Abstract I used individual-based capture-mark-recapture data and genetic markers to gain understanding of the demographic and genetic processes operating in small and declining populations of two different species, the willow tit Parus montanus and the Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys volans. Both species have declined in Finland and the flying squirrel has been considered to be vulnerable. The willow tit study was conducted in northern Finland, near city of Oulu. The population size in the studied area has on average been stable during the past decade. Adult survival in the willow tit was high and fairly stable and was positively correlated with recruitment. Adult survival has been the most influential vital rate to the population growth rate. Local recruitment and immigration have high variation, inducing variation in the population growth rate. Female willow tits use extrapair copulations to maximise offspring heterozygosity. Heterozygous individuals are supposedly of higher quality than homozygous ones. I found weak negative association between individual homozygosity and recruitment probability. The flying squirrel populations have declined during the past ten years. Furthermore, adult survival has declined in one of the populations, most likely due to habitat loss and fragmentation that decrease the adult survival and limit dispersal. The flying squirrel populations were studied in western Finland. The flying squirrel densities in the studied areas are the highest in Finland and therefore these areas have been regarded as favourable for the flying squirrel. My results question this view. Microsatellite analyses strengthen the view of populations doing poorly, because the heterozygosities in all the populations and particularly in the most isolated one were rather low. High FST values indicate low dispersal even between adjacent populations. Following work should investigate the spatial variation in individual performance and the dispersal processes in these populations. For the flying squirrel it is vital to determine the size and quality of the patches that can support flying squirrels and the ones that apparently can not. Present estimates of survival and genetic diversity can be used to reconstruct a meaningful PVA and projections for these populations.

Hotet mot Sveriges säkerhet ser idag annorlunda ut än för 20 år sedan. Därför har Försvarsmakten infört ett nytt personalförsörjningssystem av soldater byggt på frivillighet. De närmsta åren behöver organisationen rekrytera 3 250 kontinuerligt tjänstgörande och 4 650 tidvis tjänstgörande gruppbefäl, soldater och sjömän. Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka hur gymnasieungdomar boende i en garnisonsort ställde sig till möjligheten att söka anställning som soldat i Försvarsmakten, både inom de lokala förbanden och inom övriga förband i Sverige. Studien skulle utvisa vilka gymnasieungdomar som kunde tänka sig en soldatanställning i hemorten vilket syftade till att ge en fingervisning för ungefär hur många man kunde tänkas rekrytera inom kommunen samt för att underlätta lokal rekrytering till soldatbefattningarna. Undersökningen genomfördes som en kvantitativ studie där en enkätundersökning besvarades av 83 gymnasieungdomar på en gymnasieskola i Boden. Svarsfrekvensen var 55 % och resultatet visade att 17 % av de tillfrågade kunde tänka sig att söka anställning som soldat på orten samt att ungefär lika många även kunde tänka sig att söka soldatanställning på någon annan garnisonsort. Den andel som var intresserad av soldatanställning lokalt värdesätter variation i arbetet. De vill att arbetet ska vara utmanande och intressant och anser att det är viktigare att de har trevliga arbetskamrater, kamratskap och ett arbete i team än att arbetet är bra betalt. De lägger också stor vikt vid att det är bra chefer vid arbetsplatsen. För att lyckas med den lokala rekryteringen av soldater återstår det för Försvarsmakten att få ut budskapet att dessa faktorer inryms i soldatyrket. / The threat against Swedish security is different today than it was 20 years ago. Consequently the Swedish Armed Forces introduced a new system to sign up soldiers, built on voluntary participation. Over the next few years the organization need to recruit 3 250 continuously, and 4 650 occasionally serving squad leaders, soldiers and sailors. The aim of this paper was to examine attitudes towards employment as a soldier in the Swedish Armed Forces among High School students, living in a district where regiments are located. The study adress at both local units and other units in Sweden. The paper also meant to show which High School students that could consider serving as soldiers in the local units to give a hint about how many local soldiers the regiments in the area would be able to recruit and to facilitate recruitment of local personnel. To examine this, a quantitative study was performed in which 83 High School students in Boden answered a questionnaire. The response rate was 55 % and the results showed that 17 % of the students could consider serving as soldiers within the local units and almost as many would also consider serving in other units in Sweden. The students who were interested in local employment appreciated a job with shifting working tasks. They wanted a work which was challenging and interesting and they thought that it was more important to have nice fellow workers, friendship and teamwork than to have a good salary. Also, it was of great importance for them to have good commanders at work. To succeed with the local recruitment of soldiers the Swedish Armed Forces need to stress that the soldier profession contain all these factors.