Kevin Bishop,^* Keith Beven,^** Georgia Destouni,^*** Katarina Abrahamsson,^**** Lotta Andersson,^***** Richard K. Johnson,^****** Johan Rodhe,^******* Niclas Hjerdt<sup>********


*</sup>Kevin Bishop is professor of Environmental Assessment. He has explored how substances such as carbon, sulfur, and mercury move through catchments. His research on natural levels of acidity, organic carbon, and mercury has led him to ponder the role of the “natural” in water management. His address: Department of Environmental Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. Kevin.bishop@ma.slu.se
^**Keith Beven is professor of Hydrology at Lancaster University, and he was the King Carl XVI Gustaf Visiting Professor in Environmental Sciences at Uppsala University (2006–2007). His modeling of water in catchments has inspired a generation of hydrologists. An important and innovative aspect of his work has been the development of new methods to estimate uncertainty in environmental modeling and how this influences the decision-making process. This work is summarized in a recent book Environmental Modelling: An Uncertain Future? (Routledge, 2008). His address: Department of Aquatic Science and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. K.Beven@lancaster.ac.uk
^***Georgia Destouni is professor of Hydrology, Hydrogeology, and Water Resources. Her research interests include hydrological pollutant transport, hydrochemical transport reactions, environmental policy, economics and targets of water-system management. Her address: Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. gia.destouni@natgeo.su.se
^****Katarina Abrahamsson is a professor of Analytical and Marine Chemistry at Gothenburg University. She has worked with the formation of volatile halogenated organic compounds in marine waters by macro- and microalgae. Many of these naturally produced compounds have an anthropogenic source as well, and part of the research has been to separate the natural signal from the anthropogenic. Her address: Department of Chemistry, Gothenburg University, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden. k@chem.gu.se
^*****Lotta Andersson is a researcher at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute and an adjunct professor of Water and Environmental Studies at Linköping University, Sweden. With the help of models, she assesses spatial and temporal variability of water and nutrient flow due to natural variability and human impact, with emphasis on the use of models as facilitators in stakeholders dialogues. In such dialogues, the use of “natural” when deciding on environmental goals has often been challenged, since it can be seen as hampering the stakeholder's possibility to influence the future of their own environment, and thus limit their motivation to work toward it. Her address: Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 601 76 Norrköping, Sweden. lotta.andersson@smhi.se
^******Richard K. Johnson is professor of Environmental Assessment. He is an aquatic ecologist with expertise in benthic communities of lakes and streams. Research interests range from micro- to macroecology, but especially understanding drivers of large-scale patterns in biodiversity. His interest in reference conditions has been driven in part by the pivotal role of the reference in ecological classification and the ways in which global change will affect future baselines. His address: Department of Aquatic Science and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. richard.johnson@vatten.slu.se
^*******Johan Rodhe is a Professor of Oceanography. His main interest has been in currents, mixing, and transport of material in fjords and coastal waters, especially around Sweden and in Chile. He is at present Secretary General of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO). His address: Department of Earth Sciences, Gothenburg University, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden. johan.rodhe@gu.se
^********Niclas Hjerdt, Ph.D., is a hydrologist at the Division of Environment & Safety Services, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. He is currently working with water-quality modeling on scales ranging from small forested catchments to entire nations. Prior to this, he studied the effects of river restoration in northern Sweden together with historians, ecologists, and biologists who all struggled to find “natural” reference conditions in an area that is often considered to be the last wilderness of Europe. His address: Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 601 76 Norrköping, Sweden.niclas.hjerdt@smhi.se