Milla RAUTIO, Ph.D.


Milla Rautio is a professor in the Aquatic Sciences Laboratory in Université du Quebéc à Chicoutimi, Canada. She also holds a Canada Research Chair in Boreal Aquatic Ecology. Her main research interest is boreal and high-latitude freshwater ecology, especially

  • The role of allochthonous carbon in lake food webs
  • Response of zooplankton to ultraviolet radiation
  • Benthic-pelagic coupling in shallow subarctic and arctic ponds
  • The use of Cladocera in paleolimnology
  • Winter limnology


Dr. Rautio did her undergraduate and PhD studies in University of Helsinki. After her PhD in 2001 she completed two years of postdoctoral studies in Université Laval, Canada, followed by three years as a research associate and as an ArcticNet science coordinator. Between 2008 and 2011 she worked as Academy Research Fellow in University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and since then she has been appointed as a professor in Université du Quebéc à Chicoutimi, Canada.


Département des sciences fondamentales
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
555, boulevard de l'Université
Chicoutimi (Québec)
G7H 2B1 Canada

Phone: +418-545-5011 ext. 5084
Email: milla.rautio(at)uqac.ca

PUBLICATIONS:


Podcast of lake sampling on Victoria island, 2014


Nevalainen L, Rantala MV, Luoto TP, Rautio M, Ojala AEK 2014. Holocene carbon fluctuations and paleo-optics in a high arctic lake in Nordaustlandet, Svalbard (80°N). Boreas (in press).


Häder D, Williamson C, Gao K, Helbling EW, Wängberg S-A, Rautio M, Rose KC, Worrest R, Sinha RP. Effects of UV radiation on aquatic ecosystems and interactions with other environmental factors. Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences. Invited peer reviewed paper (in press).


Mariash H, Devlin SP, Forsström L, Jones RI, Rautio M. Benthic mats subsidize pelagic consumers in tundra pond food webs. Limnology and Oceanography 59: 733-744.


Nevalainen L, Rautio M 2014. Cladoceran carapace absorbance as a new method for inferring past UV radiation exposure of aquatic biota. Quaternary Science Reviews 84:109-11.


Eloranta A, Mariash H, Rautio M & Power M. 2013. Lipid rich zooplankton as a subsidy to the benthivorous winter diet of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) in a Finnish subarctic lake. Freshwater Biology.


Culp J, Lento J, Goedkoop W, Power M, Rautio M, Christofferson K, Frenzel S, Guðbergsson G, Liljaniemi P, Sandøy S & Svoboda M. Developing a circumpolar monitoring plan for Arctic freshwater biodiversity. Climate Change Impacts on Arctic and Antarctic Biodiversity (accepted).


Forsström L, Roiha T & Rautio M. 2013. Microbial food web responses to increased allochthonous DOM in an oligotrophic subarctic lake. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 68: 171–184.


Rautio M & Nevalainen L. 2013. Cladocera. Encyclopedia of Quaternary Sciences, vol. 3, pp. 271-280. Elsevier.


Roiha, T., Tiirola, M., Cazzanelli, M. & Rautio, M. Carbon quantity defines productivity while its quality defines community composition of bacterioplankton in subarctic ponds. Aquatic Sciences 74.


Cazzanelli M, Forsström L, Rautio M, Michelsen A & Christoffersen KS 2012. Benthic production is the key to Daphnia middendorffiana survival in a shallow High Arctic freshwater ecosystem. Freshwater Biology 57: 541-551.


J.M. Culp, W. Goedkoop, J. Lento, K.S. Christoffersen, S. Frenzel, G. Gudbergsson, P. Liljaniemi, S. Sandoy, M. Svoboda, J. Brittain, L. Forsström, J. Hammar, D. Jacobsen, B. Jones, C. Juillet, M. Kahlert, K. Kidd, E. Luiker, J. Olafsson, M. Power, M. Rautio, A. Ritcey, R. Striegl, M. Svenning, J. Sweetman, M. Whitman. 2012. The Arctic Freshwater Biodiversity Monitoring Plan. CAFF International Secretariat, CAFF Monitoring Series Report Nr. 7. CAFF International Secretariat. Akureyri, Iceland. ISBN 978-9935-431-19-6.


Rautio M, Dufresne F, Laurion I, Bonilla S, Vincent WF & Christoffersen KS. 2011. Shallow freshwater ecosystems of the circumpolar Arctic. Ecoscience 18: 204-222.


Rautio M, Mariash H, Forsström L. 2011. Seasonal shifts between autochthonous and allochthonous carbon contributions to zooplankton diets in a subarctic lake. Limnology & Oceanography 56: 1513-1524.


Mariash H, Cazzanelli M, Kainz M & Rautio M. 2011. Zooplankton nutrient sources and lipid retention in subarctic ponds. Freshwater Biology 56: 1850-1862.


Syväranta J. & Rautio M. 2010. Zooplankton, lipids and stable isotopes: importance of seasonal, latitudinal and taxonomic differences. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 67: 1721–1729. doi:10.1139/F10-091.


Rautio M. & Tartarotti B. 2010. UV radiation and freshwater zooplankton: damage, protection and recovery. Freshwater Rewievs 3: 105-131. DOI: 10.1608/FRJ-3.2.157


Rautio M., Bonilla, S. & Vincent, W.F. 2009. UV photoprotectants in arctic zooplankton. Aquatic Biology 7: 93-105.


Bonilla S, Rautio M & Vincent WF. 2009. Phytoplankton and phytobenthos pigment strategies: implications for algal survival in the changing Arctic. Polar Biology 32: 1293-1303.


Brancelj A, Kernan M, Jeppesen E, Rautio M, Manca M, Šiško M, Alonso M, Stuchlik E. 2009. Cladoceran remains from the sediment of remote cold lakes: A study of 294 lakes across Europe. Advances in Limnology 62.


Rautio M., Bayly, I., Gibson, J. and Nyman, M. 2008. Zooplankton and zoobenthos in high-latitude water bodies. In: Vincent, WF and Laybourn-Parry, J (eds.), High Latitude Lake and River Ecosystems. Oxford University Press. pp. 231-247.


Forsström L, Sorvari S, Rautio M, Sonninen E & Korhola A 2007. Changes in physical and chemical limnology and plankton during the spring melt period in a subarctic lake. International Review of Hydrobiology 92: 301-325.


Rautio M, Vincent WF 2007. Isotopic analysis of the sources of organic carbon for zooplankton in shallow subarctic and arctic waters. Ecography 30: 77-87.


Rautio M. 2007 The use of Cladocera in paleolimnology. In: Encyclopedia of Quaternary Sciences. Elias SA (ed.). Elsevier, B.V. pp. 2031-2039.


Vincent WF, Rautio M, Pienitz R. 2007. Climate control of underwater UV exposure in polar and alpine aquatic ecosystems. In: J.B. Orbaek, R. Kallenborn, I. Tombre, E. Hegseth, A. Falk-Petersen, A.H. Hoel (eds). Arctic Alpine Ecosystems and People in a Changing Environment. Springer, Berlin. pp. 227-249.


Rautio M, Vincent WF 2006. Benthic and pelagic food resources for zooplankton in shallow high-latitude lakes and ponds. Freshwater Biology 51: 1038-1052.


Korhola A, Sorvari S, Rautio M, Forsstrom L, Nyman M, Albert R-L, Raddum G, Elo R. Relative influences of location, catchment and proximate limnological factors on the distribution of aquatic organisms in small arctic lakes of Finnish Lapland. Freshwater Biology (under revision).


Forsström L, Sorvari S, Korhola, A, Rautio M 2005. Seasonality of phytoplankton in subarctic Lake Saanajärvi in NW Finnish Lapland. Polar Biology 28: 846-861.


Rautio M 2005. Freshwater Ecosystems and Fisheries (Chapter Eds. Wrona, F, Prowse, TD and Reist, JD). Contribution to a book published by ACIA (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment).Cambridge University Press, p. 423.


Smol JP, Wolfe AP, Birks HJB, Douglas MSV, Jones VJ, Korhola A, Pienitz R, Rühland K, Sorvari S, Antoniades D, Brooks SJ, Fallu M-A, Hughes M, Keatley BE, Laing TE, Michelutti N, Nazarova L, Nyman M, Paterson AP, Perren B, Quinlan R, Rautio M, Saulnier-Talbot É, Siitonen S, Solovieva N, Weckström J. 2005. Climate-driven regime shifts in the biological communities of arctic lakes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102: 4397-4402.


Schwenk K, Junttila P, Rautio M, Bastiansen F, Knapp J, Dove O, Billiones R, Streit B. 2004. Ecological, morphological, and genetic differentiation of Daphnia (Hyalodaphnia) from the Finnish and Russian subarctic. Limnology and Oceanography 49:532-539.


Rautio M, Korhola A, Zellmer ID. 2003. Vertical distribution of Daphnia longispina in a shallow subarctic pond: Does the interaction of ultraviolet radiation and Chaoborus predation explain the pattern? Polar Biology 26:659-665.


Korhola A, Sorvari S, Rautio M, Appleby PG, Dearing JA, Hy Y, Rose N, Lami A, Cameron NG. 2002. A multi-proxy analysis of climate impacts on recent development of subarctic Lake Saanajärvi in Finnish Lapland. Journal of Paleolimnology. 28:59-77.


Cameron NG, Schnell ØA, Rautio M, Lami A, Livingstone DM, Appleby PG, Dearing JA, Rose NL. 2002. High resolution analyses of recent sediments from a Norwegian Mountain lake and comparison with instrumental records of climate. Journal of Paleolimnology 28:79-93.


Catalan J, Ventura M, Brancelj A, Granados I, Thies H, Nickus U, Korhola A, Lotter AF, Barbieri A, Stuchlik E, Lien L, Bitušík P, Buchaca T, Camarero L, Goudsmit GH, Kopácek J, Lemcke G, Livingstone DM, Müller B, Rautio M, Šiško M, Sorvari S, Šporka F, Strunecký O, Toro M. 2002. Seasonal ecosystem variability in remote mountain lakes: implications for detecting climatic signals in the sediment record. Journal of Paleolimnology 28:25-46.


Rautio M, Korhola A. 2002. UV-induced pigmentation in subarctic Daphnia. Limnology and Oceanography 47:295-299.


Rautio M, Korhola A. 2002. Effects of ultraviolet radiation and dissolved organic carbon on the survival of subarctic zooplankton. Polar Biology 25:469-473.


Rautio M 2001. Ecology of zooplankton in subarctic ponds, with a focus on responses to ultraviolet radiation. Ph.D. thesis, University of Helsinki. 30p +app. Download synthesis part as a PDF-file


Korhola A, Rautio M. 2001. Cladocera and other branchiopod crustaceans. In: J.P. Smol, H.J.B. Birks & W.M. Last (eds.), Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Volume 4: Zoological indicators. Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 5-41.


Rautio M 2001. Zooplankton assemblages related to environmental characteristics in treeline ponds in Finnish Lapland. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 33:289-298.


Rautio M, Sorvari S, Korhola A. 2000. Diatom and crustacean zooplankton communities, their seasonal variability and their representation in the sediment of subarctic Lake Saanajärvi. j. Limnol., 59 (Suppl.1): 81-96.


Sorvari S, Rautio M, Korhola A. 2000. Seasonal dynamics of the subarctic Lake Saanajärvi in Finnish Lapland. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 27:507-512.


Rautio M 1998. Community structure of crustacean zooplankton in subarctic ponds - effects of altitude and physical heterogeneity. Ecography 21:327-335.


Viitasalo M, Rautio M. 1998. Zooplanktivory by Praunus flexuosus (Crustacea: Mysidacea): functional responses and prey selection in relation to prey escape responses. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 174:77-87.


Rautio M 1997. Threats to arctic biodiversity. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF). 52p.