This final thesis is performed on commission of Torsby forestry administration, Stora Enso Skog. Stora Enso Skog is one of the major forestry companies of Sweden. The main business area is located in and around the region of Bergslagen. During the last decade the practice of forest management has rapidly changed due to a new forest legislation. The new law has resulted in that the production goal is equal to the environmental goal within forestry.

Benthic diatoms are used in Sweden for monitoring water quality in run-ning water; the method is also frequently used in other countries in Europe. One of the problems of the diatom method is the need for sedimentation of the fresh sample, to be able to decant the over standing water and add alco-hol as a preservations solution. To my knowledge, no results have been published about how long the settling time must be to ensure that the ben-thic diatoms really have settled down to avoid a loss of the diatoms when decanting the over standing water. The aim of my investigation was to improve the Swedish method where the benthic diatoms are used for water quality monitoring. I wanted to find out the appropriate time necessary to wait until all diatoms have settled down before decanting the over standing water. First, fresh benthic diatom samples were taken in the river Fyrisån and the lake Mälaren on different days. After arriving in the laboratory, I waited three different times (30 min, 60 and 180 min) for the diatoms to settle.

Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) is a tree species that have its natural distribution along the West Coast of North America, from Alaska in the north to northern California in the south. Sitka spruce is a typical coastal tree species that can reach heights up to 85 meters and occurs in single pure as well as in mixed stands. The main purposes of this study were to describe the Sitka spruce growing characteristics and the volume production in comparison to spruce (Picea abies). The possibility to predict future volume production by using prognosis tools designed to be used on spruce were also studied. The material that has been used in this study are permanent sitka trials established by the Faculty of Forestry fixed Sitka trials and also material gathered in this study. A literature study was also carried out in order to determine the Sitka spruce growing characteristics. Sitka spruce has a high adaptation and a high volume production on a broad scale of soil types. The tree species is a pioneer species that has a fast early growth and in combination with sharp needles it is less susceptible to animal browsing than spruce. The factor that is the single most limiting factor for where the Sitka spruce can be planted is frost. This factor can be limited by using plant material with a well-suited provenance. According to the literature, the Sitka spruce has an average total volume production that is between 20-40% higher than spruce.

Chinas government has a multifunctional program for a more sustainable forestry since 2000. This six key forest programs goal is to develop a more sustainable forest sector but also take environment consideration. The state forest administration in China has decided to create 5.8 million hectare of fast growing and high yield forest. Eucalyptus has showed to have good properties for pulp and timber production and therefore Eucalyptus plantations are under development in costal areas in southern China. By adding extra nutrients, growth can be enhanced in Eucalyptus plantations.

This master?s thesis is a remote sensing study of an area-based method used to detect forest in need of thinning by use of laser data and field samples. Only pine-dominated forest has been included in the study and height limits were set to match empirical restrictions. The study area was in the municipality of Älvsbyn (Latitude 65° 40´ N, Longitude 21° 00´ E), in northern Sweden.The Swedish authority Lantmäteriet is currently laser scanning most parts of Sweden, providing new opportunities and applications. The primary aim of the national laser scanning is to create a new elevation model, useful in consequence analysis of climate changes.

When Norway spruce is planted with large initial spacing and grows on highly productive sites in southern Sweden, a high proportion of the stems gets broad annual rings. The thinning programme carried out at the estate of Trolleholm aims to extract stems with too broad ring width. The 3-4 first thinnings are carried out as thinning from above, where only the thickest trees are removed. The internal distance may not fall below 5-7 meters depending on the number of thinning (short distance in young stands). The aim of this study was to examine the thinning model that is carried out at the estate of Trolleholm. A volume table is calculated to describe the model, and data is collected on temporary plots.

Old hollow trees of oak contain a large amount of wood mould. Unfortunately, these trees have in the last century been greatly reduced in numbers. It has resulted in that species that depend on these habitats, saproxylic species, have become at risk to decrease in numbers or die out regionally. Previous studies have shown that the volume of wood mould is an important factor for occurrence and population size of saproxylic organisms. The aim of the present study was to examine how the volume of wood mould varies among ash (Fraxinus excelsior), lime (Tilia sp.), maple (Acer platanoides), aspen (Populus tremula) and oak (Quercus robur).

Den prekära konsthantverkarenPrekariatet, en framväxande ny klass som utmejslar konturerna av en social grupp. Här sammanförs individer under samma paraply, trots att de har helt olika utbildningar, eller ingen utbildning alls eller liknande sociala och ekonomiska förhållanden, så delar de samma politiska verklighet. De som befinner sig i tillvaron upplever att den är provisorisk och de lider av kronisk otrygghet.Ordet ?prekär? betyder ?mycket bekymmersam?. Den nya samhällsklass som kallas ?prekariatet? har det just bekymmersamt.Syftet med mitt projekt är att använda material, en arbetsplatskultur och processer inom bemanningsbranschen och integrera dem med min konsthantverksprocess för att skapa en visuell berättelse om en klassposition..

The interest in harvesting wood fuel in conflict stands has grown in recent years as a consequence of the increased demand for biofuel. Conflict stands are young forests that have not been cleaned and have a large number of stems ha-1with a great height and diameter distribution. This means that traditional field measurements in conflict stands are difficult and very time consuming. Therefore, the forestry sector is in need of new, more efficient inventory methods. In this study, the Lidar data from Lantmäteriet?s (the Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registration authorities) new national height model was used in combination with plots from the Swedish national forest inventory from 2009 to create functions for; height, volume, diameter and number of stems.

The aim of the study was to compare productivity in first thinning of birch stands, when either energy- or pulpwood was harvested. The systems total profitability was also compared by including forwarding and chipping costs. A Gremo 950 HPVR harvester was used and the same driver was used under the entire study. During the pulpwood harvest a Logmax 4000b harvester head was used and a feller buncher head made by Silvatec was used during the energy wood harvest. Six study unit pairs were located in a birch dominated stand outside Ängelholm in Skåne.

During the late 1800s fire suppression became increasingly effective in northern Sweden which led to decreased areas of fire-disturbed woodland and successive changes in the structure of forests. In the long run this can pose a serious threat to fire-dependent and fire-favored species. Today some fire-prone forest reserves are burned as a nature conservation act. Often partial cuttings are made before burning, with somewhat different motives. The purpose of the study in Långsidberget nature reserve was to give a general picture of forest history and its affect on today?s forest condition, and to show how partial cuttings affect burning conditions and results. Långsidberget is located close to areas that were colonized during the Middle Ages.

Old hollow trees of oak contain a large amount of wood mould. Unfortunately, these trees have in the last century been greatly reduced in numbers. It has resulted in that species that depend on these habitats, saproxylic species, have become at risk to decrease in numbers or die out regionally. Previous studies have shown that the volume of wood mould is an important factor for occurrence and population size of saproxylic organisms. The aim of the present study was to examine how the volume of wood mould varies among ash (Fraxinus excelsior), lime (Tilia sp.), maple (Acer platanoides), aspen (Populus tremula) and oak (Quercus robur).

Standing partially in honour culture. Description of honour culture and of methods toward changing attitudes among young men..

Forestry in Sweden is currently conducted in a manner aiming at equating the production objectives and the biodiversity. To ensure that biodiversity is maintained, patches that are considered to be valuable now or in the future is saved in final fellings. How the tree retention areas will grow into the future forest stands is yet unknown.The purpose of this study was to visualize how different scenarios of natural consideration taken at final felling will evolve in a long term perspective, for two rotation periods. Projections of the forest conditions were executed with the decision support system Heureka and its applications PlanStart and PlanWise. The information about the projected forests was then used for the visualizations which were created in the software Visual Nature Studio.

Elephants are hindgut fermenters, which affects their diurnal rhythm. To reach their nutrient demands, elephants must eat almost constantly throughout the light part of the day. Sexual dimorphism may also affect their behavioral patterns. To understand the elephants' normal living habits and foraging behaviour, we conducted a pre-study in the Mara Triangle, the north-western part of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Each of four to six observers randomly chose a focal animal within the group of elephants by the criteria that they were adults and visible.