Riinu Rannap

Riinu Rannap in Tartu, in front of Vanemuine 46 in 2011. Photo: Lauri Kulpsoo Riinu Rannap (born 23 October 1966) is an Estonian zoologist who studies amphibians and whose research focuses on protecting amphibians and their wetland habitats.

Biography Her father was the writer Jaan Rannap and her cousin is the composer and pianist Rein Rannap. From 1985 to 1990, she attended the University of Tartu, Faculty of Biology and Geography, and from 2005 to 2009, she completed her doctoral studies at the Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences at the same university. Her doctoral dissertation was titled: Impacts of habitat loss and restoration on amphibian populations.

Her research has shown that in Estonia during the Soviet era, land use changed with increased forest plantings, more pollution from field runoff from agriculture and unfiltered waste from urban areas spilling into waterways. The result was habitat loss, not only for the Natterjack Toad but also for meadow birds, because they lay their eggs in those areas. These animals are afraid of forests, and they need vast open wetlands; they search for food in pools and wet areas. She concluded that "by the end of the 1990s, we had just 20 populations left of the Natterjack Toad in Estonia, a species that once thrived in the coastal areas of Estonia." She focuses her primary research on organisms associated with small water bodies – amphibians and aquatic macroinvertebrates, their habitat, their geographical variability, colonization of novel ecosystems and opportunities for habitat restoration.

Selected publications Rannap, Riinu, Asko Lõhmus, and Kaidi Jakobson. "Consequences of coastal meadow degradation: the case of the natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) in Estonia." Wetlands 27, no. 2 (2007): 390-398. Rannap, Riinu, Asko Lõhmus, and Lars Briggs. "Niche position, but not niche breadth, differs in two coexisting amphibians having contrasting trends in Europe." Diversity and Distributions 15, no. 4 (2009): 692-700. Rannap, Riinu, Tanel Kaart, Hannes Pehlak, Silja Kana, Elin Soomets, and Kaire Lanno. "Coastal meadow management for threatened waders has a strong supporting impact on meadow plants and amphibians." Journal for Nature Conservation 35 (2017): 77-91. Rannap, Riinu, Marta M. Kaart, Tanel Kaart, Keit Kill, Evelyn Uuemaa, Ülo Mander, and Kuno Kasak. "Constructed wetlands as potential breeding sites for amphibians in agricultural landscapes: A case study." Ecological Engineering 158 (2020): 106077.