In this master thesis we suggest a recreational directed forest management plan for the Skedalaskogen. The forest is situated 10 kilometres east of the city of Halmstad and is owned by the municipality. We have in literature and in research investigated what people like and want in the forest, how to manage the forest for recreation according to for example tree species, mixtures and density. We tried to adapt the forestry methods more to recreational thinking. We have also looked at issues like what is rare and not rare in this part of the country according to nature and forest, where people live and which connection they have to the Skedalaskogen. The Skedalaskogen is a quite big area, totally 830 hectares. The area have about 100 000 visitors a year.

Predation is one of many factors that form the structure of the macroinvertebrate community in lakes, Wetlands and watercourses. Earlier studies lack an examination concerning how fish- and waterfowl predation affect macroinvertebrates during shorter periods in the spring. I performed an exclosure study in the shallow eutrophic Lake Tåkern which is located in the western part of Östergötland County, Sweden. The experiment was performed during a three week period (1-21 April 2012) when the water temperature was low and the density of migrating diving ducks was high. The experimental cages used included three out of four different treatments; general predation (open cages), bird exclusion (net with mesh size 90*45mm) and no predation (net with mesh size 1*1mm).

Coastal sediments are important carbon sinks, storing organic matter and thereby helping to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, they can also act as carbon sources if the deposited organic matter decomposes rapidly, contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Rapid decomposition partly depends on the degradability of the material itself. In this literature review, I examine which coastal plant species dominate different locations along the Swedish coast, based on coverage data from the ClimScape project (www.climscape.se). For the most dominant species, I investigated the type of organic matter they may contribute to the sediments and based on those results I qualitatively assessed which sites that may function as carbon sinks or sources.

Municipalities in Sweden are responsible for physical planning by developing a general plan. This plan contains intended land and water use for the area. This study aims to investigate the level of integra­tion of environmental issues in the general plan of Arboga municipality and also how well adapted the municipality is for climate change. Further on, the study intends to examine the focus of the gen­eral plan and at what rate the national environmental strategies are implemented in the local physi­cal planning of Arboga municipality. Methods used for this study are interviews and reviewing of the general plan itself and other key documents.

This work is a part of the project ?Våtmarker i odlingslandskapet ? uppföljning av miljömålen? (Wetlands in arable land ? following-up of the environmental goals). The main objective with this project is to study nitrogen and phosphorus retention in a constructed wetland by using mass balance calculations. Continuous measurements of nutrients and water flow through the inlet and the outlet of the wetland are made. However, substantial amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus were assumed to reach the wetland with a drain-pipe transporting wastewater from nearby houses (10 persons).

Stormwater run-off from surfaces such as roads or rooftops is often polluted with heavy metals and nutrients. Many of these substances can cause great damage in biota if they end up in the recipient. In Sweden constructed Wetlands and ponds for treatment of stormwater are frequently used, since research has shown that these treatment ponds are reducing stormwater pollution considerably to a low cost. The knowledge of these pollutant removal mechanisms and how follow-up and assessment of the ponds should be performed is still limited.To determine the pollutant removal efficiency of the stormwater ponds it is recommended that flow-weighted water samples are collected from both the inflow and the outflow of the pond. This method demands considerable resources of time and money for installations and analysis.

This essay is about the hamlets´ older boundaries, i.e. boundary lines (?rågångar?) and boundary markers in the form of rocks, and an own survey of two hamlet boundaries in southeast Sweden. Many of the boundary rocks were subjected to unintentional damage or destruction that arose during forestry activities, the excavation of ditches, or road construction. Boundaries between hamlets sparsely populated areas were not clearly defined from the beginning, but were established initially in the form of boundary zones, that often consisted of Wetlands, watercourses, or mountain heights.

The euthropthication of the Baltic Sea is a threat that is beginning to be taken seriously by the governments concerned. In Sweden, regulations concerning the allowed nitrogen (N) concentration in the effluent water from wastewater treatment plants are being tightened up. The Rimbo wastewater treatment plant has been imposed to reduce the annual mean concentration of total N in the effluent water to levels below 15 mg l-1. A more and more common way to reduce the nitrogen level in wastewater is to let the water pass through a wetland. This study investigates the possibility to build this kind of wetland at the outlet of the Rimbo wastewater treatment plant.A prestudy of the topography, soil characteristics and groundwater flow indicates that the land area in question is well suited for the construction of a wetland.

Peat  lands  are  a  great  potential  resource  for  increased  forest  growth  in  Sweden, there  are  approximately  6.5  million  hectares  of  peat  lands,  whereof  around  70% produce less wood than one m3sk/ha and year and are therefore classed as forest waste  land.  There  are  over  200  000  hectares  of  peat  land  that  is  already  drained and  wooded,  and  that may  be  suitable  for  fertilization.  Forest  production  on  peat soils  usually  requires  drainage  and  fertilization.  Dewatering  requires  ditching  the area, so that the roots can have access to oxygen. Nitrogen is often abundant in the peat but other nutrients; especially potassium is in short supply. The  purpose  of  this  work  was  to examine  the effects  of  potassium  fertilization  on the  growth  of  spruces  that  were  planted  on  drained  peat  land  and  how  different amount of fertilizers affects the growth. Potassium deficiency is strongly growth inhibiting, since potassium is important for substance  transport  in  the  tree.  Potassium  is  also  important  for  the  carbohydrate formation, and because increasing the sugar content of the cells constitutes a lower freezing temperature does potassium availability in the soil play a major role in the winter  resistance  of  many  species.  Potassium  is  not  found  in  any  organic compounds in the tree, but is present in cell and tissue fluids. A fertilization trial was started in 1978 in Siljansfors Experimental Forest. The plots in the experiment were fertilized with different amounts of potassium and one plot was  left  without  fertilization.  All  plots  that  were  fertilized  with  potassium  grew considerably better than the unfertilized plot. The difference in production between the unfertilized plot and the plot that received the most potassium was 7.2 m3sk/ha and year. The unfertilized plot can still be classified as waste land. The theoretical production capacity was estimated using a Swedish system for site quality  estimation  of  Wetlands  after  ditching  (dikningsbonitering).  The  plot  with most  potassium  produced  after  fertilizationaproximately  in  level  with  theoretical estimations.  Key  words:  Peat  land,  Fertilization,  Ditching,  Growth,  site  quality..

Due to global climate change and the rising levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, the interest for seeking solutions for mitigation has increased. While much attention has been directed towards technical solutions such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), biogenic carbon sinks has also garnered significant attention. Previous studies have shown that coastal ecosystems such as seagrass meadows and mangroves have a much greater capacity for storing carbon (C) compared to terrestrial ecosystems. That raises the question if other coastal ecosystems, such as coastal wetland forests, that previously haven?t been considered as blue carbon habitats also contribute to coastal carbon sink capacity.

The acid deposition of sulphur- and nitrogenoxides from combustion of coal and oil cause acidification that lowers pH and gives increased contents of metals and altered aquatic biodiversity in the stream. The liming of lakes and streams, which was introduced to resist the acidification, demand large economic resourses despite of the decreased deposition of the acidifyng substances. Some of the streams are influenced by the acid deposition, while others are naturally acidic. It is therefore importaint to separate the anthropogenically acidified waters from the naturally acidic, in order to optimize the use of governmental fundings for liming. This thesis aims to estimate the acidity status and impact of acidification on 24 catchments upstream liming dispensers, which is part of the liming activities at the County of Dalarna.The acidity status of the streams was classified according to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency old classification system (Naturvårdsverket 1999) as very acid to acid, with small ability to withstand a pH-change (alkalinity) due to acid deposition.

This Master thesis is made at the request of the local municipality of Uppsala in Sweden. The purpose of this work is to create a guiding management plan. Recreation, conservation of the cultivated landscape and the historical environment, conservation biology and the aim of the landowners are all considerd. The area is almost 34 hectares and located north of the centre of Uppsala. Landowners are the National Heritage Board, the diocese of Uppsala, the university of Uppsala, the local municipality of Uppsala and one private landowner.

The last decades have shown increased nitrogen leeching from soil to water recipients. This is inSweden mainly due to over-manuring of agriculture land, effectivization of drainage systems and thedeclining extent of Wetlands. The accumulated amount of nitrogen in water doesn?t only make itunsuitable for use by humans and cattle, but also decreases the biological diversity as well as negativelyaffect tourism and fish industry. In the most severe cases shallow maritime grounds can be completelydepleted of oxygen due to decomposition of the increased amount algae and plankton growth.This study have the aim to describe and quantify the nitrogen leeching from the Genevad drainagebasin, located in southern Halland, Sweden.

This degree project studied surface waters on Kåbo Golf Course in Uppsala, Sweden, with the aim of determining the status of the water and how it is affected by the activities of the golf club, and to obtain suggestions of measures to create better conditions for the water environment on and around the golf course. The project forms part of the environmental protection work of Kåbo Golf Club, which is working towards achieving environmental certification from the Swedish Golf Association (SGF). The study is based on literature studies and quantitative and qualitative field studies of water on the golf course, with the focus on environmental factors identified as being important for the golf industry and on strategic environmental goals developed by SGF. The number of open water bodies in the Swedish landscape has substantially declined during the past 200 years, so it is important to save those that remain. This study showed that the surface water at Kåbo Golf Course is an important element in the surroundings since the area contains few Wetlands, which can be a habitat for large numbers of species. The stream and ponds on Kåbo Golf Course also have the important function of serving as water hazards in the game and adding difficulty and variety to the course. Since Kåbo Golf Club wants its surface waters to look aesthetically appealing, extensive algal growth and drying up of ponds during parts of the year are regarded as problems.

Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning: Småvatten i form av dammar och våtmarker har en viktig funktion i både den terrestraoch akvatiska miljön. De fungerar till exempel som buffert för näringsämnen från attflöda ut i havet och dem ökar den biologiska mångfalden bland växter och djur.De flesta antropogena småvattnen har sitt ursprung från 1800-talet och 1900-taletsbörjan, då näringsrik märgellera grävdes upp från åkrar och hålen på åkrar fylldes uppmed nederbörd. I samband med jordbrukets effektivisering så jämnades många avdessa märgelhålor och antalet småvetten minskade avsevärt. Sedan mitten på 1980-talet har småvatten och våtmarker uppmärksammats i en rad olika miljöprojekt iSkåne.Syftet med denna magister uppsats i ämnet Naturgeografi är att uppskatta samt att i ettlängre perspektiv få reda på hur dessa småvatten förändringar skett de senaste 60 årenoch vilka effekter det haft för omgivningen. Metoden som användes var fjärranalys ikombination med fältbesök samt skärmdigitalisering i ett GIS.