Roskilde University

Contact: Valery Forbes and Annemette Palmqvist

Roskilde University (RUC)

Roskilde University is a state university, founded in 1972, with the objective of providing research and education at the highest level in the fields of natural science, social science and the humanities. The university is organized into six interdisciplinary academic departments, has a student enrolment of approximately 9300 students and employs about 900 academic and administrative/technical staff. The Ecotoxicology Unit is part of the Environmental Dynamics Research Group under the Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change (ENSPAC). Further information about RUC can be found at www.ruc.dk.

Valery E. Forbes is Head of Department, Professor of Aquatic Ecology and Ecotoxicology and Director of the Centre for Integrated Population Ecology (CIPE). Specific research topics include population dynamics of toxicant-exposed invertebrates, fate and effects of toxic chemicals in sediments and ecological risk assessment.  She has published over 150 articles and two books on these topics. Annemette Palmqvist is Assoc. Prof. of Ecotoxicology and a member of the Centre for Integrated Population Ecology (CIPE). Specific research interests are extrapolation from individual to population level effects of contaminants, and particular areas of expertise include matrix and metapopulation modeling. Peter Calow is Adjunct Professor of Environment and Economics, has published over 260 articles and books, and has extensive consulting experience with industry and governmet. Henriette Selck is Assoc. Prof. of Ecotoxicology and Director and Chair of the Graduate School of Environmental Stress Studies (GESS). Specific research interests include effects of sediment-associated contaminants, the influence of benthic invertebrates on the fate of chemicals in aquatic systems, and ecological risk assessment.

Selected References

Forbes VE, Olsen M, Palmqvist A, Calow P. 2010. Environmentally sensitive life-cycle traits have low elasticity: implications for theory and practice. Ecol Appl.20:  1449-1455.

Forbes VE, Calow P, Sibly RM. 2008. The extrapolation problem and how population modeling can help. Environ Toxicol Chem. 27:1987-1994.

Palmqvist A, Forbes VE. 2008. Demographic effects of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, fluoranthene, on two sibling species of the polychaete Capitella capitata. In: Demographic Toxicity: Methods in Ecological Risk Assessment, HR Akçakaya, JD Stark, TS Bridges (eds), Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 200-212.

Forbes VE, Calow P 2002. Population growth rate as a basis for ecological risk assessment of toxic chemicals. Phil Trans Roy Soc Series B 357: 1299-1306.

CREAM projects hosted by Roskilde University: