The overall aim is to examine how the European Union Water Framework Directive has affected the local water management in the catchment Märstaån situated in the eastern part of the lake Mälaren river basin, Sweden. The first part of the study gives an historical overview of the area with focus on how the old agricultural landscape was handling the nutrient load from farming activities by means of different kinds of wetlands. By using the concept of the procedural landscape, introduced by Torsten Hägerstrand , together with historical maps with dates starting from the 17th century, the pre-modern landscape is analyzed.  The second part is an investigation, based on qualitative data, on how the different actors in the catchment area work together to secure the water quality for the Märstaån river. The analysis shows that the Märstaån catchment river systems are mostly unchanged in the rural areas.  The exception is the mainstream section of the Märstaån river running partly underground today and the Halmsjöbäcken river that is heavily affected by the Arlanda airport situated within the catchment area.

A large part of Sweden?s green, urban landscape is covered by lawns. Approximately 80 000 ha of maintained grass lawns are part of public courtyards, schoolyards, parks, golf courses, sport fields and traffic environments. Beyond this figure, the lawn is also an essential element in most private villa-gardens. Lawns have become a universal phenomenon through the dispersion of landscape aesthetics from the Western world.

The purpose with this study is to find out how much dead wood we can expect us to find in a Russian reference river and compare with studies from Swedish streams. Dead wood are an important structure for the biodiversity in forest streams, studies have shown that population of trout can increase with up to 300 % when the amount of dead wood are increasing from 0 to 8 ? 16 LWD (Large woody debris)/100 m2. Dead wood are also an important structure for the stream character, formations of dams and pools which are important habitats and reproduction areas for salmon and brown trout. The study where taken place in tributaries to the Russian river Varzuga in the North West part of Russia outside Murmansk. Varzuga has low impact of human activity and is considered to be a reference river to rivers in northern Sweden.

Thinning is one of the most important silvicultural activities in middle aged forests, partly to minimize damages and partly because it leads to earlier harvesting revenues and increases the value of the remaining trees. There are many different indices used to describe stand density and thereby the need of thinning in forests today. Studies have shown that forest variables can be estimated with high accuracy using airborne laser scanning and it is likely that the method could also be used to estimate forest density indices. In this study, the possibility of using the forest density index ?H² to determine and map priorities for thinning operations for a forest area was examined.

This diploma work, with the title Represent and Consume the Land ?I drove following the picture of a spruce through Sweden, is presented as a film and an essay and the aim is to explore the perception of an individual with the film as the medium. To reach this, it is necessary to destabilize my own reality, to explore myself at the same time as I study landscapes and representations of landscapes. The diploma work focus on representations of landscapes of Sweden, external pictures and internal images. The picture is a very strong medium that holds and comunicate myths, about the landscape and about the nation.

Communication, information and marketing are three of the main prerequisites for companies that want to increase their turnover. The everyday work for a Forest Manager within the forest owners? association Mellanskog consists to a large part of interpersonal communication, either by close vicinity contact or by phone calls. Interpersonal communication is time consuming and resource intensive. If the flow of information, communication and marketing does not function well then there is a lack of a base for development.

Ship formed monuments from the Late Bronze Age on the island of O?land, southeast Sweden, have never been thoroughly dealt with in previous research, despite the fact that the region is suggested to have had a key-role in maritime trade networks. This thesis aims to address the ship formed monuments on O?land in relationship to the monuments in northern Sma?land and the island of Gotland. My goal is to discuss how the ship symbolism was practised during the Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia from a new perspective.

This final thesis is initiated by the wood fuel department at the Swedish forest company Sveaskog as part of a project which also involves two other final thesises. The overall goal of the project is to investigate Sveaskog´s possibilities to produce and sell different wood fuel assortments in Västerbotten and the southern parts of Norrland. The aim of this thesis is to investigate how much wood fuel Sveaskog can produce in the area during the next five years and what that would cost. Furthermore the thesis will investigate the total possible supply of wood fuel from all other possible producers in the area. Treated assortments are forest residues from final fellings, whole trees from direct wood fuel thinnings, non industrial wood and industrial by-products from sawmills. The main effort to investigate Sveaskog´s production possibilities has been made to calculate the possible annual amount of forest residues and fuel from wood fuel thinnings that can be produced.

Inside the south Swedish national park Dalby Söderskog, wild boars (Sus scrofa L.) have been visiting since 2010. The presence of wild boars has earlier been proven to impact both soil and vegetation characteristics, both positively and negatively. Still, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the rooting effect on the vegetation in deciduous forest within the native range. In this study, I have compared the field vegetation collected before and after the invasion of wild boars in 74 permanent experimental plots. More specifically, the study aimed to qualify the effect of wild boar rooting on cover ratio, species richness and species composition in a temperate deciduous forest.

What drove me to write this paper is the will to  examine if there is a philosophically and scientifically viable  alternative foundation for an objective morality other than what we like to refer to as "God". The  American philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris presents in his book The Moral Landscape a thesis for an objective morality based on science in which he states that  science can determine human values. The purpose of this paper is to perform a theoretical trial of The Moral Landscape, examining Harris' thesis and it's relations to the philosophical obstacles that stands in its way, these being mainly the famous philosophical principle "Hume's Law" and G.E. Moore's "Naturalistic Fallacy and Open Question Argument" and thus will serve as my main theoretical foundation. The results of my study was not conclusive since Harris in fact doesn't succeed in bridging the gap between facts and values on a scientific ground.

Sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus L.) is a common broadleaved species throughout Europe, however often of minor interest to the forest sector. There is currently a lack of research on sycamore maple, and some of its characteristics have throughout history contributed to a negative reputation in both literature and the forest society. Since broadleaved species in general are of great importance to the forest sector in Europe and presumably of enhanced significance in the future, deepened research is needed and particularly Swedish. With a desire to hopefully increase the interest for sycamore maple, was the objective of the study to examine the current status of the sycamore stands in southern Sweden. The study was carried out both as a survey with inventory field work and as a literature study. Parts of the latter mentioned is also presented in the introduction. The study shows that the majority of the sycamore stands in Sweden are growing well, producing fairly high qualities and volumes.

Abstract In my work, I have tried to define and clarify the conception of sustainability seen from my perspective as a landscape architect. With a basis in literature studies, I have analysed and commented on different applications, contents and meanings of sustainability and endurance. This compilation is based on how a number of writers, researchers and authorities consider the importance of integrating ecological, social and economic aspects of sustainability in city planning. My perspective has mainly been founded on the anthologies and compilations from the 80´s and 90´s where Per G. Berg and Björn Malbert acted as editors.

The formulation of visions into practical projects is an important part of the professional expertise of landscape architects. This expertise includes the gathering, structuring, improvement and utilization of knowledge. Project models have been developed to provide tools for the implementation and governance of projects, as well as means of learning, reflection and survey of individual projects. The aim of this thesis is to describe some general project models and their theory, and to describe practical, real-life examples of project models used within landscape architecture. Questions asked are: ? How do the processes of idea to construction in landscape architectural projects lool like? Do project models have a relevance for the mission of landscape architects? ? Is a common project model used within such projects, or is the project model varying depending on e.g.

Along with other European farmland birds, the skylark (Alauda arvensis) has declined rapidly since the 1970?s. Between 1975 and 2003, the Swedish population of skylarks declined with 64 %. In Britain, the decline is often explained by alterations in farming practices in general and the shift from spring-sown to winter-sown cereals in particular. The dense vegetation structure of winter cereals is limiting the number of breeding attempts possible, causing the entire population to decline.

The purpose of this work is to find out what female students think about Skogsmästarprogrammet (Forest Management ? Bachelor?s Programme) at the Swedish University of Agriculture. The programme has existed since 1945 and in total over the years 1974 - 2007 about 10 % females have been studying at the programme. Today 15 % of the students are women, and the goal is to reach at least 30 %. The central question in the present work is to investigate how it is possible to increase the proportion of women.