Elin Dahlgren

My research integrates algal toxins, pigments, and essential nutrients to understand how chemical signals propagate through food webs and affect fish health, reproduction, and aquaculture sustainability, with particular emphasis on Baltic salmonids and the Baltic Sea.

I am engaged in teaching activities within the courses:

• Ecology
• Assessment and Advice on the Principles of Fisheries Science 

Research Focus: Chemical Drivers of Aquatic Animal Health

Algal chemical ecology & exposure pathways
- Production and transport of algal toxins and bioactive compounds
- Accumulation in food webs and aquaculture species
- Early-warning systems and operational monitoring tools

Fish health, reproduction and nutritional stress
- Thiamine deficiency (M74) in Baltic salmonids
- Development of standardized and cost-effective monitoring of vitamin status
- Linking chemical exposure, nutrient limitation, and reproductive success in fish
- Application in stock assessment and management (ICES)

Applied research & biosphere collaboration 

Algverkstan (2025-2027), is a practice-based initiative within the aspiring biosphere reserve Nämdö Green Archipelago (NGA), combining marine citizen science, algae innovation (e.g. pigments, food, agriculture), and ecosystem restoration.

2022- Member of ICES assessment Working Group on Baltic Salmon and Trout 

2022- 2024 Coordinator for the Collaboration between SLU and the Baltic Sea Science Center at Skansen.

2021 - 2023 Member of the Baltic Sea Committee at The Royal Swedish Agricultural Academy 

2019- : Appointed as lay judge within The Land and Environment Court (Mark och Miljödomstolen).

• Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). 2015- 2018.
• Guest researcher (50%), Stockholm University. 2015.
• Guest lecturer (50%), Södertörn University.  2015.
• Toxicologist, Swedish National Food Agency (NFA).  2014.
• Curator/researcher, Swedish museum of Natural history, Stockholm. 2012- 2013.
• Teaching assistant, Södertörn University. 2008.
• Field assistant, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA),  Uppsala University, University of Alberta, SLU. 1999-2002.

Main supervisor of PhD-student Manne Larsson "Large-scale mapping of
algal toxins and thiamine  in the Baltic Sea for climate adaptation of aquaculture" 2023- ongoing.

Co-supervisor of PhD-student Manuela Seehauser," The effects of climate change on cyanobacterial toxin production associated to mussel aquaculture" 2024-ongoing.

Co-supervisor of PhD-student Vittoria Todisco, “Quantifying the transfer of thiamin (vitamin B1) from producers to top predators”. Linnaeus University. 2020-2024.

Dahlgren, Elin, et al. "Are there lingering effects of egg thiamine deficiency (M74) in thiamine-treated Baltic Sea salmon (Salmo salar) juveniles?." Aquaculture 595 (2025): 741581.

Larsson, Manne, et al. "Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometric Method and a Fluorometric 96 Well Plate Assay for Determination of Thiamine in Salmonid Eggs." ACS omega 9.40 (2024): 41703-41710.

Todisco, V., Fridolfsson, E., Axén, C., Dahlgren, E., Ejsmond, M. J., Hauber, M. M., ... & Hylander, S. (2023). Thiamin dynamics during the adult life cycle of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Journal of Fish Biology.

Bryhn, A. C., Bergek, S., Bergström, U., Casini, M., Dahlgren, E., Ek, C., ... & Wennhage, H. (2022). Which factors can affect the productivity and dynamics of cod stocks in the Baltic Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak?. Ocean & Coastal Management, 223, 106154.

Jones, D., Dahlgren, E., Jacobson, P., & Karlson, A. M. (2022). Determining Baltic salmon foraging areas at sea using stable isotopes in scales—a tool for understanding health syndromes. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 79(1), 158-168.

Kanwischer, M., Asker, N., Wersnersson, AS., Wirth, M.A., Dahlgren, E., Osterholz, H., Habedank, F., Naumann, M. and Mannio, J. 2021. Substances of Emerging Concern in Baltic Sea Water – Review on Methodological Advances for the Environmental Assessment and Proposal for Future Monitoring. Accepted for publication in Ambio.

Glynn, A., Kotova, N., Dahlgren, E., Lindh, C., Jakobsson, K., Gyllenhammar, I., Lignell, S., Nälsén, C. 2020. Determinants of serum concentrations of perflouroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in school children and the contribution of low-level PFAA-contaminated drinking water. Env. Sci. Processes Impacts. DOI: 10.1039/c9em00497a

Lindqvist, D., Dahlgren, E och Asplund, L. 2017. Biosynthesis of hydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers and the correlation with photosynthetic pigments in the red alga Ceramium tenuicorne. Phytochemistry 133, 51-58.

Dahlgren, E., Lindqvist, D., Dahlgren, H. , Asplund, L , Lehtilä, K. 2016. Trophic transfer of naturally produced brominated aromatic compounds in a Baltic Sea food chain.  Chemosphere 144, 1597-1604.

Dahlgren, E., Enhus, C., Lindqvist, D., Eklund, B., Asplund, L. 2015. Induced production of brominated aromatic compounds in the algae Ceramium tenuicorne. Environ Sci. Pollut. res: 22, 18107 - 18114.

Noring, M., Håkansson, C., Dahlgren, E. 2015. Non-market valuation of the costal
environment- ecosystem services and ecotoxicity. Ambio.

Dahlgren, E., and K. Lehtilä. 2015. Tolerance to apical and leaf damage of Raphanus raphanistrum in different competitive regimes. Ecology and Evolution 5:5193–5202.

https://www.slu.se/centrumbildningar-och-projekt/algtox/

https://www.slu.se/centrumbildningar-och-projekt/slu-vattenforum/samverkan/bssc/