Unwanted vegetation on the land of electric transforming stations is a problem, in the sense that it contributes to higher fire risks and also constitutes an obstacle for people performing maintenance operations at the station. Such unwanted vegetation is controlled using herbicides and mechanical measures. Since the use of herbicides implies environmental hazards, there is a need to find alternative ways of fighting the unwanted vegetation. Investigation into suitable plants for ground cover, trials in the greenhouse, trials in the field, soil analyses and compilation of experiences from similar trials are parts of this work. The paper also contains analyses of possible environmental benefits and economical gains. There is also a final discussion of some proposals regarding alternative weed controlling methods.

Many of Europe?s day-living butterflies have shown decreasing populations during the last decades and many species are threatened. Many butterflies are dependent on managed semi-natural grasslands because of their richness in nectar sources and host plants for the butterfly larva. Swedish pastures are mostly managed through grazing. The number of cattle in Sweden have been decreasing while the number of sheep in the country increased by 30%.

Wood pellets are an upgraded product of residuals from several wood processing industries, for example saw mills and pulp industries. The pellets are produced by pressing the milled and dried sawdust to cylindrical units with a higher density than the initial raw material. Pellets have great benefits compared to the raw material: high energy per volume, good transport and storage properties and homogeneity. Several parameters collaborate in the whole process, which makes it complex. Wood is a heterogeneous material, chemically and structurally dependent on wood parts, habitat and storage procedures.

Cyanobacteria belong to the oldest organisms of our planet. They use photosynthesis to produce ATP and gain biomass from carbon dioxide. The cyanobacteria Nostoc punctiforme is a filamentous bacterium that consists of two different types of cells, vegetative cells and heterocysts. The type of cell it differentiates into depends on the media they grow in. In an ammonium-rich medium, the N.punctiforme consists of vegetative cells that differentiate into heterocysts when in the medium is changed to a low-concentration ammonium medium.

Structural rationalizations and regionalization of the agricultural sector in Sweden has lead to unevenness in thedistribution of plant nutrients. Nutrients are lost from crop producing farms as harvest products are sold, whilefarms with animal production often have manure in excess of their needs. In addition to this the retention ofwater and nutrients in naturally occurring wetlands has decreased due to a reduction of wetlands in number andsize in the agricultural landscape. This increases nutrient levels in agricultural run-off and causes eutrophicationas well as nutrient losses from arable soils. One potential solution to both problems would be to store nutrientrichsurface water from agricultural areas and use it for irrigation of agricultural crops.

This is a project about how you grow timothy seed and red clover seed successfully. The main part is about economic analyse to see if it is any economy by growing leyseed. There are lots of things to be aware of to get all the costs in your economic analyze. Timothy Timothy seed is planted on 4400 hectares in Sweden. It is possible to grow timothy seed in the south part of Sweden. Timothy is very sensitive for dry weather in spring and in the beginning to summer. Timothy gives acceptable harvest of seed for about three years. Red clover Red clover is also sensitive for dry weather and is suitable to grow in the south part of Sweden.

Structural rationalizations and regionalization of the agricultural sector in Sweden has lead to unevenness in thedistribution of plant nutrients. Nutrients are lost from crop producing farms as harvest products are sold, whilefarms with animal production often have manure in excess of their needs. In addition to this the retention ofwater and nutrients in naturally occurring wetlands has decreased due to a reduction of wetlands in number andsize in the agricultural landscape. This increases nutrient levels in agricultural run-off and causes eutrophicationas well as nutrient losses from arable soils. One potential solution to both problems would be to store nutrientrichsurface water from agricultural areas and use it for irrigation of agricultural crops.

Ethanol produced from lignocellulosic biomass has the potential to become a promisingalternative to gasoline. In this work the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF)technology was applied for ethanol production from hardwood with focus on cell growth,ethanol production and contamination.The SSF was performed at PH 5.5 and 35°C for different suspended solid concentrations(8%, 10% and 12%) of pretreated birch slurry which contained 16 % total suspended solids.Two different hexose fermenting yeast strain (Ethanol Red) and pentose fermenting yeaststrain were used.Quantifying the concentration of chemical components and metabolites in the fermentationmedium demonstrated that glucose and xylose are the major fermentable sugars in the slurry.The higher load of slurry (12%) represents a higher content of carbohydrates and potentiallyhigher end concentration of ethanol. Moreover, more lactic acid is produced with the lowerload of slurry (8 % or 10 %), presumably due to a result of a less inhibitory environment forbacterial growth. In this context, acetic acid sticks out as the most important inhibitor withconcentrations of 15.2 and 12.5 and 9.7 g/l respectively in the 12 %, 10 % and 8 % (ofsuspended solids) trials. Using pentose fermenting yeast may lead to higher ethanolproduction, lower xylose uptake and lower lactic acid formation.

The field trial Exploatering av höga P-AL-tal (Exploiting P in heavily P dressed soils) started in 1982-1983 and included seventeen study sites placed across Sweden. Each site included three treatments, one unfertilized control (A), one aiming at replenishment of harvest removal, i.e. fertilized with 15 kg P ha-1 year-1 (B) and one over-fertilized (C) with 30 kg P ha-1 year-1. In this thesis data from the five longestrunning study sites are analysed based on four hypotheses. The hypotheses stated that in soils with high P-AL values and a pH over 6.0 P-AL will not decrease over time in the control (A) or in the replenishment treatment (B), that P-AL and P-HCl in the top soil will increase at all sites for the over-fertilized treatment (C) and that yields will not decrease as long as the P-AL is above 12 mg P 100 g-1 soil. My conclusions from the analysis of data from the selected sites are as follows: - A pH above 6.0 cannot guarantee a stable P-AL value in an unfertilized but phosphorus-rich soil. - The P-AL of unfertilized soils decreased faster at lower soil pH than at higher pH. - In the replenishment treatment (B) the rate of P-AL decrease seems to fall at a pH of 6.5. However, the influence of the soil type cannot be ignored. - P-AL and P-HCl did not increase in all over-fertilized treatments.

The Swedish parliament has decided that Sweden should increase its usage of renewable fuel sources to a level of 50% of the total energy consumption in Sweden by the year 2020. One way to reach that goal may be to increase the usage of stumps as a bio-fuel. In Sweden stump harvesting is possible on about 5-10% of the total harvested area and thus contribute with 1,3 - 2,6 TWh per year. An increase stump harvest doesn't come without its drawbacks for the environment. When harvesting stumps a tracked excavator is used to pry the stumps from the ground and then cut the stumps into smaller pieces.

The wild boar population grows rapidly in number in Sweden, and it has been predicted that the annual number of shot wild boar will soon exceed the cull of moose. According to estimates, the Swedish population encompassed some 150 000 individuals in 2010. The mean annual harvest has increased by 30% since 1990, indicating that the wild boar is a species we must learn to manage sustainably. A successful management of the boars aims for a population in balance with agriculture and traffic, and also provides good hunting opportunities. For this to be possible, understandings of several aspects of the ecology of wild boar is needed. The sows in this study had an average homerange of 707 hectares during summer, and 659 hectares in winter.

In East Africa live two species of Griffon Vultures; Rüppel?s Griffon Vulture (Gyps rueppellii) and African White-backed Griffon Vulture (G. africanus). One of the apparently most important factors limiting the population of these birds is food supply. Griffon vultures nest for eight months of the year, and are during this period geographically tied down to the nesting place.

Detta arbete utfördes i syfte att analysera och utvärdera effekterna av att dosera svavel till förbränningen i en biopanna. En utrustning för detta ändamål installerades till biopannan vid fjärrvärmeverket i Arvika för att få bukt med höga halter av kolmonoxid i rökgaserna. Analysen har genomförts med avseende på hur väl svaveldoseringen uppfyller sitt tilltänkta syfte men även på eventuella bieffekter. Korrosionsrisker, halter av oförbränt svavel i rökgaser, rökgaskondensat, flyg- och bottenaska samt vad som sker kemiskt i förbränningsprocessen vid tillsats av svavel har studerats. Driftrapporter från biopannan analyserades parallellt med en informationshämtning i form av en litteraturstudie och kontakt med sakkunniga personer för att svara på ställda frågor.

Abstract In order to make the modern agriculture less dependent on non-renewable external inputs, it has to rely more on ecosystem services. The agricultural system produce not only food, fiber and fuel, it also generates other ecosystem services such as e.g. photosynthesis, recycling of nutrients, influencing local microclimate, pollination, biological control and detoxification of noxious chemicals. This study is an attempt to get a better understanding about the interaction among different ecosystem services and different habitats capacity to generate them. An evaluation of eight different methods is done. The ecosystem services studied are the ability to absorb solar energy, biomass production, botanical diversity, decomposition and natural predation of aphids.

In East Africa live two species of Griffon Vultures; Rüppel?s Griffon Vulture (Gyps rueppellii) and African White-backed Griffon Vulture (G. africanus). One of the apparently most important factors limiting the population of these birds is food supply. Griffon vultures nest for eight months of the year, and are during this period geographically tied down to the nesting place.