In Scandinavia, capercaillie are often associated with Pine trees (Pinus sylvestris) in winter, with Pine needles as the main diet. Few dietary studies have been conducted in Sweden and winter diet is subject to little debate. The interesting thing is that this "Pine specialist? is also found in spruce (Picea abies) forest habitats where Pine is scarce or unavailable. In many studies outside Sweden (primarily Central Europe) spruce is regularly observed in the winter diet, but I have found no reports on the selection of the diet in spruce forest areas in Sweden.

The Lodgepole Pines susceptibility to Heterobasidion spp. was investigated in three parts ofthis study. In the first part, discs from freshly cut stumps were collected and analyzed to seeif the fungi can spread and grow naturally in Lodgepole Pine stands. In the second part, rootsamples were collected from Lodgepole Pines planted in former infected Norway sprucestands to see if the fungi can spread through root contacts. For the third part, new stumpswas created and artificially infected with spores of both the S?type (H.

Fragmentation and reduction of forest area is a threat for many forest species and their habitat. Deficiencies in forest quality, such as lack of dead wood and old trees, are one explanation of the threat. The most important action to prevent the continued loss of forest types is to protect forest, but also to restore and to create areas that not previously had high nature values. Hence one of the key strategic roles for Fritid- och Naturkontoret, Uppsala municipality, is to monitor biodiversity in the context of urban planning. The majority of the Uppsala municipality residents live in urban areas and most of them spend some of their spare time in natural areas in cities and their immediate surroundings. Exploitation in and around Uppsala is high, but it is important that there is enough nature close to houses to meet the residents? needs of recreation.

In the 1970?s it was predicted that in the beginning of the 21st century there would be a timber shortage in Sweden and a large scale introduction of the exotic tree species lodgepole Pine started. An introduction of a foreign tree species means a risk of a negative influence on the forests ecosystem. Today, the stands that were established in the 70?s are middle-aged and the effect on the forest floor vegetation can be studied.

Over the past few years the Swedish forestry industry has become increasing interested in direct seeding. Although, in practice, this interest has been restricted to Pine seed, the knowledge and techniques that have been developed for Pine seeding can readily be transferred to spruce. Direct seeding is a method that is of interest to the forestry industry since it can lead to lower regeneration costs, denser stands and better root development than the more conventional planting method. This study evaluated experiments that focused on direct seeding of spruce in the northern Sweden. Skogforsk set-up the experiments in Gideå and Sävar in 2003.

The effect of methyl jasmonate on resistance against the large Pine weevil (Hylobius abietis) in Scots Pine and Norway spruce seedlings. A field experiment was conducted in order to determine the dose-response effects of methyl jasmonate (MJ) on growth and defence to Pine weevils in Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Norway spruce (Picea abies) and to compare the effect of MJ between Pine and spruce. In addition a complementary greenhouse experiment was conducted with the same aims as above and to determine the amount of resin ducts and their correlation to the feeding of Pine weevils. The field experiment was conducted on a fresh clear cutting in Garpenberg, southern Dalarna in central Sweden. The experiment consisted of 30 blocks with three kinds of containerized seedlings: 2-year old spruce, small Pine (before shoot elongation) and 1-year old Pine (already shoot elongated). They were all exposed to 4 treatments 14 days prior to the experiment: control, 25 mM/L MJ, 50 mM/L MJ and 100 mM/L MJ. Data on weevil damage and seedling growth were collected after the first and the second growing season. The seedlings in the greenhouse experiment were of the same kind and were exposed to the same treatment as the ones in the field experiment.

The effect of inoculation on containerized Pine and spruce seedlings in a nursery with two ectomycorrhizal fungi was investigated in regard to the development of mycorrhiza and plant growth. The fungi were Elaphomyces muricatus and Elaphomyces granulates and the inoculated seedlings were compared to an uninoculated control. These seedlings were all fertilized with arginine. Five mycorrhiza species were found after DNA sequencing of the mycorrhizal root tips with different found morphotypes on seedlings from all treatments. Thelephora terrestris was the type which had the greatest distribution on Pine seedlings and Tylospora asterophora was found at big extent on spruce seedlings. The inoculated species was not found, if it was due to the species hadn?t colonized the roots or if the DNA sequencing failed we can only speculate about.

Two field experiments were conducted in central Sweden in order to: 1) Determine a relationship between the number of approaching Pine weevils (Hylobius sp.) and the number of attacks by Pine weevils, in relation to the size of seedlings of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris). 2) Determine if application of methyljasmonate (MJ) on seedlings of Scots Pine will result in higher resistance towards attacks by Pine weevils and/or have any effect on the number of approaching Pine weevils. The field experiments were designed with two separate parts in close vicinity on the same clear cuttings: a) pitfall traps placed in patches of scarified soil that caught approaching Pine weevils at 2.5 cm from the bait, which consisted of different sized seedlings of Scots Pine some of which were subjected to application of MJ and b) the same type of seedlings planted out in patches of scarified soil. The first field experiment was conducted on a 1-year old clear cutting outside Uppsala in east central Sweden and the trapping part of the experiment consisted of 8 blocks with 6 treatments: 1) control, 2) small over-wintered seedling, 3) medium sized seedling, 4) medium sized seedling treated with 0.5 ml 100 mmol MJ 4 days prior to start of experiment, 5) large seedling, 6) vial with 9.5 ml of ?-Pinene. The trapping experiment lasted for 6 weeks in the early summer.

Over the past 40 years 600 000 ha of lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia (Engelm.) Critchf.) has been planted in Sweden (280 000 ha on SCA's forest land alone which represents about 15% of the company's total forest land area). In the early 70's SCA situated a number of experimental stands in order to investigate different aspects of the exotic tree, primarily growth rate. To be able to compare the two species plots with scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), this species was also planted at the same time and under the same conditions. A number of questions should always be raised when exotic species are introduced in an ecosystem. Invasiveness, the pathogen situation and purely ethical issues should be discussed.

The choice between bare-rooted and containerized seedlings in southern Sweden affects the investment costs as well as growth and survival. It is important to take these differences into account when choosing seedling type for reforestation. The most important differences between the two seedling-types is that bare-rooted seedlings has open root systems whereas the roots of containerized seedlings are grown in a container which may contain water and nutrients that are available for the seedling during the first period after planting. Moreover, bare-rooted seedlings are often older which results in thicker stembase and better resistance to attacks of Pine-weevil (Hylobius abietis). In order to study differences in survival and growth between bare-rooted and containerized seedlings a survey study of newly planted clearcuts in south-western Sweden was made. In the study tree seedling types was included, one bare-rooted and two containerized with different ages. The population of Pine weevils was probably low during the studied period which resulted in lower Pine-weevil damage than normally found in this area.

Wind damages next to strip roads in 1st and 2nd thinning in Boxholm, Östergötland Anneli Fransson, SLU, inst f sydsvensk skogsvetenskap, Examensarbete no 108 Wind damage is something we are all familiar with since the storms Gudrun (2005) and Per (2007). Research about strip roads and wind damage is very limited. It is commonly known that the trees next to the strip roads more often fall whit heavy winds, and the purpose of this thesis was to verify this statement. Data was collected from first- and second thinnings at Boxholms Skogar AB, Östergötland. In first thinnings data was collected from both spruce and Pine stands and second thinnings only data from spruce stands was collected.

The calculations in this thesis are evaluating the profit as a consequence from treating young stands of Pine in Sweden with birch bark extract, BBE. Treatment is to be done with the object to lower or fully reduce the moose browsing on Pine. The study is made in three versions. The results from each version separately will follow below. Version I.: The size of the moose population is in no way affected by the reduced resources of food as a consequence of large scale treatment with BBE on Pine. Results show profit at a 3 percent level of interest with the exception of treatment program with more than 4 treatments all together and with the exception of Västerbottens Län with an early first treatment. Version II.: The population of moose decrease from 10 to 5 individuals per 1000 ha as a consequence from large scale treatment with BBE on young Pine stands.

The background to this study is that the forest company, Holmen, has found large discrepancies between harvested volume and the measured volume at the industry. Factors like bark features, breakage, double tops, bends and stem damages was noted, and all stems were measured manually. Hypothesis testing with the method "random in pairs" were used to examine whether the harvester measured values significantly differed from the manually measured. The result of a properly calibrated harvester shows in average underestimation of the volume with Skogforsk Pine as a bark function. This means that the harvester isn´t the reason why the volume measured in the industry is lower, the fault is elsewhere. The study also indicates a need for a unique bark function for logepole Pine..

The aim of this study is to describe a number of type stands of lodge pole Pine in Norrbotten with respect on stem volume and total biomass. Further questions to answer is if there is stand characteristics that make the stands more suitable for pulpwood in early thinning, or if it is better to apply whole tree harvest. The study shall also give an indication if bio energy can be an economical interesting alternative for Sveaskog. Sampled trees represented the variation in the different stands. Five trees were selected from each stand to represent that stand. Stem volume and biomass (kg dry weight (DW) per hectare) for each fraction was calculated.

Swedish sawmills of today suffer from unsatisfying economy with high costs and low benefits. The economical result depends on how well the sawmill can use their raw material. Iggesund Timber AB, a sawmill in the Holmen group, produces a large amount is enduse orientated products for the woodworking industry. Therefore the aim of this student thesis was to investigate the possibility of automatic enduse orientated quality grading of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) saw logs by using a gamma-ray log scanner. Iggesund Timber AB has the possibility to grade logs automatically with TINA, a two way gamma-ray log scanner. Grading and classification of Scots Pine logs in Sweden today are mainly manual but can in some rare cases be automatic.