Hans Ulrik Riisgård

See personal home page: www.marbio.sdu.dk

Education: M.Sc. (1976), Ph.D. (1979) and D.Sc. (1982) from University of Copenhagen.

Positions held: 1977-1983: Experimental Zoophysiologist, Marine Pollution Laboratory, National Agency of Environmental Protection, Charlottenlund, Denmark. 1983-2008: Associate Professor, Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark. 1997-2000: Guest Professor, Kristineberg Marine Research Station (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences). 2008-present: Professor, Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark.

Research: My research has mainly contributed to filter feeding, bioenergetics and fluid mechanical analysis of filter-pumps in marine invertebrates. Key words: filter-feeding in marine invertebrates; bioenergetics (food-uptake, assimilation, respiration, energy budgets, growth, costs of growth, growth efficiency); biological filter-pumps; biomixing; fluid mechanics; population grazing impact; particle capture mechanisms; benthic-pelagic coupling; biological structure and nutrient dynamics; grazing impact of benthic filter feeders; implications of density driven currents for interaction between jellyfish and zooplankton. Several research sojourns, among them: Skidaway (USA), Woods Hole (USA), University of Wales (U.K.), Kristineberg Marine Research Station (Sweden).

Editorial boards:
(1) Contributing/Review Editor (since 1985) for the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS)
(2) Co-editor (since 1995) for the Journal of Sea Research
(3) Advisory board (1996-2005) of the journal of North Atlantic marine science Sarsia
(4) Editor (since 2000) of MEPS Discussion Forum 2 (web debate on the peer-review system
(5) Editorial Board Member (since 2007) of the Journal of Cell and Animal Biology
(6) Editorial Board Member (since 2007) of the Open Oceanography Journal
(7) Editorial Board Member (since 2007) of the Open Oceanography Reviews
(8) Editorial Board Member (since 2008) of Journal of Marine Biology
(9) Editorial Board Member (since 2009) of the journal Advanced Studies in Biology       

(10) Editorial Board Member (since 2011) of the Open Journal of Marine Science
(11) Expert on Cnidaria and Ctenophora (since 2010) for The Great Danish Encyclopaedia (Den Store Danske Encyklopædi)

Memberships: Member of the Danish Academy of Sciences (DNA); American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO); Society for Experimental Biology (SEB). Member of the steering commitee for the Biodiversity Research Programme, the Research Council of Norway (Sept 2004 - Dec 2007). Member of the Nordic Marine Academy (NMA, key supervisor Jan 2005).

Miscellaneous: In 1990, I established the small Fjord Biological Laboratory in Kerteminde which in 1997 became a part of the new Marine Biological Research Centre where I am now Manager. I have ssupervised some 40 candidate (M.Sc.) research-projects, and supervised or co-supervised 7 Ph.D. projects; organized a number of international Ph.D. courses. I have received substantial support from the Danish National Research Council, private funds, and from a number of major grants from national research agencies, and EU research programmes.

Publications: Total number of publications (1977-2011): about 183 titles

See personal homepage: www.marbio.sdu.dk  


Research: Considering the dominant role of the phytoplankton in the primary production in the sea, it is understandable that filter feeding - or suspension feeding - is of widespread occurrence and filter feeders are found in almost all animal classes represented in the sea.  Filter-feeding animals are necessary links between the suspended phytoplankton and higher trophic levels in the marine food chains. A large number of filter-feeding animals like bivalves, polychaetes, ascidians, bryozoans, and sponges graze on the phytoplankton in near-bottom water, and particular in shallow coastal waters and fjords they may exert a pronounced grazing impact which may keep the water clear (but not clean) in eutrophicated areas.
     My research deals with a number of related topics: bioenergetics and energy budgets, functional response, filter-pumps and energetic cost of filter-feeding, adaptation to environment, water pumping and particle retention efficiency, particle capture mechanisms, switching between deposit and filter-feeding, grazing impact of benthic filter-feeders, and predation impact of jellyfish. Further, plankton dynamics and environmental assessment, mussels as pollution indicators and the importance of filter-feeding bivalves for the uptake of pollutants in the marine grazing food chain form part of my research profile. 

Key words: filter-feeding in marine invertebrates; bioenergetics (food-uptake, assimilation, respiration, energy budgets, growth, costs of growth, growth efficiency); biological filter-pumps; biomixing; fluid mechanics; population grazing impact; particle capture mechanisms; benthic-pelagic coupling; biological structure and nutrient dynamics; grazing impact of benthic filter feeders; implications of density driven currents for interaction between jellyfish and zooplankton.

See personal homepage: www.marbio.sdu.dk