The loss of habitat is one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity today. Consequences to a species inhabiting fragmented habitats include: group size changes, altered diets and altered foraging behaviours. In my study I observed Colobus anlgolensis palliatus troops living in the forests of Diani, a highly developed area on the Kenyan coast. I looked for differences in behaviours between three troops inhabiting pristine forest patches and three troops inhabiting highly degraded forest areas. I used focal animal sampling with instantaneous sample points.

This diploma work was performed at the department for radiation physics at the Health University in Linköping. Its aim was to develop a method to retrospectively quantify the absorbed dose in coral. Coral is a material which suites well as a retrospective dosimeter because when exposed to radioactivity its induced free radicals are stable in time. The number of radicals is proportional to the accumulated dose so the dose can be calculated by quantifying the radicals. Therefore, coral can tell us something about the past environment and also be used in dating purposes.A young, modern coral from the Red Sea was studied and also a fossil one which I was given from the Natural History Museum in Stockholm.

In October 2009, a new decision was made concerning the administration of predators which resulted in a new wolf policy in Sweden. This meant that the wolf population now should be limited to 210 individuals by harvest. The new policy also recognized that the public acceptance of this species must increase and the genetic status improved. In the 17th of December a decision was taken by the Swedish parliament that it should become legal to hunt wolves in Sweden. The wolf hunt resulted in debate on a large scale amongst people, some thought of it as a good decision while others thought it was wrong.

This survey was made during the autumn of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, on commission from the National Board of Forestry. The purpose with the survey was to gather experience and knowledge in the organisation about fencing and this was made through interviews. The ambition was also to get knowledge from people outside the organisation that have great experience of forestry and fencing. The interviews were based on questions that have been composed by the author with help from the supervisors. The questions were the same to both the personal from the National Board of Forestry and to the foresters. Interviews were also made with private landowners, gamekeepers, game researcher, the County Administrative Board, the National Road Administration, pole and net retailers and contractors. The target group for this work is the National Board of Forestry to be forwarded to persons interested in forestry with the ambition to spread knowledge about how to prevent damage on the forest by browsing animals. The deer populations are big in the south of Sweden and growing populations have increased the damage on plantations of broadleaves of the most species.

AbstractIntroductionOccurrence of bacteraemia and fungemia is a serious condition with high mortality and the incidence is increasing worldwide. The aim of this study was to survey the occurrence of bacteria and fungi in blood cultures from adult patients domiciled in the county of Gävleborg during one year and also to calculate the incidence and mortality in the same geographical area.MethodThis is a descriptive epidemiologic study, based on all episodes of blood cultures analyzed at the Microbiology laboratory, Gävle hospital during 2005. Patients from 20 years of age, domiciled in the county of Gävleborg at the date of drawing the blood culture, where included in the study. Criteria of exclusion were negative blood cultures and cultures which were classified as contaminants.ResultsAltogether there were 4 564 blood cultures analyzed, resulting in 524 (11 %) positive cultures for further study. There were 442 patients (48 % women) involved in 499 episodes with confirmed bacteraemia or fungemia.

This MSc thesis is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the need for information from forest campartments selected for clear cutting, in connection with planning in an integrated forest- and sawmill enterprise. A review of literature is followed by a case stud y, where present conditions in a Swedish forest company are compared with current research in the area. The seeond part consists of a simulation stud y, which aims at camparing the accuracy of inventory estimates using different methods. The estimates are delivery forecasts, covering one month consumptian of timber in a large sawmill.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is one of the big feline species kept in zoos worldwide. The wild populations are quite small and therefore the captive population make up an important part of the total population of the world. Although life in the wild is not always easy and a captive environment provides shelter and food it does not come without problems. In captivity cheetahs become chronically ill and also develop stereotypic behaviours. Neither of these are problems in wild populations and both can be linked to stress in captivity.

All over the world the waste from human society is causing problems. In developing countries, large cities are polluted through huge amounts of wastes and people are forced to live very close to open deposits. Lima, capital of Peru, is no exception. The countryside in Peru has also a great challenge to face concerning the waste issue. Children and adults suffer from infectious diseases and contamination of the nature occurs as well. One solution to handle organic waste is to compost, which means a controlled decomposition of organic waste under aerobic conditions at certain temperatures.

Nature conservation on certified small private forest owners- a comparison between the two certification systems FSC and PEFC in southern Sweden Today two different certification systems are used in Sweden to certify forest, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Pan European Forest Certification). During the last years certification of forests in general and different certification systems have frequently been debated. FSC is a globally widespread system and about 10 million ha out of 23 million ha Swedish forest is FSC-certified. The FSC-standard is mainly used by major forest companies and to some extent also by smaller private forest owners. PEFC is a European system and about 2 million ha Swedish forests is PEFC-certified today.

The wide distribution range of our boreal pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) provides a great variation in growing conditions and climate/weather factors that influence the wood development of the trees. A great number of extensive studies have been conducted over the years in order to clarify growth trends of this and other species over more or less wide-ranging areas. In this thesis effects of weather factors were instead compared between different forest stands from the about same geographical location. The effects of precipitation, temperature and frost on the year ring characteristics of pine were studied in the research forest of Svartberget Vindeln, in northern Sweden. The stands differed in site index and silvicultural treatment; fertile ? high stem density, fertile ? low stem density, poor ? high stem density and poor ? low stem density.

Forestry and forest products are vital components of the Swedish economy but the forest is also important for recreation, hunting, out-door life and conserving biodiversity. The Swedish Forest Act has two equally important objectives, production and environmental protection. Polytax is the Swedish Forest Agency´s inventory programme which monitors progress toward the two objectives in connection with regeneration fellings. It includes data on environmental protection measures taken in connection with regeneration fellings. 30 § of the Swedish Forestry Act and related regulations specify the demands for conserva-tion of nature.

Over the past few years the Swedish forestry industry has become increasing interested in direct seeding. Although, in practice, this interest has been restricted to pine seed, the knowledge and techniques that have been developed for pine seeding can readily be transferred to spruce. Direct seeding is a method that is of interest to the forestry industry since it can lead to lower regeneration costs, denser stands and better root development than the more conventional planting method. This study evaluated experiments that focused on direct seeding of spruce in the northern Sweden. Skogforsk set-up the experiments in Gideå and Sävar in 2003.

The cat has become a popular pet. To secure a prosperous cat-human relationship, the cat owner has to understand what kind of animal the cat is and what requirements need to be fulfilled. The purpose of this literature review is to summarize kittens? needs of socialization, anthelmintics, nutrition, vaccination and gonadectomy, until the age of six months and to give the cat owner information on how to care for the cat during this period. Articles were search for in ScienceDirect, Primo and Scopus.

At seed-growing the aim is to produce a commodity with high germination capacity, good soundness and purity, and also slight admixture of seeds from other species. The capacity of germination and the vigour of the seeds may become impaired in consequence of mechanical damage, infection of diseases, growth of mould, attacks of vermin, high drying temperature, secret germination, sprouting in the ears etc. The germ belongs to the outer and most unprotected parts of the seed, and consequently this is much exposed. Even quite sound seeds can instantaneously have low capability of germination. It can be due to the fact that the seeds are in rest of germination, i.e.

Fusarium head blight is a large problem world wide which reduces the yields and the quality of small grains. Shrunken kernels with decreased thousand kernel weight as an effect and pro-duction of mycotoxins are some of the problems caused by infection of Fusarium spp. To avoid toxin contaminated bulks to enter the food and feed chain it is important to have tools for prediction and analysis of the fungi and toxins. Good prediction methods are also impor-tant in the breeding industry since early identification in trials of lines with high resistance or susceptibility simplify the work. To compare different techniques for these objectives this project was initiated.