Uppsats för avläggande av högskoleexamen i Kulturvård, Trädgårdens hantverk och design 7,5 hp, 2014.

This project aims to investigate whether algae can be used for biodiesel production in Italy. Algaes are a good option since they are fast growing and do not occupy arable land. The aspects that have been considered are growing, harvesting, which algae strain that is most suitable, extraction of oil, the production of biodiesel and where in Italy this could be possible due to climate. Cost? and energy calculations have been made to investigate if biodiesel produced from algae would be profitable. During the production of biodiesel there are several residues obtained. When the oil has been extracted from the algae, biogas is produced from the residual biomass by anaerobic digestion and then the electricity that can be produced is supplied to the production of biodiesel.

The demand for food, feed, fibre and fuel has increased in Uganda over the past 50 years due to population growth. Recurring extreme climate events such as drought and flooding, in combination with large-scale land degradation, have led to declining crop yields. Lack of equipment, money and socio-economic issues has contributed to low yields. However, the soils in Uganda have the potential to produce much higher yields than they do today. This study, which was carried out in April-June 2013 in Kkingo District, south-east Uganda, examined the effects of agroforestry on yield of cooking bananas in small-holder farming systems. Six farms practising agroforestry and six farms with no agroforestry, which were chosen in cooperation with the NGO Vi Agroforestry, were compared.

Forestry is an important industry in Sweden, with clear-cut as the most commonly used method for harvesting. Here the long-term impact of clear-cut on lake water quality (dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nitrogen, phosphorus and pH) has been investigated, based on 23 lakes sampled during autumn. Data for additional 15 lakes sampled for the Swedish monitoring program were also used. Lakes were classified as 5, 25, 40 and 60 year based on data of the forest age in the catchment, gathered from the Swedish national forest inventory. Clear-cut lakes were classified as 5 years (>20% of the catchment clear-cut during the last 10 years).

Energy consumption is at present a major political issue, and numerous projects that comprise many nations are currently in process to increase energy efficiency and bring down energy dependency. As a member state of the EU, Sweden now faces the challenge of implementing substantial energy-saving measures until the year 2016. One of these measures is the project ?Green Islands? financed by the EU that intend on creating sustainable islands in areas around the Baltic Sea. The Archipelago Foundation leads the project that concerns the Stockholm archipelago, where focus has been placed upon decreasing energy usage in businesses and services on Utö among other islands.

It is estimated that 22 000 contaminated areas exist in Sweden today. In order to classify the risk of contaminant migration from these areas and to prioritize which of these contaminated areas should first be treated, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designed a method, for the investigation of contaminated areas (MIFO). One of these contaminated areas is the landfill Gräsötippen outside Köping. The landfill has been used by both Yara AB and the Köping municipality between the years 1945 and 1975, and both industrial and household waste have been deposited there. The aim of this report is to survey which contaminants that can be found in the soil and water in the landfill Gräsötippen and to evaluate the migration of these contaminants.

This report contains a study of replacing nuclear power with biofuel. The nuclear plant, OKG north of Oskarshamn in Sweden has been chosen and an extensive literature study about the nuclear plant has been implemented. The main aspect of this report is the availability of biofuels and whether it would be economically sustainable. Sweden?s most common biofuels are examined with regard to scope of use and potential.

Cultural heritages are environments created by humans that are considered to have a conservation value for the posterity. They can be seen as one of society's non renewable resources. It is important to have knowledge of how cultural heritages are affected by future climate changes.The water flow in Uppsala is estimated to increase during winter and decrease during spring and summer. Precipitation will gradually increase as well as the intense short period precipitation. The average temperature is estimated to increase as well.

Digital depth-to-water maps can be produced from a digital elevation model (DEM). Then GIS- based algorithms are used to calculate water flows and the depth-to-water index classes dry, fresh, moist and wet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility to use depth- to-water maps for site adapted planting.The results showed that use of depth-to-water maps for site adapted planting, roughly halved the proportion of improperly planted surfaces from an average of 9 % to 4 %. The variation in the values of proper surface decreased and the result became more even.. In addition, more pine than spruce was incorrectly planted.

Studies show that the interest and knowledge about science among teenagers is decreasing. They also reveal the difficulties to explain the ecological processes and that the ideas about the nature are collected from everyday life and early school years.The intention of this investigation was to find out more about children?s ideas and knowledge about the ecological processes and to compare these results with the curriculum.The method was a questionnaire and interviews with children in school year 1 ? 6. The aim of the studies was also to find out if any progress connected to age could be found, concerning understanding of the ecological processes.The results showed difficulties in achieving the predestined goals for biology and chemistry concerning ecology cycles and they differed a lot between the children. Often the learning process showed very little progress.

In Sweden, reduced tillage usually means non-inversion tillage, where primary tillage is carried out using chisel ploughs or disc implements. Primary tillage method is mainly determined by the desired soil loosening and the handling of soil residues. The effect of tillage depth was studied in field experiments in Skåne, Väderstad, Uppsala, Örebro och Västerås in different crops; spring oilseed rape, spring wheat, winter wheat and spring barley.The experiments generally had a randomized block design with the treatments mouldboard ploughing, deep chisel ploughing and shallow chisel ploughing, in some cases also shallow discing and no-tillage. In the experiments the following parameters were determined: seedbed properties, saturated hydraulic conductivity, penetration resistance, number of emerged plants and crop yield (all parameters were not determined in all experiments. Root growth and draught requirement were determined in two separate studies. There were no significant differences between tillage depths in non-inversion tillage in seedbed properties, plant emergence or root development.

Eutrophication is a major problem in the Baltic Sea, as a result of increased loading of nitrogen and phosphorus. In the coastal parts of Östergötland the soil largely consists of clay and contains high levels of phosphorus bound to clay particles. Erosion of the soil in agricultural areas makes the water turbid and transports phosphorus to the Baltic Sea. The aim of this project was to examine the relationship between phosphorus and turbidity in the coastal streams of Östergötland. The aim was also to evaluate the possibility to use turbidity as a surrogate measure for phosphorus.

Optimization of soil tillage and crop rotation is important in many aspects, but particularly in maximizing profit margins. Since the economic outcome is usually decisive, it can be interesting to study different combinations of soil tillage systems and crop rotations in order to identify the maximum economic outcome. How a crop functions in a particular tillage system determines whether it is profitable to grow that crop. Different tillage systems affect the soil and its processes in different ways. Reduced tillage often works best on weak-structured heavy clays and on silty clays.

Prevention of lion predation towards African livestock is of great importance due to the economical losses farmers have because of this. Predation is also one of the main reasons for human-wildlife conflicts and lions often get killed because of it. Therefore, a pilot study using camera traps was conducted to monitor movements of lions and other wildlife through a wildlife corridor in Ol Pejeta Conservancy. The results were compared with a previous study that counted prints in the soil in front of the corridor. Due to theft risk the cameras had to be taken down and pictures were only collected from nine days.

Cultivation of grapevine is novel under Scandinavian conditions. We studied the impact of ground cover on frost hardiness of grapevine cultivars in Northwestern Scania in a two-factorial trial with four cultivars Solaris, Pinot Gris, Siegerrebe, Ortega and three kinds of ground cover (open soil, plastic cover and gravel). The study was conducted in a grapevine orchard, planted in May 2009, in Broddarp on Bjärepenisula Sweden (N latitude 56°; longitude E 12°). Soil and air temperature were monitored continuously. Frost hardiness measurements were performed every second week from late September to early December 2009. Frost resistance, LT50, was determined by electrolyte leakage measurement of the upper stems after artificial freezing at -15 °C.