Maternal behaviour is crucial for the development of the rat pups? behaviour and stressresponses later in life. There are numerous studies evaluating the effects of the dams?behaviours on the pups, but not many addressing what can be made for wellbeing of the ratdams when breeding. Few studies have addressed the question of how the commonly usedrearing environment effects the dams? behaviour and in the long run how it effect the ratsreared to become our research models.

The research group Soil and Water Management at the department of Soil and Environment at theSwedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala are studying greenhouse gas emissions fromcultivated peat soils. To measure carbon dioxide emissions from peat soils in the field the researchgroup are now using two portable carbon dioxide meters (Vaisala GMP343). For practical reasons,they plan to acquire a new type of automated field meter. The aim of this study is to evaluate thepresent meters to see how environmental conditions and instrument settings affect the results,which is meant to facilitate the introduction of the new field meter when the meters needs to becompared. As a part of the study the relationship between groundwater level and carbon dioxideemissions from peat soils will be investigated.The evaluation of the two carbon dioxide meters was made by connecting them to one single airtightsystem, with the aim of creating identical measurement environments.

The study intends to find easily recognizable indicator species for water quality in the constructed wetland of Flemingsbergsviken. The study is relevant since indicator species can be difficult to determine for common people. Easily recognizable indicator species could improve dialogue between the scientific community, administrative authorities and the general public. Such species could be used in education systems, associations or in information campaigns. Therefore, I have chosen to refer to these species as didactical species.

Objective: To determine the frequency of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from healthy Swedish dogs and whether they are carriers of methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Material: Samples from skin from the perineal region and from faeces collected in the anus with cottonswab (Copan) from 299 healthy Swedish dogs. Samples were collected at dog exhibitions. Method: Specimens were submitted for bacterial culture where bacteria (Escherichia coli, enterococci and staphylococci) were isolated and identified by current methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed with a microdilution method where MIC-values were determined. Staphylococci with high degree of resistance were tested for presence of mecA-gene by PCR.

A study has been performed that investigates the variation of iron content in groundwater.The study was initiated by Midvatten AB, which noticed that the iron content in groundwater samples can vary greatly over small distances. The purpose of this study was to geochemically and geohydrologically determine the factors that influence the content of iron and manganese in groundwater from a selection of eskers in Dalarna, and determine how to best sample groundwater with the method used by Midvatten AB. An evaluation was made of how the vertical variation in soil material, water composition, pumping time and pipe material affects the content of iron in groundwater. Piper diagrams were used to study the relationship between the chemical composition of the groundwater and the content of iron and manganese in groundwater samples from the studied areas. The groundwater from the studied areas was then classified in the Piper diagrams, according to the content of the major ions.

This paper deals with the connection between food and burial habits during the late Iron Age in present-day Sweden. The archaeological material used in the study consists of 16 potsherds from a burial site at Alsike hage, Alsike parish, in the province of Uppland in east-central Sweden. On these potsherds have been conducted FTIR- and GCMS-analyses, in order to see what types of food have been deposited in the burials. Furthermore, the result of the GCMS-analyses has been compared to contemporary material from both burial sites and settlement sites, in order to establish whether differences between the compared materials exist. The analyses show that there are differences between the material from burial sites compared with the material from settlement sites, but not any particular differences between the material from different burial sites.

In this study we have examined in which way the horse is used in Equine Assisted Therapy, and what effects the treatment staff experience and describes that the interaction with horses has on girls who self-harms. Our Empirical data was collected through qualitative methods such as interviews, participant observation and informal interviews with a total of six different informants, from five different activities with Equine Assisted Therapy for girls who self-harms. In the analysis we have assumed symbolic interactionism, a theory focusing on the human as a social being, where the self-image alters in the social interaction with other human beings. We interwove this theory with the Biophilia hypothesis, an explanatory model concerning human?s relationship to animals and nature.The conclusions we have found in the results are:Equine Assisted Therapy is a complementary treatment comprises both horseback riding and exercises which is not based on the horsebackEquine Assisted Therapy almost always involves three parts, the therapist, the client and the horse.

This essay examines the environmental ideological direction of the Swedish parliamentary parties through the private members motions directed to the committee of industry and trade and the committee of environment and agriculture during the governmental time from 2002 to 2006.The environmental ideologies explained is anthropocentrism, ecocentrism and biocentrism. Based on the ideas of these three ideologies main points the private members motions directed to the committee of industry and trade and the committee of environment and agriculture, also matching the search words environment and energy, was compared and analysed.What has emerged is that all parliamentary parties express a desire to create an energy production and producing guide lines which are stringent environmentally and matches the safety requirements. Although the approach to environmental and safety standards differ significantly between them. Basically all Swedish parliamentary parties are more or less anthropocentric in its arguments, which in short terms means that they estimate natures and animals value through their usability for humans or based on their contribution to human feelings of wellbeing.The Centre Party and the Green Party shows hints of weak ecocentrism because in many cases they put animal intrinsic value high, but the human value higher. Moderates are predominantly anthropocentric but they also express some hint of biocentrism in one statement concerning research in order to reduce and rebuild environmentally destroyed areas.

The demands for higher production yields and better quality materials from the forests are increasing globally. Tree breeding programs are directed to meet the future demands on forests. In order to capture the full benefits from the breeding programs, clonal propagation is necessary. For most conifer species, somatic embryogenesis (SE) is the only available option for large scale clonal propagation of Elite clonal material. For Norway spruce (Picea abies L.

The prevailing food and energy crisis of the world, due to the declining reserves of fossil energy and a never ending rise of consumption, forces us to look into new fields to supply our energy demand. The boom of bio energy is criticized, as food crops are used to provide biodiesel and ethanol and the volumes are ridiculously small to supply world demand. Algae are one of the world?s oldest life forms and exist in many different phyla, providing a great variety to choose from, for different purposes. Cultivating microalgae offer a way to produce energy at great volumes without competing with food production and at the same time the algae offer a way to use our expensive nutrients in a more efficient way, besides this the algae are carbon dioxide neutral since their carbon source can be supplied by the atmosphere and the additional energy required can be supplied by algal oil or other renewable sources.

During the 19-century a global warming has been observed, which includes increases in global air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of ice and snow, and rising global sea level. There is a clear connection between emissions of greenhouse gases caused by the human and the increase in temperature. Climatic changes caused by global warming can be stopped trough decreased emission of fossil fuels, for example by an increased use of biogas. Biogas is a renewable energy source which is produced through anaerobic (oxygen free) digestion of organic material. The gas is a mixture of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and can be among others used as fuel in vehicles.

Purpose of this thesis is to study the impact of wind turbines on their surroundings. It also aims to analyze how the communication looks between the authorities, the planner and local residents prior to the establishment of wind turbines in Lännäs/Odensbacken in Örebro, where three wind turbines set up in a group.The results of this survey show that the participants experience themselves not as especially disturbed of the turbines in the form of large noise, shadows, and sleep disturbance indoors and outdoors. Participants felt that no change had taken place on the natural environment (52%) since the turbines became operational. It was 49% of participants had got no information about the establishment of Örebro Municipality, Örebro County Administrative Board or Wind Power Company. Scientists/­experts had the highest confidence of 86%, politicians and the media/journalists had least confidence.

For centuries inbreeding has been used to refine traits in dogs, making desired traits more hereditary and thereby, different breeds have been invented. Breed standards have been written for each of these breeds, describing in detail the different characteristics of each breed. When humans start to choose which animal to breed from, so called artificial selection, taste is put before function and the laws of nature, the natural selection, cease to apply. During this development, pedigree dogs have gone towards more and more extreme exterior characteristics and the dogs may have inherited various, more or less, severe problems for example compromised vision, impaired ability to move and difficulties to breathe. However they can still survive and reproduce because humans provide them with the conditions to do so.

Inclusion body disease (IBD) affecting boas and pythons is a serious and common disease. Boas can be clinically healthy carriers, which makes control of the disease difficult. The causative agent has not yet been confidently identified, and therefore there are no serodiagnostic tests available. Today, histopathologic examination of tissue biopsies is the recommended antemortem diagnostic method, but there are several disadvantages. The objective of this study was to compare the sensitivity of two diagnostic methods ? liver biopsies and blood smears, and to evaluate ultrasoundguided needle biopsy of the liver.

On ocean beds around the world sinking particles of residual biomass from animals and vegetation have, over time, accumulated into thick layers of sediment. For researchers these layers of sediment contain valuable information about the earth?s past climate, information that can be used to predict future climate change and to estimate natural vs. human causes of today?s global warming.The Institute of Geosciences at Stockholm University studies sediment cores that have been acquired with an apparatus called piston corer.