Boreal peatlands are substantial terrestrial carbon storages. They are also important for the function of several large-scale cycles and systems that humanity benefits from. Drainage affects peatlands by establishing a new, lower equilibrium for the groundwater table. As a consequence of a lowered groundwater table and physical disturbance from the ditch, a chain of events is triggered, causing a number of changes in the hydrology and hydrochemistry of peatlands. The review aimed at gathering the most relevant literature on how boreal peatlands are affected by drainage. This was carried out by searching for scientific articles on online databases and libraries. Besides reviewing hydrology and hydrochemistry, a compilation of boreal peatland characteristics and a background on the history of Swedish peatland drainage are handled in the report. The results show that concentrations and loads for a long range of water quality parameters are affected by drainage. The effects vary a lot depending on different peatland characteristics. Both runoff and chemical changes depends largely on whether ditches reach mineral soil beneath the peat. The most obvious and adverse effect on chemistry is a large increase in suspended solid concentration and export. Other changes include increases of mineralized nitrogen, decreased organic carbon transport, increased annual runoff and increased levels for a number of elements, such as Mg, Ca, K and Mn.

Current Federal Aviation Regulations require costly and time consuming crashworthiness testing to certify aircraft. These tests are only capable of a limited assessment of progressive damage and all crash configurations and scenarios cannot be physically evaluated. Advancements in technology have led to accurate and effective developments in numerical modeling that have the possibility of replacing these rigorous physical experiments. Through finite element analysis, an in-depth investigation of an aircraft equipped with a fabricated composite undercarriage was evaluated during water ditching. The severe impact of aircraft ditching is dynamic and nonlinear in nature; the goal of this work to develop a methodology that not only captures the structural response of the aircraft, but also the fluidic behavior of the water. Fundamental studies were first conducted on a well-researched fluid-solid interaction problem, the water entry of a wedge. Typical modeling strategies did not capture the desired detail of the event. An advanced meshing scheme combining meshed and meshless Lagrangian techniques was developed and multiple wedge angles were tested and compared to analytic and qualitative results. The meshing technique proved valid, as the difficult to model phenomena of splashing was captured and the maximum impact force was within five percent of analytical calculations for the 20° and 30° deadrise wedge. Physical small scale aircraft ditching experiments were then performed with an innovative testing platform capable of producing varied aircraft approach configurations. The model was outfitted with an instrumented composite undercarriage to record data throughout the impact while a high-speed camera recorded the event. Numerical simulations of the model aircraft were then compared to experimental results with a strong correlation. This methodology was then ultimately tested on a deformable model of a fuselage section of a full-size aircraft. / Master of Science

Large areas have been ditched in Sweden during the past 100 years to improve the forest production. Ditching and also maintenance of old ditches are operations having mainly negative effects on water quality, flora and fauna and changing characteristics of soil. The purpose of this study was to suggest a method for inventory of the need for ditching maintenance in old forest ditches that takes biodiversity, water protection and forest production into consideration. Inventory methods from five Swedish and Finnish forest companies, agencies and organisations were compared. Their employees were interviewed about their handling with ditches, forest production and nature conservation. The results show that there are four major questions that have to be answered in order to decide whether old ditches should be left as they are, maintained or if there are other operations that could be needed. First, it is important to know whether the original ditches has had an improving effect on forest production and second, what effect a cleaning of the ditch would have on the growth at present. The third and fourth theme that has to be valued is what the effects could be on biodiversity and the environment and all this has to be weighted together. Maintenance of old ditches is a complex subject. It is of major concern to have a comprehensive view and to look outside the specific object for eventual causes and effects. A method for inventory of need for ditching maintenance is a good tool in the planning.

Acid sulfate (AS) soils are characterized by a large pool of sulfates which may provide significant amounts of acidity and heavy metals – commonly nickel (Ni), Cobolt (Co), Zinc (Zn) and Arsenic (As) - to surrounding surface waters. The occurrence of AS soils is widespread, covering 17 million ha globally, and they are known for threatening freshwaters in Australia, North America as well as in many tropical regions. Mobilization of mercury (Hg) from AS soils is however poorly studied and could potentially be an environmental problem of concern due to its toxicity and capacity of bioaccumulating in food webs. In this study I investigated whether Hg is mobilized from AS soils by conducting chemical analyses on sediment samples from a 1,6 m deep lake core and a transect of surficial sediment samples in an adjacent sea bay. Here, I used zircon (Zr) and zinc (Zn) as proxies for silicate sources and sulfide soil sources, respectively. I found that Zn and Hg concentrations normalized to the organic matter content (LOI) showed a significant correlation in the lake core; hence, Hg in the sediment co-varied with my sulfide proxy and showed no correlation to my silicate proxy, and I then conclude that a considerable fraction of mercury in the studied sediment has a likely origin from AS soils.

Svenska våtmarker har under flera hundra år dikats ut till förmån för odling av grödor och virkesproduktion. Idag ser verkligheten annorlunda ut och till förmån för klimatet satsar svenska staten nu pengar på att plugga igen diken och återställa dessa numera uttorkade våtmarker. Att huvudsyftet är minskade utsläpp av växthusgaser hindrar dock varken flora eller fauna från att utnyttja dessa nya habitat. Då hotet mot biodiversiteten i världen enligt forskningen är lika allvarligt som klimatförändringarna är det av intresse att veta hur åtgärder för att minska utsläpp av växthusgaser även påverkar artrikedomen lokalt och regionalt. Detta är en studie som utvärderar insektsfaunan på återställda våtmarker och om det går att urskilja några naturvärden baserat på vilka arter som hittats. Mellan 8 augusti och 8 september 2022 användes tre inventeringsmetoder på fyra skogslokaler och tre återställda våtmarker. Lokalerna som stod klara år 2021 är Skogsstyrelsens pilotprojekt för återvätningar. Resultatet visade att även om inga naturvårdsarter hittades, bidrar klimatgynnande återvätning av skogsmark till en ökad biodiversitet redan på kort sikt. Totalt inventerades individer av 35 olika arter och 71% fler arter hittades i våtmarkerna än i skogarna. Sex fynd var arter som specifikt föredrar våtmarker och hittades i lokalerna med öppen vattenspegel, övriga arter i våtmarkerna var generalister. Då många faktorer kan påverka olika arters migration är långsiktig övervakning eftersträvansvärt. Den här studien ger en chans för framtida uppföljning av våtmarkernas utveckling och arters etablering. Vidare en möjlighet att anpassa framtida återvätningar för att minimera utsläpp av växthusgaser och samtidigt maximera biodiversiteten. / Swedish wetlands have been drained by ditching for several hundreds of years in favour for forestry and agriculture. Today, the reality looks different, and due to the climate change the Swedish government is now investing money to plug ditches and restore these now dried-up wetlands. The main purpose is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but neither flora nor fauna are prevented from utilizing these new habitats. According to research, the threat to global biodiversity is as serious as climate change, it is of interest to know how measures to reduce greenhouse gas emssions also affect local and regional species richness. This is a study that evaluates the insect fauna in restored wetlands and wether any natural values can be discerned based on the species found. Between August 8 and September 8 2022, three sampling methods were used in four forest locations and three restored wetlands. The wetlands which were completed in 2021 are the Swedish Forest Agency´s pilot projects for rewetting. The results showed that even if no conservation species were found, climate-beneficial rewetting of forest land contributes to increased biodiversity in the short term. In total, individuals from 35 different species were surveyed and 71% more species were found in the wetlands than in the forests. Six findings were species that specifically prefer wetlands and were found in locations with open water surfaces, all other species were generalists. As many factors can influence the migration of different species, long-term monitoring is desirable. This study provides an opportunity for future follow-up of the development of wetlands and the establishment of species. Furthermore, an opportunity to adapt future rewetting to both minimize greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time maximize biodiversity.