Pigs are often mentioned as relatively intelligent animals when compared to other nonhuman species. Despite this knowledge, the vast majority of pigs are kept under conditions that lack opportunities to satisfy their cognitive needs. Therefore, a need to evaluate the present scientific studies about pig cognition was acknowledged, in order to evaluate to what extent the knowledge is applied in the husbandry of finishing pigs. If a considerable lack of application was determined, suggestions about how to use the obtained information to improve pig welfare were also to be made. A synthesis of the present literature was made, and it could be concluded that a considerable amount of studies had been carried out in the present area. The pigs of today appear to have the same behavioural and cognitive needs as their ancestor, the wild boar.

Dragonflies are fascinating. The larvae stays larvae from a couple of weeks up to 5 years, it depends on the species (Hansen, 1981). The temperature, nourishment and time of the year also play a role for the growing factor for the larvae. Both Sahlén (1985) and Begon a.o (1990) say so. My report contains information about the branched setae on the front legs from the family damselflies (Zygoptera) and the species Coenagrion.

The aim of this study was to investigate if the botanical composition of haylage affects pH, dry matter content and microbial composition of the faeces in horse and pig and ileal environment in pigs. Two separate studies were conducted where pigs and horses were fed two diets containing haylages with different botanical composition. The first haylage was from a tilled land dominated by timothy and meadow fescue and the other haylage came from a meadowland with a large inclusion of dandelion, 25 % and common couch. The dry matter content (70.8 % and 73.0 % respectively) and the pH-value (5.7) were similar in both feeds. The first study was made as a three-periods switch-back study with 7 Standardbred horses. In the first and the third period, 7 and 9 days long respectively, the diet consisted of the haylage from the tilled land, oats, sugar beet pulp, soy bean oil meal, lucerne pellets and brewers yeast.

The veterinary handling of wildlife, both in zoos and in the wild, commonly requires that the patients need to be captured and immobilized for examination or treatment. This emphasises the need for quick, on-site, laboratory equipment, in order to minimize the analysis time and thus the stress for the animal and also in order to increase the possibility of starting relevant treatment early on. The aim of this pilot study was to determine whether Serum Amyloid A (SAA) could be a measured in blood samples from bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and South American tapirs (Tapirus terrestris). SAA rises to its maximum about 24 hours after the introduction of an inflammatory agent in companion animals. This also correlates with the estimated time it takes for animals at Kolmården Wildlife Park to be examined and having blood samples collected after being observed as sick. The study also evaluated whether the Eurolyser SOLO, using a turbidometric immunoassay (TIA) developed for human diagnostics, could be used for such analysis. This pilot study was a retrospective analysis of SAA in convenience sampled frozen serum, collected from dolphins, elephants and tapirs.

The main project Dry preservation of food waste from households includes a new technique concerning drying and storage of dried biowaste as well as a study of the sorting of household waste and further usage of the dried biowaste. A question asked in the project is, can the dried biowaste be used as a soil amendment? If organic waste is used as a soil amendment, precaution concerning hygienic safety risks has to be accounted for. The objective of this M. Sc.

Modern forestry management may disadvantage some mykorrhiza forming fungi because; they are dependent on late successions and cannot survive the constantly recurring breaks in the continuity of their host tree. For this study the specie goliatmusseron (Tricholoma matsutake) was chosen to investigate this possibility. In Sweden T. matsutake is found in greatest amounts north of Örnsköldsvik on glacifluvial sandy soils in association with pine trees and reindeer lichens. Seventy two forest stands where the specie previously had been found were studied; 62 in the northern part of Sweden and ten in the southern. Several indicators were studied to find out if these stands have had a continuity of living trees.

The natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) is one of three species of toads living in Sweden. During the last decades declines in population numbers have been detected and are thought to be primarily due to loss of habitat, overgrown breeding ponds and competition from common toad (Bufo bufo) and common frog (Rana temporaria). In 2012 20 ponds in the location of Glommeskallen in Smögen were restored by clearing the ponds from overgrowth. The aim of this study was to investigate if natterjack toads used the restored ponds and if the restoration had made an impact on the natterjack population on the location. Presence of common toad and common frog was recorded, as was the presence of eggs and larvae of any of the three species.

Analyses of pollen and charcoal in peat cores, together with age-structure data of Pinus sylvestris from a Ledum-Pinus-mire in the Tyresta National Park (south-east Sweden) show the regional vegetation succession and fire history over the last 9000 years. Five major stages of mire development are identified: 1. Lake (c 7000-6400 cal BC); 2. Wet fen (c 6400-6000 cal BC); 3. Deciduous fen (c 6000 cal BC to c cal AD 700); 4.

To differentiate between bones from sheep (Ovis aries) and bones from of goats (Capra hircus) is a long lasting challenge for zoologists, archaeozoologists and osteologists. Especially considering archaeological remains which are often found fractured and poorly preserved due to taphonomic processes. Zeder & Pilaar?s (2010) and Zeder & Lapham?s (2010) methods of species differentiation has shown promising results when used on bones from modern sheeps and goats. This paper aims to evaluate these methods by exerting them on excavated bones from kv.

This Master's thesis work was done at SLU, Uppsala, Sweden in cooperation with Upplandsstiftelsen and Uppsala County Council. The studied area is pointed out as an area for EU´s LIFE project, NATURA 2000, concerning the Scarabid beetle Osmoderma eremita. The studied area lies in an agricultural landscape rich on deciduous trees, about 15 km south of Enköping in the County of Uppland. The species is dependent on large, old, hollow trees, which are exposed to sunlight, usually oak trees in this area. I studied the area in detail concerning large old trees (>70cm ø), middle-aged oak trees and young oak trees.

Today the milk production per cow is increasing but the milk delivered by the Swedish farmer contains less amounts of fat and protein than earlier. The contents have decreased since 1993. In average the milk contain 4,2 percent fat and 3,4 percent protein. Earlier the fat content in milk was important. Nowadays the dairy?s attention has turned to the milk?s valuable proteins, principally the caseins, which have a considerable nutritional value and are important for several dairy products like cheese and yoghurt.

Burnt Spine-cap Sárcodon fuligíneovioláceus are one the most endangered mycorrhizal fungal species in Europe. They have their main distribution in Sweden. It form mycorrhiza with pine and dependent on limestone, which makes it connected to a rare environment. It has therefore been important to study the ecology of it further and to recognise the requirement it has on the environment more accurate and what it need to establish in a new area. In this study, 31 of 34 known sites in Sweden was visited and studied in field and their history analysed through aerial photographs.

Introduction: Pregnancy, obesity, aging and certain diseases are examples of conditions thataffect the body, its constitution and composition. Simpler methods to estimate bodycomposition are needed to complement more advanced traditional methods to better identifythe health status without sacrificing accuracy and precision.Objective: To validate the results of body composition from bioelectrical impedancespectroscopy (BIS) against results from the study reference method, dual energy X-rayabsorption (DXA), in overweight and obese lactating women after childbirth.Method: The design of the LEVA-study (Lifestyle for Effective Weight loss during lactation)consisted both intervention and longitudinal follow-up, which gave the opportunity tovalidate the absolute values (accuracy) and the ability to detect changes (precision). Themean difference between methods was tested statistically by paired t-test. Bland-Altman plotsused to examine the degree of agreement between BIS and DXA, but also distribution andany systematic differences. Association between methods was measured by using Pearson´scorrelation coefficient.Results: Between BIS and DXA, absolute measurements of the variables fat-free mass (FFM)and fat mass (FM) showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001).

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to study resource allocation among district libraries within Stockholm?s City Library (SSB) on three different occasions ? 1996, 2001 and 2005 ? and to examine whether there exist any inconsistency between the state of the allocation of resources and what might be considered reasonable. During the course of the study, it became apparent that some measurements are more relevant than others when determining whether the allocation of resources is reasonably fair. The most relevant ratio is the share of net cost per capita in relation to population and the population?s composition of children, youngsters and persons with foreign background as a result of relevant political governing documents giving priority to these three groups.

Large areas of forests in the tropical region have during the last decades been lost and converted to new land uses while other areas have been degraded into secondary forests. These secondary forests need to be restored and rehabilitation through enrichment planting and liberation may help to speed up the recovery process. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate a rehabilitation method that includes enrichment planting, slashing of weeds and girdling of unwanted trees. The site for the project is situated in Sabah, Borneo in a secondary forest which had been logged and burnt by a wildfire. The project?s goal is to rehabilitate and increase biodiversity through enrichment planting of seedlings mainly belonging to the family Dipterocarpeaceae (dipterocarps).