<p>Temporal and spatial variations of pelagic microorganisms in the northern Baltic Sea were studied, as well as factors influencing their abundance and growth rates. Three main questions were asked 1) How does increased productivity influence the structure of the microbial food web? 2) Does predation limitation vary between trophic levels? 3) What is the relative importance of resource and predation limitation at different trophic levels?</p><p>A field study in the northern Baltic Sea showed that dominating protozoa, flagellates and ciliates, increased with increasing primary productivity from north to south. Furthermore, relatively small protozoan cells dominated in the low productive north, while larger cells became more dominant in the south. The relationship between plankton size structure and productivity was further studied in an experimental system. In agreement with present theories regarding nutrient status of pelagic food webs, increased productivity caused a lengthening of the food chain as well as a change in plankton size structure. While microplankton dominated in nutrient rich treatments pico- and nanoplankton dominated during nutrient poor treament. The flagellate community was dominated by a potentially mixotroph, <i>Chrysochromulina</i> sp., at low nutrient concentrations. To our knowledge this is the first experimental study showing that <i>Chrysochromulina</i> sp. in resemblance with other mixotrophs is favoured by nutrient poor conditions compared to strict autotrophs and heterotrophs.</p><p>During a stratified summer period autotrophic microorganisms in the northern Baltic Sea did not respond to removal of potential predators, indicating that they were primarily limited by inorganic nutrients. An exception was small eucaryotic picoplankton that showed a large response to predator removal. Among the heterotrophic microorganisms direct effect of predation seemed to increase from ciliates, heterotrophic bacteria, small heterotrophic flagellates, medium flagellates to large flagellates. No quick indirect effect was observed, but after four days trophic cascades were detected.</p><p>The relative importance of resource and predation limitation was studied among heterotrophic bacteria, flagellates and ciliates in the northern Baltic Sea. For all these groups, resource limitation seemed to prevail during the summer period. The results also indicated that the relative importance of predation increased with the productivity of the system. To our knowledge there are no earlier measurements on the relative importance of resource and predation limitation for micoorganisms in the pelagic environment.</p>

<p>This thesis is a summary of enclosure and microcosm experiments that aimed to study the impact of allochtonous subsidies on food web dynamics in a heterogeneous food web. In the enclosure studies, a three trophic level littoral food web was used. The food web consisted of two growth forms of primary producers: phytoplankton and periphyton and their associated herbivores: scraping and filtering herbivores. The predator used, YOY perch, affects both pathways in the food web. Manipulation of the openness for the different trophic levels showed that the inflow of phytoplankton and cross-habitat foraging by the herbivore level reinforced the compensatory response between the two growth forms of primary producers </p><p>In the microcosm experiment, the response of an herbivore food web and a microbial community to inflow of resources and food web configuration was studied, using a model food web. The model food web consisted of two forms of primary producers, i.e. phytoplankton and periphyton, and two herbivores, i.e. <i>Daphnia pulex</i> feeding on phytoplankton, and <i>Chydorus sphaericus</i> feeding on both periphyton and phytoplankton. Three different food web configurations, all having the phytoplankton and periphyton, but either one of the herbivores, or both, were set up. The flow regimes consisted of an open treatment receiving a constant supply of phytoplankton, and a closed treatment with an initial resource pool. The effect of the inflow of phytoplankton was affected by the food web configuration. In the presence of <i>D. pulex</i>, the inflow of phytoplankton was made accessible to periphyton, and indirectly to <i>C. sphaericus</i>, which increased to such high densities that <i>D. pulex</i> was negatively affected. The inflow of phytoplankton had an indirect negative effect on the microbial community, since the biomass of herbivores increased, which imposed a higher grazing pressure on all parts of the microbial community.</p>

<p>Ecological models have problems showing the positive relationship between diversity and stability found in nature. Theory states that complex food webs have high extinction risks and low stability. However, persistent food webs found in nature are large and complex containing many interconnections between species. There are many possible mechanisms enabling persistent food webs such as; complex interaction patterns, asynchronous fluctuations of species densities, environmental fluctuations and spatial distribution. These factors have not been used in classical models. In this study, coloured environmental 1/f noise and dispersal between subpopulations were incorporated into a diamond shaped food web based on a model by Vasseur and Fox 2007. Contradictions between theoretical and empirical results regarding food webs can be resolved by detailed analyses of models, withholding stabilizing mechanisms. Weak environmental 1/f noise generated an increased coefficient of stability but the stabilizing effect of noise can be questioned because of a decreased mean food web biomass and reduced stabilizing effect when reddened. However, detailed studies of the food web revealed that noise can redistribute density proportions between species, evading lowest species density and thereby increase food web resistance to demographic stochasticity and catastrophes. Noise induced density proportion shifts imply that large population sizes are no insurance towards future increase in environmental variance. Synchrony of species environmental responses and dispersal between subpopulations can both have major influences on stability and extinction risk of smaller food webs indicating that spatial structure could be one of the dominating factors stabilizing complex food webs found in nature.</p>

<p>Mängden död ved i brukade skogar har minskat med ungefär 90 %jämfört med naturliga skogar. Vid slutavverkning minskar mängden ytterligare. Att lämna naturhänsyn vid avverkning är ett viktigt steg för att bevara biologisk mångfald i skogslandskapet. Denna studie undersöker om naturhänsyn tas bort efter slutavverkning. På 63 % av de inventerade lokalerna hade naturhänsyn tagits bort, mestadels vindfälld tall. Det medförde en genomsnittlig minskning av mängden död ved med 2,0 m3 ha-1, vilket är en tredjedel av den totala volymen död ved lämnad vid slutavverkning. En enkät skickades till privata skogsägare. Den främsta orsaken till att man tagit bort träd var relaterade till ekonomi och produktion. Hur ekonomiskt beroende skogsägaren var av sin skog eller om man certifierat sin skog eller inte hade dock ingen betydelse för hur man hanterade naturhänsynen efter slutavverkning. Det berodde snarare på skogsägarnas attityd till produktion kontra bevarandet av biologisk mångfald. Skogsägare som tagit bort hänsynsträd var överlag mer tveksamma till att lämna olika former av naturhänsyn vid slutavverkning. Denna studie utvärderar även mängd och kvalitet på naturhänsyn lämnad efter slutavverkning i Östergötland.</p>

<p>Nutrient enrichment is the main cause of the increasing eutrophication process in the Baltic Sea during last century. A prerequisite counteract this process the load of nutrients to the Sea must be investigated. The large contribution of nutrients to the Sea is caused by emission from the rivers within the drainage basin. For the total emission of nutrient into the Sea the retention process in the rivers has big influence. This process in the river system has been assumed as a not important part of the nutrient cycle. However some investigators have pointed out that the retention process occurs in the river and be an important part of the nutrient dynamics in the river. For the object of investigation the Odra River Basin was chosen, as an example of a large river basin in the Baltic Sea Drainage Basin. The Odra River is mainly localized in Poland and contributes substantially to the eutrophication of the Baltic Proper. The Odra River is one of the least dammed major rivers of the Baltic Proper and as such of especial interest in retention studies. The phosphorus was chosen as an example of nutrient in the eutrophication process. The purpose of the investigation is to determine the phosphorus retention within the river. Two different models were used to calculate the retention process in the river. The"Multiple Regression Model"turned out to be insignificant, therefore the results were computed by using a “similarity model”, based on similarities between load from monitored tributary basins and the rest of the sub-basin. The retention in the Odra River in the amounted to -4608 t yr-1, which is 43% of the total phosphorus emission to the Odra River. There is also stated that in the Notec and the Warta rivers the retention process occur in the amount of -1940 t yr-1 and -3007 t yr-1 respectively.</p>

<p>Sedan 1992 har Jönköpings kommun drivit en naturskola i form av en exkursionsbuss, ekobussen. Verksamheten har varit inriktad mot dagsexkursioner för grundskolans senare år och gymnasieskolan under ledning av utbildad och engagerad personal. Genom åren har, i dialog med kommunens undervisande lärare, en pedagogisk modell för praktisk ekologiundervisning etablerats, där jämförande undersökningar av olika biotoper har utgjort tyngdpunkten. Man har använt ett undersökande och elevaktivt arbetssätt. Bussens utrustning har kunnat användas för avancerade mätningar och examination av djur och växter men tillhandahåller även personlig utrustning som stövlar och regnkläder. Det innebär stor flexibilitet i verksamheten. </p><p>I föreliggande studie berörs hur ett upplevelsebaserat lärande kan främja ett ökat miljömedvetande. I sex gymnasieklasser har undersökts i vilken mån uppfattningarna om den pedagogiska modellen förenas hos deltagarna. Vidare har undersökts hur exkursionen integreras i övrig undervisning i ekologi- och miljöundervisningen på skolorna. Slutligen besvaras frågan hur detta uppfattats av eleverna. Studien har både kvantitativa inslag i form av enkäter till cirka deltagande 150 elever, före och efter exkursion, och kvalitativa delar som innefattar deltagande observation under sex exkursioner, intervjuer med de sju lärare och även med initiativtagaren och den ansvarige för ekobussen. Undersökningen har huvudsakligen genomförts under maj månad år 2004. </p><p>Resultaten visar att verksamheten är mycket efterfrågad, både av lärare och av elever. Eleverna är i stort väl förberedda både teoretiskt och praktiskt och att upplevelserna under dagen används i efterarbetet. Hårt bokningstryck ger dock praktiska problem att inordna exkursionen i ordinarie undervisning. Exkursionsledaren kör bussen men styr också den pedagogiska verksamheten. Det finns en dynamik i processen att välja arbetsformer och parera för händelser under dagen. Det har över tid skett en förskjutning av fokus från kvantifiering av data till mera upplevelsebaserade erfarenheter. En tendens till passiv elevroll finnsi vissa situationer, när klassen lyssnar till exkursionsledarens genomgångar. Under praktiska arbetspass sker redovisningar genom att gruppen samtalar om resultaten, även om de flesta elever också får skriva en formell rapport i efterhand. </p><p>Det finns en stark ambition att vara en utomhuspedagogisk modell för skolorna. Man förefaller också lyckas vara den impuls till pedagogisk utveckling av arbetsformerna som styrdokumenten för skolan uppmuntrar till. Genom sin breda kontakt med kommunens lärare påverkar ekobussens pedagogiska modell ekologi- och miljöundervisningen på ett positivt sätt. Detta kan därmed vara ett värdefullt bidrag till ett ökat miljömedvetande.</p>

<p>The main objectives of this thesis are to study if a topographic wetness index (TWI) could be used as a tool for predicting the spatial distribution of vascular plant species richness in the boreal forest as well as to study congruence in species richness between vascular plants, liverworts, mosses and lichens. A wetness index ln(a/tanβ) based on topography was used to assign a specific TWI-value to every 20 x 20m grid in two 25 km2 boreal forest landscapes (differing in average soil pH) in northern Sweden. Soil pH is known to be influenced by groundwater and to affect plant species richness in other biomes. Therefore, the relationships between plant species richness, TWI and soil pH were also studied. </p><p>The results showed that the majority of the investigated boreal forest landscapes were relatively dry and species-poor, whereas interspersed patches linked to areas with relatively high TWI had species-rich vegetation including the species of the drier parts of the landscape. There was a positive relationship between species richness of vascular plants and the TWI in both landscapes, but varied with average soil pH. TWI explained 30 % and 52 % of the variation in plant species richness in the landscape with lower and higher pH, respectively. The proportion of regionally uncommon plants also increased with TWI. Testing different calculation methods of the TWI resulted in a large variation in correlation strengths between the various TWI-values and different measured variables (species richness of vascular plants, soil pH, groundwater flow and soil moisture). The relationship between plant species richness and TWI could be further improved with some of the calculation methods. </p><p>When studying correlations in species richness using data sets from boreal forest in northern Sweden, strong positive correlations among vascular plants, mosses and liverworts were found, but no significant correlation between macrolichens and any of the other groups. This result could be explained by that the species number of each of the three related groups increases with ambient moisture, whereas the species number of macrolichens is weakly associated with moisture. </p><p>In conclusion, the TWI could become a useful tool in conservation management for identifying areas of special interest prior to field inventories. Since vascular plants can be used as an indicator taxon for species richness of mosses and liverworts, high TWI-values indicate areas of species hotspots of these taxa.</p> / <p>Syftet med avhandlingen är att dels studera om ett topografiskt fuktighetsindex skulle kunna vara användbart för att förutsäga fördelningen av kärlväxters artrikedom i boreal skog, dels att studera om den rumsliga fördelningen av artrikedom hos kärlväxter, blad- och levermossor samt lavar sammanfaller.</p><p>Ett fuktighetsindex, ln(a/tanβ), som bara är baserat på topografi användes för att beräkna ett indexvärde för varje 20 x 20 m grid i två 25 km2 stora boreala skogslandskap (med i medeltal olika mark-pH) i norra Sverige. Det är känt att mark-pH påverkas av grundvatten och att pH i sin tur påverkar artrikedom hos kärlväxter i andra biom. Därför studerades även sambanden mellan kärlväxters artrikedom, mark pH och TWI.</p><p>Resultaten visade att större delen av det studerade boreala landskapet var relativt torrt och artfattigt, medan mindre utspridda områden med höga TWI-värden var artrika på kärlväxter och här växte även arter som återfanns i de torra delarna av skogen. Sambandet mellan artrikedom hos kärlväxter och TWI var positivt i båda landskapen, men påverkades av de olika nivåerna på mark-pH. TWI förklarade 30 % av variationen i artrikedom i området med lägre mark-pH respektive 50 % i området med högre mark-pH. Andelen kärlväxter som klassificeras som icke vanliga i respektive region ökade också med TWI. Med andra beräkningsmetoder för TWI visade det sig att styrkan på korrelationerna mellan TWI och olika uppmätta variabler (artrikedom hos kärlväxter, mark-pH, grundvattennivå och markfuktighet) varierade mycket. Sambandet mellan artrikedom hos kärlväxter och TWI kunde förbättras ytterligare med vissa beräkningsmetoder.</p><p>Då korrelationer i artrikedom studerades användes ett dataset från boreal skog i norra Sverige. Resultaten visade på starka, positiva korrelationer mellan kärlväxter, blad- och levermossor, men inga korrelationer mellan någon av dessa grupper och lavar. Detta kunde förklaras med att artrikedom hos de tre korrelerande organismgrupperna ökar med ökad fuktighet, medan artrikedom hos lavar inte är kopplat till fukt.</p><p>Huvudslutsatsen i avhandlingen är att TWI, som endast är baserad på topograpfiskt data, skulle kunna bli ett värdefullt redskap i naturvårdsplanering för att identifiera särskilt intressanta skogsområden innan man gör fältinventeringar. Eftersom studien visar att kärlväxter kan användas som en indikator grupp för artrikedom hos blad- och levermossor indikerar höga TWI-värden områden med hög artrikedom även vad gäller dessa taxa.</p>

<p>The abundance of predators and their impact on ecosystem dynamics is a vividly discussed topic in current ecology. In my studies, incorporating field observations, field experiments and theoretical modeling, I explored the importance of predators and predation in a low arctic tundra ecosystem in northern Norway. This involved observing the abundance and spatial activity of predators (raptors and small mustelids); manipulating the abundance of predators (spiders and birds) in an arthropod community; and exploring the theoretical consequences of intraguild predation on the coexistence among predators.</p><p>The results show that predation is important both in the arthropod assemblage and, depending on the productivity of the community, in the vertebrate assemblage. In arthropod communities predators are at least as abundant as their prey, whereas in the vertebrate part of ecosystem, predators are substantially less abundant than their prey. Still, in both cases predators had strong impact on their prey, influencing the abundance of prey and the species composition of prey assemblages. The impact of predation cascaded to the plant community both in the reticulate and complex arthropod food web and in the linear food chain-like vertebrate community. In the vertebrate-based community we could even observe the long time scale effect on plant community composition.</p><p>Within the predator community, exploitation competition and intraguild predation were the structuring forces. As the arthropod communities consist of predators with different sizes, intraguild predation is an energetically important interaction for top predators. As a consequence, they reduce the abundance of intermediate predators and the impact of intermediate predators on other prey groups. Moreover, being supported by intermediate predators, top predators can have stronger impact themselves on other prey groups.</p><p>In vertebrate communities, intraguild predation seems to be unimportant as energetic link, instead it manifests as an extreme version of interference competition. Therefore intraguild predation reduces the likelihood of coexistence, as it is due limited prey diversity and intense exploitative competition already precarious in the low arctic tundra.</p><p>In conclusion, predators have strong impact on their prey, especially in the more productive parts of the low arctic tundra. This applies even to the food webs with complex and reticulate structure, and these effects carry through the community both in the short time scale of population growth and on the long time scale of population generations.</p>

<p>In this thesis, quantitative genetic approaches, common-garden experiments, and field studies were combined to examine patterns of population differentiation and the genetic architecture of characters of putative adaptive significance in the widely distributed perennial herb Lythrum salicaria. In this work, I (1) documented patterns of population differentiation in phenology, life-history, and morphology along latitudinal gradients at different geographical scales, (2) investigated the genetic architecture of phenology, flower morphology, and inflorescence size, and (3) combined estimates of phenotypic selection in the field with information on the genetic variance-covariance matrix (G) to examine potential constraints to adaptive evolution. </p><p>A common-garden experiment demonstrated latitudinal variation in life-history, and phenology of growth and reproduction among L. salicaria populations sampled across Sweden. Flower morphology varied significantly among populations, but was, with the exception of calyx length, not related to latitude of origin. A second experiment, which included two Swedish, two Dutch, and two Spanish populations, indicated that the latitudinal gradient in reproductive and vegetative phenology might extend throughout Europe.</p><p>A quantitative-genetic study of two Swedish populations revealed significant additive genetic variation for all phenological and morphological traits investigated. The G matrices of the populations differed significantly according to common principal component analysis, and genetic correlations within the study populations did not strictly correspond to trait correlations observed among populations.</p><p>In a field study, I detected directional selection through female function for larger inflorescences in two consecutive years. Relative fitness increased disproportionately with inflorescence size in the year when supplemental hand-pollination indicated that pollen limitation was severe. Genetic correlations with inflorescence size considerably influenced predicted response to selection in other characters.</p><p>Taken together, the results suggest that among-population differences in phenology and life-history in L. salicaria have evolved in response to latitudinal variation in length of the growing season. They demonstrate that the evolutionary potential of local populations may be considerable. The genetic covariance structure substantially influences predicted short-term evolutionary trajectories. However, the weak correspondence between genetic correlations documented within populations and trait correlations among populations, suggest that the G matrix has not imposed strict constraints on patterns of among-population differentiation.</p>

<p>The work in this thesis deals with (1) the effects of woody debris on stream channel morphology and retention of organic material, and (2) the dynamics of woody debris and its relation to riparian forest history and composition. The studied stream reaches are situated in mature, productive forests in the boreal zone of Sweden.</p><p>Wood variables were important predictors of the frequency of debris dams, pool area, the proportion of pools formed by wood, and variation in the bankfull channel width. Pools formed by woody debris were mainly created by damming and had larger surface areas and residual depths than pools formed by other agents. Stream reaches intersecting old-growth forest (with minor influence of forest management) had coarser and longer woody debris pieces, greater amounts of wood, more debris dams, and wood-formed pools compared to streams surrounded by forests influenced by selective logging.</p><p>The influence of past forest management on the quality and quantity of woody debris in streams were analyzed by using dendrochrnological methods. Selective loggings and absence of forest fires after 1831 resulted in lower input rates and a gradual replacement of pine by sruce over time. Residence times in stream channels of woody debris (>10 cm in basal diameter) were long and the oldest dated pieces of pine and spruce were over 300 and 100 years, respectively.</p><p>Dynamics of woody debris were explored by comparing wood volumes and characteristics between stream channels and their riparianforests and between old growth and managed sites. Wood volumes recorded in the stream channels exceeded, but were related to, the volumes found in the riparian forests. Limited input of woody debris by bank cutting and absence of slope processes suggest that recruitment processes of woody debri to stream channels are similar as in riparian forests and slow decay in channels results in greater volumes.</p><p>The retentiveness of organic material in stream channels was examined by using release and capture experiments in multiple reaces during varying discharges using different sizes of leaf mimics. Sixty eight percent of the variation in retention was explained by a multiple regression model including discharge and leaf mimic siz. Between 44 and 80% of the variation in retention among reaches was explained by channel constraint, gravel coverage, and woody debris variables as the most important. Estimates from a partial least squares (PLS) model suggest an increase in mean transport distances by 22 to 53% in managed forest streams compared to old growth conditions and in a low wood scenario, mean transport distances increased by 38 to 99% with larger increases for higher discharges and larger particle sizes.</p><p>To regain more pristine conditions of stream channels, management and restoration are needed to increase the amount of woody debris that recreates lost channel structures and increaes the retention of organic material.</p>