During recent decades many lakes have become browner in the northern hemisphere and more specific in Sweden. This process is called brownification. Brownification of lakes makes it more difficult to clean water to drinking water and may have negative ecological effects on biota. Browning of lakes is generally thought to be caused by an increase of humic substances that consist of organic matter which colour the water brown or yellow. However, more recent studies show that dissolved iron can interact with humic substances in browning lakes. Since the concentrations of dissolved iron have increased during recent years and the mechanisms behind brownification and the contribution of iron to this process is not clearly understood it is important to investigate this subject. In this study 17 lakes in south of Sweden were sampled for iron concentration, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), absorbance (420nm) and pH. Further, data was added about atmospheric sulphur deposition and additional data from 17 lakes in the north part of Sweden. Iron had a stronger significant correlation towards absorbance than DOC had in the south of Sweden. A similar amount of dissolved iron seems to colour lakes differently based on their location in Sweden. This indicates that different mechanisms are involved in the interaction between iron and absorbance. However, pH had a stronger relationship with absorbance than either DOC or iron. Overall results suggested that iron do have a strong browning effect on Swedish fresh water lakes in the presence of DOC and that iron-increase driven processes may be due to a change of pH.

Abstract Boreal urban forests are becoming more and more fragmented and, at the same time, are exposed to low-level but long-term nitrogen and sulphur deposition. Natural mid-boreal forests are dominated by few tree and shrub species, while herbs and grasses are rare. Soils in mid-boreal forests are rich in ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi, forming a symbiotic relationship with forest trees, which is important for the nutrient cycle especially in nutrient-poor ecosystems. Aims of this thesis were 1) to study differences between mid-boreal urban and rural forests in composition of macrofungi and structure of plant communities, 2) to explore whether responses of Scots pine seedlings to excess N are mediated via soil or via air, and 3) to study if partial removal of vegetation and humus layer alleviates the adverse effects of excess N on plant and fungal communities, and promotes performance and regeneration of Scots pine in urban forests. The growth responses of seedlings and their mycorrhizal colonization were studied in both field and greenhouse experiments. Peroxidase (POD) activity was used as a root stress indicator. Urban forests were poor in number of fruiting ECM fungal species, but rich in herbs and grasses in the field layer, as compared to rural forests. These differences were thought to result from changes in soil properties. ECM fungal colonization in Scots pine roots did not respond significantly to high nitrogen load in soil, but high root POD activity indicated changes in root physiology. ECM macrofungal diversity in urban forests was not markedly increased during a five-year survey after a partial humus removal treatment. On the other hand, fruiting of Cortinarius semisanguineus is a positive response to the treatment. Scots pine seedling emergence was poor due to rapid revegetation at the urban sites, but the treatment promoted both root and shoot growth of planted Scots pine seedlings in urban forests. Decreased root POD activity in Scots pine seedlings in the humus removal treatment possibly indicates lowered root stress. Soil manipulations may result in a risk of nutrient leakage, and a risk of invasion by non-typical plants. Also, small stand size with high recreation pressure causes a risk for tree regeneration in urban forest stands. These risks need to be considered when planning management of urban coniferous forests.