Ar Research Station

The Ar Research Station is primarily for research activities but is also used as a venue for small-scale courses, study visits, workshops and other meetings.

The station is engaged in both basic research and applied research with the focus on fish ecology in terms of studying the reproduction, behaviour and life-history strategies for both freshwater and marine fish species in the Baltic. This in order to obtain knowledge about the mechanisms that affect population development for different fish species. Both the effects of natural variations in the environmental conditions and the effects of human impacts are studied. The results of the research are intended to form the basis for managing Baltic fish stocks and thus contribute to the long-term sustainable use of the fish resources and a favourable development of the Baltic Sea as an ecosystem.

The aquatic research in northern Gotland started in 1981, by Stockholm University. In 1999, the station was transferred to Gotland University, and since 2013 the station is part of Campus Gotland. The present station building, situated on the isthmus between Gotland’s largest lake, Lake Bästeträsk, and the Baltic, was built in 1992.

Access to a large experimental hall with test tanks, two rooms with a temperature control system, basins, and a supply of good-quality freshwater and brackish water, provide excellent conditions at the station to keep live fish and to carry out experiments.