Trees in urban environment are exposed to extreme conditions, foremost the ones that grow in the hard packed soil along our streets. They are also exposed to damaging insects and fungal diseases both local and new ones spreading from South Europe. The global warming with warmer temperatures provides a longer growing season, making it easier for insects and fungus to establish a habitat. Based on these facts new tree species need to be available for future urban plantings.To determine what these trees would be an interview study began. Six people were selected who have experience in the field of urban environment planting.

The purpose of this master thesis is to attract attention to the undefined spaces of our urban landscape and emphasize the need of these spaces in the city. The different values of these spaces are here clearly presented so that they can be considered when real estate developers show a particular interest in any one of these undefined spaces. The term undefinied spaces can mean a lot of things. The spaces that I now choose to define as undefined spaces are neither planned nor designed. It could for instance be a piece of leftover land in between two residential areas, or as times change, a formerly planned area might be forgotten and left to its own.

Summary The leaf beetles, Lilioceris lilii and L. merdigera have existed in Asia, Europe and in North Africa for a long time, but have become much more abundant the last twenty-five years. Even North America has been affected during the last years. The purpose of this investigation of Lilioceris species in Sweden, is to give advice to gardeners, which type of control measures is the most effective in order to restrict their damage to lilies. Lilioceris species overwinter normally as pupae in the soil under the host or close by. Literature and contact with advisors have described the life cycle and spreading of Lilioceris. Under favourable conditions these leaf beetles have two generations/year in the south of Sweden. Both the adults and the larva eat the foliage, and by strong attacks even flowers can be eaten and only the stem is remaining. My own observations include different treatments of both lily foliage and of the leaf beetle.

The white-backed woodpecker is a forest bird being critically endangered in Sweden. The species is dependent on older forests rich in deciduous trees and dead wood. The main problem for the survival of this species is present shortage of habitat. Conservation work on this umbrella species is at present focused on finding remaining or emerging habitat networks. Large areas are scrutinized in search for suitable habitats to be protected or managed for the species sake.

Organisms relevant for nature conservation dont follow administrative borders. Because of this there is a need for a landscape perspective within conservation and planning, and a need for the species of interest to have legal protection. Network analysis adapted for ecological purposes has grown to become a powerful tool for studying and communicating the relationships between species dispersion and access to habitat. In this study the following question is posed: How is the Osmoderma eremita and the Pernis apivorus dispersal possibilities in the small scale cultivated landscape of Borås affected by exploitation in respect to a) dispersal ability, b) habitat quality, c) position of habitat patches in a network? The analysis were based on municipal and regional nature conservation data, which in due to confidentiality is not accounted for in the report by maps, coordinates, etc.

In the 1970?s it was predicted that in the beginning of the 21st century there would be a timber shortage in Sweden and a large scale introduction of the exotic tree species lodgepole pine started. An introduction of a foreign tree species means a risk of a negative influence on the forests ecosystem. Today, the stands that were established in the 70?s are middle-aged and the effect on the forest floor vegetation can be studied.

Multilayered woodland types are an important part of the urban forest. The knowledge how to establish and maintain such plantations are not as deep as other knowledge fields concerning forestry. Therefore this study has looked upon how to achieve multilayered structures in young nature-like woodland plantations. As a theoretical base for the study three different major knowledge culture have been studied that concerns the subject, ecology, forestry and landscape management/design. This three theoretical framework concludes that many natural processes strive in the opposite direction of multilayered structures in their youth.

Diversity of ground beetles (Col: Carabidae) in managed riparian grasslands. The carabid community in moist seminatural grasslands was studied at three different sites in mid-Sweden. Pitfall trapping was carried out during six weeks in spring and early summer 2003. Eight transects, each containing seven pitfall traps, were placed in three different management regimes, either late or continous grazing, or meadow. The species composition was analysed by ordination analyses, i.e. DCA and CCA.

In this essay suggested pathogenesis of secondary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) is reviewed. HOA, characterized by; periostitis, periosteal proliferation of tubular bones and arthritis can develop due to many different underlying diseases. The syndrome is most commonly seen with intra-thoracic malignancy or chronic pulmonary infections. HOA has previously mainly been described in humans and various domesticated species. More recently, through wildlife disease monitoring, cases have also been found among wild animals.

A lot of habitats have declined or disappeared as the old cultural landscape changed to the modern agricultural landscape of today. Places such as power line corridors, racing tracks, gravel pits and military training sites have become refuges for many species associated with the old cultural landscape. These sites have been exposed to ecological disturbances that create the same type of habitats that were found in the old cultural landscape.The military training sites in Sweden has an impressive diversity of species. Disturbances from the military exercises have created habitats that are important for a wide range of species.The purpose of this thesis is to study some of the ecological disturbances occurring in the military training sites of the Swedish Armed Forces and examine how they affect different types of habitats. The thesis explains through litterateur and field studies the reason to the rich biodiversity often found at military training sites.

Turbot (Psetta maxima) and flounder (Platichthys flesus) are two species of flatfish both having their nursery areas around the shores of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The common brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) is a known predator on newly settled plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in the North Sea area and is also found in the Baltic Sea. Experiments were carried out to see if the brown shrimp is predating on juvenile turbot and flounder, and if so on which sizes, and if the brown shrimp prefers any of the flatfish species, and also to see if there is a difference between day and night in density of the shrimp, i.e. when the fish might be subjected to predation. The results showed that predation decreased with size for both turbot and flounder.

The fragmentation and reduction of deciduous forests in Sweden is threatening many species. Particularity worrying is the loss of broad-leaf trees, since a diversity of species is often associated to them. Today many deciduous trees are situated along the border between forested and open areas, and these small fragments can be important for biodiversity.The aim of this study is to analyze if wildlife management can affect the variation of deciduous trees and bushes in the landscape. In brochures and literature Svenska Jägareförbundet (the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management) recommend hunters and landowners to promote deciduous trees ? often broad-leaf trees ? as wildlife management measures, while the Swedish forestry laws can be sensed as unclear regarding the treatment of these trees.Five properties in Södermanland, Sweden, were chosen as study areas and inventoried in respect of trees and bushes in September 2013.

Pulsatilla vernalis is one of several endangered plant species that benefit from wildfires and small scale disturbance events that repel competing vegetation and create open patches in the vegetation cover. Previous studies argue that Pulsatilla vernalis is decreasing in numbers due to vegetation changes associated with the decrease in wildfires, forest grazing and changes in forest management. In this study, 17 populations of P. vernalis were inventoried in order to examine if soil and/or vegetation structures affect the population structure of P. vernalis (i.e.

With a changing climate, we can expect higher temperatures and more precipitation in Sweden.As the temperature increases, new weed species are expected to migrate in from more southerlylatitudes, resulting in requests for new techniques for weed control. In addition, we might see agreater number of weed species and higher biomass production due to increased concentrationof CO2 in the atmosphere.Increased understanding of the biology of specific weed species will become more importantin future weed control. This will help to control the weeds more efficiently. Higher prices onpesticides and a public demand for reduced use of pesticides make growers more inclined to usemechanical weed control on a larger scale and to a greater extent prevent weed establishmentbefore sowing. A well-planned crop rotation is the most important preventive measure, whichmight also include delayed sowing, and dark harrowing and sowing.Research takes place on many levels within the weed area and several alternative methodsare being developed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how elevated levels of heavy metals affect the faunal species composition, abundance and species-diversity. The bentic macroinvertebrate fauna in the highly polluted lake Tisken was compared with the bentic macroinvertebrate fauna in the unpolluted lake Varpan. Mine wastes account for most of the metal that is discharged into Tisken. The hypotheses was that the heavy metal pollutions in lake Tisken influenced the species composition, abundance and diversity of the macroinvertebrates. Twenty samples were taken in both sites.