aquatic systems, and development of harmful blooms. My SIL goals are to make SIL 21th century proof, and to attract more Early Career scientists to SIL.

United Kingdom

Senior freshwater ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

My research focuses mainly on zooplankton ecology, and the restoration and recovery of lakes that are affected by eutrophication problems. As the UK’s national representative, my main aim is to encourage and support SIL members, and to raise the profile of limnological research, across the UK.

USA
Professor, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara
As a physical limnologist, my focus is on the linkages between physical, biological and chemical processes. I have been fortunate enough to have conducted studies in lakes from the tropics to the Arctic. As the USA Contact NR, my goals include furthering the study of all aspects of limnology world-wide, the training of young scientists, and networking of limnologists of diverse backgrounds.
France

General Secretary-Treasurer

Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 | UCBL
Laboratoire d’écologie des hydrosystèmes naturels et anthropisés (LEHNA)
69622
Villeurbanne Cedex
FRANCE

Columbia

SILNews Editor

 Departamento de Biología – Oficina 205 – ext. 11319.

Universidad Nacional de Colombia – Sede Bogotá,

111321, Bogotá

COLUMBIA

Australia

Executive Deputy Director and Professor, Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University

I have research interests in nutrient biogeochemistry and harmful algal blooms working in the continuum from catchments, rivers, reservoirs to the coast. I am also an Associate Editor of Inland Waters.

As the SIL national representative for Australia, my aim is to promote SIL, and increase membership of the society amongst the large number of freshwater scientists in Australia. I also aim to look for opportunities to link SIL more effectively with other research initiatives including the UNESCO-funded GlobalHAB initiative, focussed on harmful algal bloom research.

Austria

Group Leader of the WasserCluster Lunz Biological Station

Austria

Postdoctoral Researcher, the Institute of Ecology of University of Innsbruck

Ethiopia
Assitant Professor, University of Gondar

Gizachew have had research experience in freshwater fish biodiversity, fish migration and reproduction, conservation of threatened Labeobarbus species, river pollution, water quality assessment in rivers and lakes, and management of invasive aquatic weeds (water hyacinth) in Lake Tana. Stream and river ecology, macroinvertebrate based biotic indices, in-situ and laboratory techniques for measuring water quality parameters. He was awarded a research grant at University of Gondar, Tonolli memorial fund at International Society of Limnology (SIL), conservation grants of Rufford Foundation, and Wetzel travel award at International Society of Limnology (SIL).

Canada
Assitant Professor, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change, York University

My current research is focused on understanding the controls on contaminant distributions, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and metals, in northern Canadian lakes. As National Representative it is my goal to continue to enhance the strong linkage between the Canadian limnology community and our international counterparts.

 
Venezuela

Professor, Central University of Venezuela

France
Post-doctoral Researcher, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

My research activities aim to understand the dynamics of lake plankton communities as well as to understand the taxonomic and functional modifications of phytoplankton in relation to current anthropogenic and climatic changes. Particularly, my research focuses on the role of phytoplankton communities in the carbon transfer pathways in lakes.

The specific questions that my research addresses are the following:

  • What are the factors influencing the structure and composition of phytoplankton communities in oligotrophic high-altitude lakes and in mesotrophic peri-alpine lakes?
  • How dissolved organic matter inputs can modify the taxonomic and functional composition of phytoplankton and the relationships between bacterioplankton and phytoplankton?
 
Germany
Researcher, University of Oldenburg
Hungary
Group Leader, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research
Italy
Researcher, National Research Council of Italy – Water Research Institute
Spain
Professor, Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia
Ukraine
Researcher, Institute of Hydrobiology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Dr. Bilous is a specialist in identification of phytoplankton and phytobenthos using different methods as light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. She conducted her identifications of algae for different waterbodies: from riverine landscapes to lakes and reservoirs from different geographical locations with special ecological conditions (Ukraine, Italy, Germany).

She has conducted ecological status assessment of different water bodies based on her algological findings (phytoplankton, phytobenthos) and hydrochemistry following EU Water Framework Directive requirements. Dr. Bilous Olena has been assessing ecological and chemical status of representative surface water bodies, making pressure and impact analysis and risk assessment of the surface water and groundwater bodies, setting reference conditions and mapping protected zones (territories) – for the Siversky Donets, Dniester River basin, Southern Bug River, Sasyk, Kyiv, Kaniv reservoirs, springs in Berchtesgaden National Park and Northern Apennines.

Uruguay

Vice-President, Education

Department of Ecology and Environmental Management, Centro Universitario Regional del Este, Universidad de la República

URUGUAY

Mexico

Researcher at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

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