The forest and mire landscape surrounding the north Swedish villages have been of fundamental importance through time for the farmers. In the Scandinavian summer farm system the forest and mire pasture was used to its full potential. The system consisted of smaller summer farms some kilometres from the main farm in the village, and were the livestock grazed in the forest around the summer farm. The livestock affect their environment, and grazed forests generally contain a higher biodiversity than an ungrazed forest. The overall aim of this thesis is to understand the impact of livestock grazing on a northern forest ecosystem over a long time period.

To turn the dairy heifers out on pasture is the most natural way for the cattle to get feed. At the same time it is cheap and if it is right treated a feed of high nutritive value. The problem today is to get dairy heifers to grow enough when they are grazing at natural pasture for the entire summer. Therefore, the opinions differ whether pasture is a resource or a problem. The increasing interest of pasture production is due to the fact that you can receive grants for preserving valuable natural assets and cultural landscape elements in the pasture land. A high grazing pressure is necessary to preserve an open landscape and a great variety of Species. In the same time the heifers have to supply their nutritive needs in order to grow and be large enough to show heat and be pregnant in right time to calve with a sufficient body size and at an economically right age. This paper includes a literature review on natural pasture, pasture production, and growth of dairy heifers together with own interviews with dairy farmers about their point of view to the pasture husbandry on the farms, how they plan for pasture, look after natural pasture, treatment areas and take care of the calves and heifers. The results indicate that the time it takes and the demanded work are the biggest factors to how and why the farmers do as they do..

The focus of this study was to examine the nutrients and benthic organisms of the bay ?Mönsteråsviken?, which is influenced by eutrophication. The purpose was also to look at an interesting gradient forming in the bay, namely the distance from the river outflow of Lillån. At 18 sampling sites in the bay samples of water, sediments and benthic organisms were collected in late April of 2011. The water was analyzed for nitrate, phosphate and chlorophyll.

With knowledge of how the southern Swedish forests have been affected by storms the past years, this study intended to find out which factors affect the storm firmness of a stand the most. The study was based on data from stands in the, by the storm Gudrun, affected area. The results of the analyses that tested the stand factors that influence the amount of storm damage to the greatest extent showed that the storm sensitivity of Norway spruce stands were largely due to previous management actions. The factors that could be controlled by thinning and had relevance of storm damage standpoint, according to the results were; the dominant height, volume, basal area weighted mean diameter and stand age at last thinning. In this study, these results are not as clear for Scots pine.

Psittacines and reptiles are exotic animals that are difficult to care for and it requires extra knowledge to make a correct assessment of their wellbeing. An animal welfare inspector, with an education in general animal welfare, may not have a deep enough knowledge of exotic animals to do a proper assessment of the animal?s general condition and its environment. In this paper it was therefore examined if animal welfare inspectors have enough knowledge to do a satisfying inspection of establishments working with selling of exotic animals. A literature study was used to examine difficulties with each Species.

Over 80% of Sweden's population lives in urban areas, and half of the country's forest visits will thus be in urban woodlands. Social values ??- how the individual experiences the forest, and the impact of the forest visits on individual health and well-being, are pointing to the importance of managing the urban woodlands.When there comes to the cultivation of the urban woodlands there are usually many opinions to consider.This study aims to investigate the various opinions on the use and forestry in an urban recreation area in ??the City of Trollhättan. The study addresses both general and in four cases specific suggestions on management methods.Data was obtained from both quantitative and qualitative study through survey, interviews and discussions with the users of the recreation area.Trollhättan's goal with the recreation area is to make it accessible to local residents. The users are mainly influenced by the accessibility therefore clearings and thinnings are appreciated.

The focus of this study was to examine the nutrients and benthic organisms of the bay ?Mönsteråsviken?, which is influenced by eutrophication. The purpose was also to look at an interesting gradient forming in the bay, namely the distance from the river outflow of Lillån. At 18 sampling sites in the bay samples of water, sediments and benthic organisms were collected in late April of 2011. The water was analyzed for nitrate, phosphate and chlorophyll.

Today is one of the goals with zoos to conserve endangered Species and some animals may also become reintroduced. But behaviours can change in generations of captive animals because of environments that differ from the wild. Animals must then be prepared before being reintroduced and predator training enhances the animal?s chance to survive in the wild. When training animals to avoid predators it is often necessary to use frightening stimuli.

Use of lighting is crucial to make public urban places available during dark hours. Landscape architects participate in planning of lighting, but during our education there is very little taught on the subject. Through this study we approach the subject of lighting by looking into lighting methods for urban plant materials during winter. In this thesis we look into ways to emphasize the visible characters and experiences of urban plants during winter season using light. Target audience are landscape architect students and landscape architects without knowledge of lighting. The part of the thesis that describe basic conditions for, and visual characters of plants can be useful to lighting designers without knowledge in this subject. Working methods used were the following: ? Pre-study about light and lighting techniques through literature and dialogues. ? Compiling important visual winter plant characters through photography and literature. ? Outdoor light experiments with plants.

This work is a GIS study of fishing rights distribution between different categories of ownersand properties in the Stockholm Archipelago. The purpose was to create basic data used toestablish fishing laws and restrictions within the Stockholm County.Stockholm?s archipelago consists of a unique environment and is the natural life andreproduction environment for ? of Sweden?s reproducing fish Species. The increasingpressure from fishing, tourism and weekend population increases the need for an efficientfishing administration to prevent impoverishment and to ensure the biological diversity inSwedish fishing waters. There is an increasing need to review fishing administrationmethodologies, as well as studying the categories of ownership and properties located insensitive areas and areas influenced by physical disturbances in order to establish effectivelaws and restrictions.The Swedish fishing rights for an area are currently not connected to the ownership of theproperty to which it belongs.

Biodiversity consists of all life on Earth and in all forms. Biodiversity is often discussed at three levels: ecosystem, Species and genetic variation within Species. Biodiversity also provides many of the ecosystem services performed by nature and that we depend on, including cultural services such as aesthetic values, education and recreation. In Sweden the environmental objectives are central; there are 16 environmental quality objectives, and "A rich plant and animal life" is one of them. Conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity is a prerequisite for achieving also most other environmental objectives. Another environmental quality objective that is tied to a rich biodiversity in cities and biodiversity is "Good built environment" where cities, towns and other built environment should provide a good living habitat and contribute to a good environment.

Land management for food production is a fundamental human activity and one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century will be to increase the global food to accommodate a world growing to 10 billion or more people, while undergoing climate change. The increasing temperature and the current and projected increase in concentrations of CO2 lead to concern over possible impacts on agricultural pests. This assay is summarizing the knowledge of weeds in a changing climate in Sweden. Global warming and other climatic changes will affect the growth, phenology, and geographical distribution of weeds. The climate change will also affect the weed composition indirect by causing changes in the agriculture.

Feral animal populations are distributed over many parts of the world and are often seen as a problem. Since they are a threat against other Species, destroy farmlands and can spread dis-eases, they are often referred to as pests. Artificial selection has contributed to loss of genetic diversity in our domesticated animals. Feral animal populations are affected by natural selec-tion, which allows them to adapt to the environment. Their ability to adapt is a reason to see them as pests but can also be seen as an asset.

The aim of this study was to establish knowledge about the most suitable substrate for cultivating different kinds of anaerobic beer spoilage bacteria in the brewing industry. During the study, two other aspects were investigated; if the sample volume affects the results and which anaerobic beer spoilage bacteria are present in the micro flora at the brewery. The method used was standard cultivation with four different substrates; Universal Beer Agar, Nachweismedium Bierschädliche Bakterien, Raka Ray and VLB S7-S. During the identification of bacteria in the micro flora, a method using PCR was used. None of the substrates showed a significant advantage over the others.

In the report parasites in the gastrointestinal tract and easily visible external symptoms of disease in capercaillie, (Tetrao urogallus), was taken into account. The study was based on results from the examination of 62 fresh faecal samples, collected in spring 2003, and postmortem examination of 22 frozen birds that were collected between 1999 and 2003. All of the samples principally were from the north of Sweden. In total, 4 Species of parasites, but no significant symptoms of disease were found. In the faeces low levels eggs of the roundworms Capillaria spp. (125 epg) and Ascaridia spp.