The purpose of this study is to clarify the most important factors that affect Swedish perennial growers when designing their assortment. The study describes how herbaceous perennials are produced in Sweden today and try to give an answer to the question how growing method and choice of assortment are affecting the possibilities of Swedish producers to compete on the market. Seven perennial growers in the southern and western parts of Sweden have been interviewed about their production methods and on what basis they design the assortment of perennials. During the interviews five factors seem to be the most important when the growers choose which species to grow ? profitability, the characteristics of the species, the sales channel/customer, the growing environment/growing facility and the grower?s interest and knowledge. It is often a combination of these five factors deciding if a cultivar will be grown or not. .

Grasslands which have been actively managed for a long time and which in modern times have not been subject to cultivation such as fertilization are called semi-natural grasslands. These rare and species-rich areas hold an ecological, biological and historical value and if the management stops these areas will likely diminish. More effective agricultural systems and a declining number of grazing animals have in Sweden, among other countries, made semi-natural grasslands less valuable as foraging areas. Shrubs and fast growing plants rapidly colonize abandoned semi-natural grasslands, threatening biodiversity. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of breed and season on diet composition, with special reference to four competitive species found in wet areas ? in cattle grazing heterogeneous semi-natural grasslands ? and thereby contribute to improved management of these areas.

Lichens are adapted to bright and sparse forests on oligotrophic ground. Due to a slow growth rate and high light demand lichens will suffer from competition in eutrophic environments. Therefore, lichens have disappeared from managed forests where the forest industry has increased the productivity. A reduced abundance of lichens will affect both biodiversity of the forest and the reindeer winter graze lands. It is important to understand how and for how long fertilization affects the abundance and diversity of lichens in order to protect lichen rich ecosystems. We have registered the biomass and number of lichen species in eight plots (four nitrogen rich and four nitrogen deficient) and compared fertilized Sami settlements with their oligotrophic surroundings in the nature reserves of Tjeggelvas.

The aim of this master thesis was to examine a possible connection between chromatin functions and the DNA damage repair system, with the imprinted IGF2/H19 locus as a bait. Interactions can occur within and between chromosomes and it has been shown that H19 ICR on both alleles can communicate with alleles on other chromosomes. The methylation-sensitive insulator protein CTCF is bound on the maternal H19 ICR and acts as an insulator by blocking the IGF2 promoter to access its enhancers. This is possible by formation of loop structures by CTCF that enables intra and inter-chromosomal interactions. CTCF is poly(ADP-ribosyl)ated by PARP-1 when it is bound to H19 ICR.

Many wood living insects are considered threatened by modern forestry due to the reduction in amount of dead wood. During the last decade various methods have been used to enhance the quantity of dead wood in managed forests. However little is known how and if these methods are aiding saproxylic insects. The threatened tenebrionid beetle, Upis ceramboides, is already extinct in southern Sweden. It develops in white rotted dead birch (Betula spp) and requires sun-exposed sites.

Future climate changes may lead to an interest of alternative and foreign forest tree species in order to spread the risks in forestry. Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, Freemont cottonwood and hybrid aspen are examples of popular foreign tree species that along with western red cedar could have a future in the Swedish forests.Södra Skogsägarna and SLU have collaboration in establishment of foreign species in Swedish forests.The purpose of this study was to analyze and present the establishment of western red cedar, and to survey and illustrate injuries of freeze drying and other damages like deer browsing, vegetation and insect attacks. The study included four different provenances, and spruce as a reference, planted in two locations ? Asa and Släne.Western red cedar is despite its name a conifer of the cupressaceae family with defined secondary characteristic and gets along well with an overstory. Western red cedar grows often in mixed stands with similar conifers and its natural habitat is within and in the area near to British Columbia.The study included two series of field inventories, one made in the summer and one in the autumn 2013, three growing seasons after plantation.

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.

The purpose of this master thesis is to describe and analyse Gerda Meyerson's educational project for young working-class women in Stockholm between 1898 and 1923. In 1898 Meyerson founded a home for young working-class women where her project could be implemented. It is the educational practises at this home and Meyerson's own words about working womens way of life thats in focus of this investigation. From a class and gender perspective the thesis examines the problems, the solutions and finally the goals of Meyerson's intentions for the young women. The problems were mainly the womens lack of self-esteem and bad moral reputation in society.

In this study I have analysed the history of a forest belonging to Saxåhyttan in Värmland. The study area is 448 hectares and has been used by iron industry since the 16th century. A forest that has been used by man during at least 400 years should have few ecological values. This inventory however shows the opposite. The aim of the study is to interpret the history of the forest in the area, i. e.

The purpose with the examination is to examine a preschool head and three teachers experiences and opinions of whether the tablet can be used to support childrens linguistic development and social interactions in preschool. To answer the purpose we will use these questions of issue:What is the purpose with tablets and how are they used in preschool activity?What pros and cons do the teachers see with tablets?How do the teachers resonate about the use of tablets to develop childrens language skill and social interactions?What type of social interaction occurs when children use the tablet?We have used interviews and observations as our methods. We interviewed three teachers and one preschool head in the capital city of Sweden. They all have a positive attitude towards the use of tablets in preschool.

The aim of the study was to examine if the benthos in a restored portion of a small lowland stream south of Linkoping differed from two non restored reference areas two years after restoration. The reference areas were one stretch downstream and one upstream stretches of the restored stream. The benthic invertebrates were collected using standardized kick sampling. In order to classify the communities and estimate any differences, three different indices were exercised. In addition rank-abundance curves and checklists were used to get a picture of species composition.

The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the constructions andinterplay of gender, ethnicity and sexuality between female and male careworkersand residents in a nursing home. To explore this from a qualitativeeveryday life?s approach, material was collected through participating observations,interviews, and informal conversation with careworkers and residents.The result points out that historical patterns of gender and caring relatedto this context still matter and affect both careworkers and residents. Forexample, female careworkers talked about the concept of caring as a genuinefemale experience, while male careworkers, who were in a minority, insteadtalked about caring in more gender-neutral words. The result also indicatesthat a larger number of male careworkers not necessarily leads to a highergrade of gender equality.

The aim of this study is to find out if the former students think that they have made use of the courses they have taken at the Natural Resource Use Programme specialised in Animal Husbandry at Lillerudsgymnasiet or if the courses should be exchanged. In the study it is assumed that a course can be useful professionally, for further studies and in private life.The main questions are: Have the former students made use of the courses they took at the Natural Resource Use Programme specialised in Animal Husbandry at Lillerudsgymnasiet? Was it the right decision to replace the course Horses?I have sent a questionnaire to all the students who graduated between 2003 and 2007. Out of 107 questionnaires I received 66 replies (62 %). All students have studied the same mandatory courses but different eligible courses.

Dead wood is important for many species. The amount of coarse dead wood (diameter >10 cm) is much lower in managed forest than in unmanaged forests. Stumps constitute the largest proportion of the volume of coarse dead wood in managed forests. Since stump harvest for biofuel may increase, the amount of dead wood will decrease even more, which may threaten biodiversity. The first aim of this study was to compare the amounts of fine woody debris (FWD, .

The aim of this paper was to investigate whether or not it is possible to keep bottlenose dolphins and killer whales in captivity while maintaining good animal welfare. Today, many zoos and aquariums claim that their primary function is to conserve species and educate people about conservation and threatened species. The keeping of wild animals is justified by conservation programs and by the information spread to the zoo visitors. This does however not seem to be the case for marine mammals such as bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) and killer whales (Oricnus orca) since these species are not threatened in the wild and neither of them are listed as threatened in IUCN's Red List. Bottlenose dolphins and killer whales are entirely aquatic carnivores and are distributed in all coastal and pelagic waters from the Arctic ice in the north to the Antarctic ice in the south.