I am Hugo Coops, and I came to Matsue to work at the center for one year (2005) during a sabbatical leave from my work in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands I am employed as a senior aquatic ecologist at the Institute of Inland Water Management and Waste Water Treatment (RIZA). My work includes coordinating research and policy support for water management at the national level.

My main research interest lies in the interactions between macrophytes and their ecosystems. My PhD study (completed in 1996) involved the importance of hydraulic forces for emergent plants such as reeds and bulrushes. I later became involved in projects concerning the regeneration of floodplain forest, the management of shallow lakes dominated by charophytes, the design and evaluation of a macrophyte monitoring programme at the national level, the potential for managed water levels to restore lake ecosystems, restoration in transitional waters, and ecological benefits of floodplain adaptation works. Recently, the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive became highly relevant, including the development of standardized assessment procedures concerning macrophytes.
See below for some recent publications of my work.

At the Center, I will center my work on the ecosystem restoration potential in the lakes Shinji and Nakaumi as well as other lakes in Japan. This will particularly focus on the idea that there are alternative states in the ecosystem between which shifts can occur due to nutrient inputs (eutrophication), water-level changes, and biotic changes. The studies will include not only biological aspects of ecosystem states, but also socio-economic significance. Of particular interest is the role of macrophytes in maintaining and/or stabilizing alternative lake states, and I want to study relevant mechanisms underlying this role.

For any information please contact me at coops@soc.shimane-u.ac.jp

Selected bibliography

• Coops H, Van der Velde G (1995) Seed dispersal, germination and seedling growth of six helophyte species in relation to seedling growth. Freshwater Biology 34: 13-20.
• Coops H, Geilen N, Van der Velde G (1999) Helophyte zonation in two regulated estuarine areas in the Netherlands: vegetation analysis and relationships with hydrological factors. Estuaries 22: 657-668.
• Coops H (2002) Ecology of Charophytes: an introduction. Aquatic Botany 72: 205-208.
• Coops H, Hosper SH (2002) Water-level management as a tool for the restoration of shallow lakes in the Netherlands. Lake and Reservoir Management 18: 293-298.
• Coops H, Vulink JT, Van Nes EH (2004) Managed water levels and the expansion of emergent vegetation along a lakeshore. Limnologica 34: 57-64.
• Coops H, Van Geest GJ (2005) Extreme water-level fluctuations determine aquatic vegetation in modified large-river floodplains. Archiv fur Hydrobiologie (in press).