Vole populations in northern Scandinavia vary in cycles with peaks every third or fourth year as described by the National Environmental Monitoring Programme of small mammals (NEMP). Some vole species have declined in population numbers since the NEMP started in 1971, especially the grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) which is nearly extinct in the forested region. Since small mammals are an important food source for several avian and mammalian predators, the decline in vole numbers is expected to have consequences for the whole food chain, especially if other vole species start to decline in numbers. This study tried to test the hypothesis that presence and abundance of M. rufocanus (a specialist species) and Myodes glareolus (a generalist species) can be predicted by patch size and connectivity of forest patches >60 years old with a minimum of 15% Pine >100years old.

Ett evenemang är en isolerad händelse i tid och rum där en eller flera speciella aktiviteter äger rum. Besökarna på ett evenemang blir utsatta för en mängd olika upplevelser, både positiva och negativa. Syftet med denna avhandling var att undersöka vilka upplevelser som påverkade besökarna starkast på Skidskytte-VM i Östersund 2008 samt att jämföra resultatet med en tidigare forskningsrapport från Alpina VM i Åre 2007. Deltagande observationer gjorda av studenter på Mittuniversitetet i Östersund utgjorde grunden för studien. Där listades de bästa och sämsta upplevelserna av varje respondent under två dagars besök på evenemangen.

The purpose of this report is to investigate and compare the difference between stand-thinning machines and strip-road thinning machines, and how they affect the stand on behalf of future growth, theoretical economic result, wind impact, snow pressure and density of stand. The investigation is regarding the first commercial thinning of Pine stands, after pre-commercial thinning that was well conducted. The investigation area was located near Katrineholm, Sweden. The measurements that were measured were strength of thinning and amounts of wind throws, snow-breaks and hauling damages. The results that emerged, was that thinning with strip-road machines had a significantly higher strength of thinning over all, as compared with the stand- thinning machines (45 percent versus 30 percent). Comparisons between wind-throws, snow-breaks and hauling damages of the stand could not establish any significant differences between the two methods that were investigated. Conclusions, over all, were that if forest owners want to have more timber volume left for second thinning and final cut of the stand, the forest owners should choose the method with stand-thinning machines. From the point of view of gentle treatment of the stand and ground damages the choice should be the same. However, the method with strip-road thinning machines is the most common and accessible method in Sweden. Most likely it is the most economical way to manage the stand for forest owners in present time. If the method with stand-thinning machines is becoming more common in Sweden, it is suggested for forest owners to consider the stand-thinning method as a candidate for treatment due to economic aspects..

I dagens upplevelsesamhälle sker en generationsväxling på svensk arbetsmarknad. En ny generation av unga medarbetare, som går under benämningen generation Y, ska ersätta 40-talisterna som går i pension. Arbetsgivare står inför en utmaning gällande rekrytering av dessa unga medarbetare som skiljer sig från tidigare generationer. (Fürth, 2008). De har växt upp i en tid då fokus har flyttats från materialistiska värden till emotionella sådana och där upplevelser har fått en ökad betydelse (Pine & Gilmore, 1999).

Arbetets problemformulering tar fasta på att Florida (2002) beskriver vad den kreativa klassen är, hur den arbetar, hur den underhåller sig och hur den skapar nya kreativa mötesplatser. Han talar dock inte så mycket om hur den kreativa klassen reser och turistar. Denna studie kan bidra med kunskap till personer som verkar inom turismbranschen och vill uppfylla de önskningar som människor ur den kreativa klassen har. Syftet med detta arbete är att skapa förståelse för vad människor som jag bedömer tillhör den så kallade kreativa klassen upplever som meningsfullt i det resande som kan betraktas som turism. För att uppfylla syftet genomfördes en kvalitativ studie där sex personer som passade in på Floridas (Ibid.) definition av den kreativa klassen intervjuades.

Climate on earth is getting warmer, which effects earth?s energy balance and so forth the ocean and atmospheric circulation.  In many sub-polar regions on the northern hemisphere changes due to warming of the climate can be observed. Some examples that already have been observed are shifts in tree line, towards higher altitudes and latitudes, increased ablation of Swedish glaciers and melting of the permafrost on the Siberian tundra. In Sweden climate change scenarios tell us that it will become warmer and that a higher amount of precipitation in form of rain will be an effect from this. To study climate changes in Sweden, transition zones are useful in order to observe changes in distribution of species and animal populations.

Inventories of epiphytic lichens on Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) were conducted at three sites in east central Sweden: along the newly build motorway (Road E4), along the old road (Road 600) and in a reference site, to compare the effects of traffic pollution on lichen diversities. At each site, species richness, lichen mean sensitivity value (MK), air quality index of the forest stand/sample plot (LKI) and nitrogen impact value (N) were calculated and it was tested if there was any difference between the sites. Twenty-four species were observed in total, and Parmeliopsis ambigua and Hypogymnia physodes were the most common species at all sites. At Road E4, fewer lichen species were observed than at the other sites and this might be due to the impact of air pollution. The species richness at Road 600 was similar to that of the reference site, which might be explained by the improved air quality.

The traditional Swedish way of dealing with browsing damages made by moose, is to reduce the moose population. However, a growing way of dealing with damages made by several ungulate species, including wild boars in particular is to redistribute them with supplementary food sources. Attracting them to settle in habitats less vulnerable to damages made during foraging. This study we tracked collared moose in southern Sweden from January throughout April in the year of 2009. From the tracking data their ?favourite? positions was selected and visited in order to study the features that attracts moose during winter.

In this study, the effects of using fine milled cassava stems as an additive in biofuel pellet production was compared to the effects of refined starch addition. The bulk biomass fuel raw material, to which the additive was added, was a blend of spruce and Pine sawdust. An experimental design in the factors cassava/starch content, moisture content and material temperature was used. Measured responses were pellet bulk density, pellet durability, amount of fines, pelletizer motor current, pellet temperature, die temperature and CV for pelletizer motor current (a measure of process stability). Each response was modeled by multiple linear regression (MLR).

The forests of Sweden are constantly changing. Map studies indicate that the amount of deciduous trees in Sweden has decreased in recent years in favor of the coniferous trees. The National Forest Inventory has since the early 1920s monitored the Swedish forests and in recent years has made the old data digitally available. In the present project, we have investigated how the numbers of stems in different diameter classes have changed for birch and other deciduous trees. The inventory was conducted in the same manner as in the first forest inventory.

The depth-to-water-index (DTW-index) is derived from digital elevation models (DEM) to map soil wetness, in terms of distance from soil surface to the ground water table. The aim of this GIS based study was to investigate the existence of a relationship between DTW-index and forest site productivity (SP). The belief of such an assumed relationship was based on knowledge that the ground water level is related to site properties that can either promote or impede tree growth. Data primarily comprised rasters of the Krycklan catchment in northern Sweden and depicted DTW-index and a laser scanned vegetation height. The 100th height percentile of each pixel in the vegetation raster was assumed to mirror the top-height, letting it act as a relative measure of SP within a delineated area of equal stand age.

Stress-related diseases in Sweden have doubled since 1997. Even longterm sickness related tostress has increased over the last decade. In future there is a need of alternative methods todecrease the amount of people being affected to gain a better population health. Natureassisted therapy (NAT) was shown to be a successful method as part of the therapy of stressand burnout likewise was nature an important factor to prevent people from mentaldisorders. The aim of this study was to analyse the latest research concearning nature and itshealth effects with focus on stress and burnout patients in order to plan health promotingactivities outdoors for these patients.

The background of this study is an article in the hunting magazine ?Svensk Jakt? where Karl Hedin claims that his sawmills has not noticed any significant moose damages in the timber. The purpose with the study is to find out the causes to the moose explosion and what it has led to in today?s forests. A questionnaire has been sent out to sawmills in the region Dalarna with the purpose of finding out if sawmills receive moose-damaged timber and what they think about how they foresee future development. There were two causes of the moose explosion, that had effects on the moose population. The first cause was that the moose hunters wanted to raise the moose population, and by raising the calf shooting and by saving the cows they succeeded. The second cause was changing methods in Swedish forestry.

The background of this study is an article in the hunting magazine ?Svensk Jakt? where Karl Hedin claims that his sawmills has not noticed any significant moose damages in the timber. The purpose with the study is to find out the causes to the moose explosion and what it has led to in today?s forests. A questionnaire has been sent out to sawmills in the region Dalarna with the purpose of finding out if sawmills receive moose-damaged timber and what they think about how they foresee future development. There were two causes of the moose explosion, that had effects on the moose population. The first cause was that the moose hunters wanted to raise the moose population, and by raising the calf shooting and by saving the cows they succeeded. The second cause was changing methods in Swedish forestry.

During the period called Little Ice Age (1400 ~ 1900) the climate of northern Europe was in an annual year-basis overall colder than it was before and after that period. The numbers of short, cold and rainy summers and long, bitter-cold winters where often repetitive under the approximately 500-years the period lasted. In Scandinavia, the coldest time during this period is estimated to have started around the end of the 16th century and lasted to the beginning of the 18th century. Trees growing at the tree-line are limited by temperature for their annual growth and hence showing differences of growth during changes in the climate,  a method called dendroclimatology. The variations of growth can be read in the tree-rings either by analyze the width of the ring or by look into the density of the wood and is used to reconstruct past climates.