Eliza Maher Hasselquist

I use field surveys, stable isotopes, GIS, and hydrological modelling to study how human impacts on waterways and ecological restoration of those impacts affect tree growth, plant communities, and nutrient cycling in order to ensure high water quality and biodiversity while balancing societal needs for forest products. I research the effects of historic forestry activities on waterways and their riparian zones in relatively large but wadeable streams down to man-made forest drainage ditches in wetlands.  In streams formerly channelized to facilitate timber floating in Sweden, I found that increasing hydrogeomorphic complexity increased biodiversity of instream organisms and riparian plants, but that it could take up to 25 years to recover. The Swedish forest industry also changed waterways by creating forest drainage ditches in the 1930s as part of a government work program to increase production of forest in wetlands. I am currently researching GIS and hydrological modelling methods that will provide guidelines on future management of ditches that balances the positive effects on tree productivity against potentially negative environmental impacts.

At SLU, I am co-coordinator of the MS-level Silviculture course and teach units on forest hydrology, in particular how forest drainage has affected forests and waterways. At Umeå University, I taught plant inventory techniques in Ecological Field Methods (Ekologisk Fältmetodik), mushroom keying in Mushroom Identification (Svampkunskap), and plant anatomy and keying in first-year basic courses (Naturens mångfald och Basåret). I also supervised small research projects in Forest Ecology and Management as well as Ecology; which included supervising project development, field work, statistics and report writing. In this capacity, I've worked with students with many different cultural backgrounds from more than 10 different countries.​

Current projects:

Swedish Research Council Formas: From research to implementation for a sustainable society, 2022-2024 "MUST DEFINE: Using a MUltiple STakeholder Dialog and Experiments to reFINE the Swedish Strategic Management Objectives for forest buffers along streams." Co-applicant with researchers, stakeholders from the Swedish Forest Agency, and Forest Companies

Swedish Research Council Formas: Swedish Forests Roll in Climate Change, 2022-2026: "Barriers and Opportunities to Managing forest ditches for climate – Research, Up-scaling, & Legislation (BOM)" - Co-applicant on this Interdisciplinary, 16 million SEK grant FUNDING A PHD STUDENT - APPLY HERE!

Skogssällskapet, 2021-2022: "BIO-REACT: Biochar reactors to purify forest runoff water in managed peatland forests - efficiency of novel biochar
feedstocks"  

Swedish Research Council Formas Mobility Grant, 2019-2023: "Optimizing digital tools for balancing forest productivity and water quality when managing drained boreal forests" - research exchange with Natural Resources Institute of Finland (Luke, Helsinki, Finland), with home university at SLU in Umeå

Water Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) 2018 JOINT CALL, 2019-2023:“REFORM WATER: Reducing the Effects of FORest Management to inland WATERs” - Consortium of five countries working on questions related to peatland forestry and effects of forest drainage.

Past projects:

Skogssällskapet (the Swedish Forest Society Foundation), 2017-2018: "When do we ditch the ditch? – A field test of the “DitchFlowTracker” to prioritize forest drainage ditch maintenance for sustainable forest management" link to the project at Skogssällskapet's website

I work as the Campus Representative for the Future Forests platform. 

I'm actively participating in the GRIP on LIFE Integrated project in collaboration with The Swedish Forest Agency (Skogsstyrelsen) and the County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen) of Västerbotten County

I am a former representative for the Forest Faculty (S-fak) on the Steering Committee for the SLU Future Faculty, an organisation with the aim to promote the career of early career researchers at SLU. 

Postdoc, Forest Biogeochemistry, 2015-2020                                       SLU, Umeå, Sweden

Funded by the Swedish Research Council Formas granted to Katarina Eckerberg (Department of Political Science, Umeå University) & Hjalmar Laudon: "Healthy Waters: The role of collaborative governance to minimize negative forestry impact on water quality"

Main advisor: Hjalmar Laudon

Ph.D., Ecology, 2010 - 2015 (25 Sept 2015)                 Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

Thesis title: “Gradients of time and complexity: understanding how riparian and instream ecosystems recover after stream restoration”                                             

Main Advisor: Christer Nilsson

M.S., Biology, 2002 - 2004                            Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA

Thesis title: “Effects of surrounding vegetation on establishment of conifer seedlings in alpine-treeline ecotones of the Rocky Mountains”           

Main Advisor:  Matthew J. Germino

B.S., Biology, 1999                                                 Keene State College, Keene, NH, USA

Supervision of students (PhD level)

Virginia (Vicky) Mosquera, Co-supervisor, Preliminary PhD Thesis title, “Side by side comparison of the impact of old forest harvest and drainage ditches on water quality,” Forest Ecology & Management, SLU, Sweden, Expected defense Fall 2023, Co-supervised with Hjalmar Laudon (main) & Ryan Sponseller

Shirin Karimi, Co-supervisor, Preliminary PhD Thesis title, “Using wetland restoration as a tool to mitigate runoff extremes,” Forest Ecology & Management, SLU, Sweden, Expected defense Fall 2023, Co-supervised with Hjalmar Laudon (main), Jan Seibert, and Kevin Bishop

Supervision of students (Masters level)

Jessica Åström, M.S., Thesis. “Evaluating abundance of deciduous trees in production forests along small streams: can Sweden meet current policy goals without intensive management?” Forest Ecology & Management, SLU, Sweden, March 2020

Hanna Glöd, M.S., Thesis: “Forest drainage effects on tree growth in northern Sweden - developing guidelines for Ditch Network Maintenance” Forest Ecology & Management, SLU, Sweden, Feb 2018

Lisa Sandberg, M.S., Thesis: “Effects of restoration on instream bryophyte communities: monitoring of two different restoration techniques in the Vindel River system,” Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Sweden, January 2015

Supervision of students (Bachelors level)

Fanny Everheim, B.S., Thesis: “Effects of stream restoration on riparian bryophytes” Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Sweden, June 2016

Julia Nygårdh & Linnea Larsson, B.S. Thesis: “Riparian buffers and their management through time: Has the composition in riparian zones been affected by previous management since 1963?” Forest Ecology & Management, SLU, Sweden, May 2020

Publications from SLUPub

Google scholar

Hasselquist, E.M., L. Kuglerová, J. Sjögren, J. Hjältén, E. Ring, R. A. Sponseller, E. Andersson, J. Lundström, I. Mancheva, A. Nordin, and H. Laudon. 2021. Moving towards multi-layered, mixed-species forests in riparian buffers will enhance their long-term function in boreal landscapes. Forest Ecology and Management 493:119254.

Nieminen, M., S. Sarkkola, E. M. Hasselquist, and T. Sallantaus. 2021. Long-Term Nitrogen and Phosphorus Dynamics in Waters Discharging from Forestry-Drained and Undrained Boreal Peatlands. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 232:371.

Nieminen, M., S. Sarkkola, T. Sallantaus, E. M. Hasselquist, and H. Laudon. 2021. Peatland drainage - a missing link behind increasing TOC concentrations in waters from high latitude forest catchments? Science of the Total Environment 774:145150.

Laudon, H., E. M. Hasselquist, M. Peichl, K. Lindgren, R. Sponseller, F. Lidman, L. Kuglerová, N. J. Hasselquist, K. Bishop, M. B. Nilsson, and A. M. Ågren. 2021. Northern landscapes in transition: Evidence, approach and ways forward using the Krycklan Catchment Study. Hydrological Processes 35:e14170.

Kuglerová, L., E. M. Hasselquist, R. A. Sponseller, T. Muotka, G. Hallsby, and H. Laudon. 2021. Multiple stressors in small streams in the forestry context of Fennoscandia: The effects in time and space. Science of the Total Environment 756:143521.

Norstedt, G., E.M. Hasselquist, and H. Laudon. 2021. From Haymaking to Wood Production: Past Use of Mires in Northern Sweden Affect Current Ecosystem Services and Function. Rural Landscapes: Society, Environment, History, 8(1), p.2. 

Kozii, N., K. Haahti, P. Tor-ngern, J. Chi, E. M. Hasselquist, H. Laudon, S. Launiainen, R. Oren, M. Peichl, J. Wallerman, and N. J. Hasselquist. 2020. Partitioning growing season water balance within a forested boreal catchment using sap flux, eddy covariance, and a process-based model. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 24: 2999-3014. 

Hasselquist, E.M., I. Mancheva, K. Eckerberg, and H. Laudon. 2020. Policy change implications for forest water protection in Sweden over the last 50 years. Ambio. 49: 1341–1351.

Kritzberg, E.S., E.M. Hasselquist, M. Škerlep, S. Löfgren, O. Olsson, J. Stadmark, S. Valinia, L.-A. Hansson, and H. Laudon. 2020. Browning of freshwaters: Consequences to ecosystem services, underlying drivers, and potential mitigation measures. Ambio. 49: 75–390.

Lind, L., E.M. Hasselquist, H. Laudon. 2019. Towards ecologically functional riparian zones: A meta-analysis to develop guidelines for protecting ecosystem functions and biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Journal of Environmental Management,  249.  

Hasselquist, E.M., LE. Polvi, M. Kahlert, C. Nilsson, L. Sandberg, and B.G. McKie. 2018. Contrasting responses among aquatic organism groups to changes in geomorphic complexity along a gradient of stream habitat restoration: implications for restoration planning and assessment. Water  10, 1465

Hasselquist, E.M., W. Lidberg, R.A. Sponseller, A. Ågren, & H. Laudon. 2018. Identifying and assessing the potential hydrological function of past artificial forest drainage. Ambio 47: 546

Kuglerová, L.*, E.M. Hasselquist*, J.S. Richardson, R. Sponseller, D. Kreutzweiser, & H. Laudon. 2017. Management perspectives on Aqua incognita: connectivity and cumulative effects of small natural and artificial streams in boreal forests. Hydrological Processes. 2017; 1-7.   *shared first-authorship

Hasselquist, E.M., N.J. Hasselquist, J.P. Sparks, & C. Nilsson.  2017. Recovery of nitrogen cycling in riparian zones after stream restoration using δ15N along a 25-year chronosequence in northern Sweden. Plant and Soil. 410: 423–436

Hasselquist, E. M., C. Nilsson, J. Hjältén, D. Jørgensen, L. Lind, & L.E. Polvi. 2015. Time for recovery of riparian plants in restored northern Swedish streams: a chronosequence study. Ecological Applications. 25: 1373–1389

Nilsson, C., L.E. Polvi, J. Gardeström, E.M. Hasselquist, L. Lind & J.M. Sarneel. 2015. Riparian and in-stream restoration of boreal streams and rivers: success or failure? Ecohydrology. 8: 753–764

Jørgensen, D., C. Nilsson, A.R. Hof, E.M. Hasselquist, S. Baker, F.S. Chapin, K. Eckerberg, J. Hjältén, L.E. Polvi, & L.A. Meyerson. 2014. Policy Language in Restoration Ecology. Restoration Ecology. 22: 1–4.

Polvi, L.E., C. Nilsson, & E.M. Hasselquist. 2014. Potential and actual geomorphic complexity of restored headwater streams in northern Sweden. Geomorphology. 210: 99–118

Hasselquist, E.M., N.J. Hasselquist, & D.L. Rogers. 2013. Management of non-native annual plants to support recovery of an endangered perennial forb, Ambrosia pumila. Restoration Ecology. 21: 224–231

Maher, E.L., & M.J. Germino. 2006. Microsite differentiation among conifer species during seedling establishment at alpine treeline. Ecoscience. 13: 334–341

Maher, E.L., M.J. Germino, & N.J. Hasselquist. 2005. Interactive effects of tree and herb cover on survivorship, physiology, and microclimate of conifer seedlings in an alpine-treeline ecotone. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 35: 567–574

Restoration, Riparian Buffer, Ditch cleaning, water quality, wetlands, stream

Restaurering, återställande, dikesrensning, skyddzoner, vattenkvalitet, våtmark, bäck