The objective of this work was to compare the environmentally gentle soil scarification technique Huminmix (with possibilities to do track-grinding/HMMspår, long-scraping/HMMlångfläck and mounding/HMMhög) with conventional disc trencher, concerning seedling establishment and growth of direct seeded and planted Scots pine seedlings. Inventories were made during June and July 2005, in 34 seeded and 6 planted stands from 2000 ? 2004 (1- 5 years old) of lichen- and myrtillus/vaccinum-type in Holmen Skog AB´s district Norsjö in Västerbotten. The Huminmix-technique had been used for HMMspår in the seeded stands and for HMMhög in the planted stands (HMMlångfläck has been used from the year 2006 for direct seeding). The studied stands had been seeded with the same amount of seeds according to stand data.

Boplatsvallar, often translated as semi-subterranean settlements, is an ancient monument with a diffuse definition. Defined as ?embankments that partially or completely surround a often lowered/dug down surface- this category of ancient monuments is also made up of a former category which traditionally was interpreted as winter settlements from the late Stone age in Sweden. This view of the ancient monuments carried over, to a certain extent, to this new definition. Should this be the case, that this category of ancient monuments are remains of winter settlements,  used recurringly over an extended period of time, then they should exhibit similar signals in regards to the distribution of the anthropogenically altered soil chemical and soil physical properties at the sites.The area around Lillsjön, Anundsjö parish in Ångermanland, have four boplatsvallar located separately in the regional area.

Lerbodaälven is a river in the municipality of Kil which, due to high phosphorus content is not meeting the requirements for good ecological status according to the Water Framework Directive. The purpose of this report is to investigate the causes for the high content of phosphorus that has been measured in Lerbodaälven between 1995-2010. Four questions will be answered in this report. 1. Does the sewage treatment work affect the phosphorus level in Lerbodaälven? The result from the time series analysis shows that the sewage treatment works have a small impact on the phosphorus level in Lerbodaälven.

The purpose with this report was to compare three commonly occurring methods for measuring plant available nitrogen in soils. The methods extraction, incubation and Plant root simulator (PRS) probe - an ion exchange membrane (Western Ag Innovations, Inc., Saskatoon, Canada) method were used and comparison between these methods were conducted. A full factorial experiment were set up in northern Finland with the treatments excluding herbivores, warming and fertilization to see how the inorganic nitrogen content in the soil was effected by the treatments. Soil cores were taken and from them a subsample was incubated for 18 days and thereafter analyzed for inorganic N in laboratory. PRS- probes were in the ground for 1 month.

The aim of the study was to map the extent of Fe, Cu, Pb, As, Zn and S contamination in the area surrounding the Nasa silver mine. The mine operated between 1635 and 1810 with some prospecting performed in 1889, and has become infamous for the gruesome ways that the indigenous people were treated during the early years of operation. This study tested three hypotheses through a geochemical survey: 1) sulfide oxidation is still active in the abandoned mine, 2) the soil downslope of the mine is contaminated by mine drainage, and 3) the stream downslope of the mine is affected in the same way. All three hypotheses were valid, as the results showed that still, >200 years after mining operations ceased, signs of the historical mining are clearly visible in the surrounding environment. Acidic conditions were discovered in surface waters close to the waste rock piles, which indicates active sulfide oxidation.

Delineation of recharge areas for aquifers is performed in the groundwater mapping process at the Swedish geological survey, SGU. This work is time consuming and performed manually. It is therefore desirable to develop a more general and repeatable method for defining recharge areas for aquifers.The purpose of this study was to investigate two other possible methods to delineate recharge areas for aquifers. The first method was to examine the possibility of using the topography of the bedrock to define the recharge areas for aquifers. To enable this, a method for generating the topography of the bedrock was developed.

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.

Today, equine breeding is based on performance and conformation, resulting in a vast variation in fertility among different horses, with noticeable economic losses as a consequence. The horse breeding industry is therefore in need of methods that diagnose the spermatozoa concerning their quality and provide the best sperm for AI. The commonly used selection methods for sperm today are: centrifugation, where extender is added, the sample is centrifuged and then resuspended; swim-up self-migration; adherence separation; and density gradient centrifugation. However, none of these methods are in used routinely in practice before inseminating mares with fresh or cooled semen. The aim of this study was to evaluate a new selection method, Single Layer Centrifugation (SLC), and its effect on sperm viability. The viability was analyzed with regard to membrane integrity and membrane stability of ejaculated spermatozoa.

Unwanted vegetation on the land of electric transforming stations is a problem, in the sense that it contributes to higher fire risks and also constitutes an obstacle for people performing maintenance operations at the station. Such unwanted vegetation is controlled using herbicides and mechanical measures. Since the use of herbicides implies environmental hazards, there is a need to find alternative ways of fighting the unwanted vegetation. Investigation into suitable plants for ground cover, trials in the greenhouse, trials in the field, soil analyses and compilation of experiences from similar trials are parts of this work. The paper also contains analyses of possible environmental benefits and economical gains. There is also a final discussion of some proposals regarding alternative weed controlling methods.

Overdue cleanings have for a long time been an important topic of discussion within the forestry sector. When stands that have not been pre-commercially thinned are reaching the level of commercial thinning, many problems occur in terms of decision-making and economical outcomes. These types of stands are commonly known as conflict-stands. The work was carried out partly as an interview survey towards representatives from the forest sector and the energy sector, partly as a case study of conflict-stands situated in Böksholm, north of Växjö and in Tönnersjö east of Halmstad. The criteria for the studied stands were that they had to be dominated by Norway spruce and be in a severe status of ?conflict?. The aim of the interview was to get an overview of the situation today, and also analyse trends in terms of conflict stands.

Det här projektet består av en litteraturstudie på trädformig björk (Betula) i Sverige, samt en studie av glasbjörk (B. pubescens) längs en klimatgradient genom Norra Sverige och Norge. Längs den studerade gradienten skiljer sig vegetationsperiodens längd med över en månad i den kallaste delen av gradienten jämfört med den varmaste. Frön längs gradienten har studerats med avseende på grobarhet före och efter simulerad invintring i syfte att undersöka om det finns trender i grad av frövila och grobarhet längs gradienten. Den simulerade invintringen hade en positiv effekt både på groningshastighet och på andel frön som grodde.

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.

To create multifunctional buffer strips along a watercourse in an economically sustainable way requires consideration of many different factors. In this plan we have selected pollutant reduction as the main purpose of the buffer strip. We have also strived to achieve minimal income loss due to reduced production, increased biological diversity, good game preservation that leads to higher income from hunting, aesthetical satisfaction and possibility to profit from available subsidies. This is done mainly to make landowners/farmers more interested in creating buffer strips along water courses.As sand is the dominant type of soil in the area, the water course is less affected by surface runoff compared to if the soil would be clay or some other finer texture. Game preservation and subsidies have therefore been the main factors when establishing the width of the strip, because these require wider buffer strips in some cases.

Using leaching test is a way to get a picture of pollutants retention and leaching in a risk assessment on contaminated land. There are several different types of standardised leaching tests today, where the natural leaching processes are speeded up to make it possible to predict the leaching of pollutants. These leaching tests have been developed for waste and there are no specific guidelines on how to judge the results from the tests, when making a risk assessment on contaminated land. This work is an investigation on how to use leaching test in this type of risk assessments. The strengths and weaknesses of the different types of tests are discussed. Depending on what type of information you want from your leaching test, different types of tests are suitable.

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.