| 1. |
- Beland Lindahl, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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Future forests: Perceptions and strategies of key actors
- 2012
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0282-7581 .- 1651-1891. ; 27, s. 154-163
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract This paper investigates how key actors perceive the future of the forest sector: how they position themselves in relation to climate, energy and demography related trends. Actors’ perceptions of future challenges and opportunities influence their choice of strategy and action. Actors’ relative capacity to realise their visions, in turn, shape future forest use. Frame analysis is used to explore selected actor’s perceptions and strategies and the existence of major divisions, i.e. frame conflicts. Empirically, the study is based on the case of Sweden as a typical boreal forest producing region. Actors’ perceptions of the challenges facing the forest sector diverge widely. Yet, most actors see the future of the forest sector as linked to broader issues of climate mitigation and energy transition. These issues trigger fundamental discussions about social change and the role of forests in future society. A major division separates actors who perceive biomass supply as unlimited, or at least not constraining, and those who stress scarcity and re-distribution of resources. This difference, or frame conflict, is reflected in actors’ forest related strategies and may fuel future forest debates and conflicts
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| 2. |
- Rodushkin, Ilya, et al.
(författare)
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Uptake and Accumulation of Anthropogenic Os in Free-Living Bank Voles (Myodes glareolus)
- 2011
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Ingår i: Water, Air and Soil Pollution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0049-6979 .- 1573-2932. ; 218:1-4, s. 603-610
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Osmium tetroxide (OsO4) is one of the most toxic air contaminants but its environmental effects are poorly understood. Here, for the first time, we present evidence of osmium uptake in a common herbivore (bank vole, Myodes glareolus) in boreal forests of northern Sweden. Voles (n = 22) and fruticose arboreal pendular lichens, the potential main winter food source of the vole, were collected along a spatial gradient to the west of a steelwork in Tornio, Finland at the Finnish-Swedish border. Os-187/Os-188 isotope ratios increased and osmium concentrations decreased in lichens and voles along the gradient. Osmium concentrations in lichens were 10,000-fold higher than those in voles. Closest to the steelwork, concentrations were highest in kidneys rather than skin/fur that are directly exposed to airborne OsO4. The kidney-to-body weight ratio was higher at the two localities close to the steelwork. Even though based on a small sample size, our results for the first time demonstrate that osmium is taken up, partitioned, and accumulated in mammal tissue, and indicate that high kidney-to-body weight ratios might be induced by anthropogenic osmium.
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| 3. |
- Antti, Lena, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of microwave drying on biomass fatty acid composition and fuel pellet quality
- 2011
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Ingår i: Wood Material Science & Engineering. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1748-0272 .- 1748-0280. ; 6:1-2, s. 34-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Drying of biomass for fuel pellet production is a time- and energy-consuming process. The objective of this study was to investigate not only whether microwave drying could be an alternative drying method but also whether the microwave treatment brings beneficial chemical properties into the biomass feedstock in terms of, for example, fatty acid composition and, further, whether this could be advantageous in the production of wood pellets. Microwave drying tests were conducted using fresh sawdust from pinewood as a biomass model. In these tests sawdust was dried from weight-based moisture content 0.47 to final moisture contents in the interval 0.08-0.14. The chemical composition, pellet-making and mechanical properties of the pellets were then investigated. It was shown that 0.5 kg sawdust could be dried within 40 min of microwave exposure. The effects of microwave treatment on the fatty and resin acid composition indicated that some changes occurred, but the total amounts were not significantly different from those in oven-dried samples. However, the microwave treatment of sawdust significantly improved pellet density and pellet strength. These results indicate new possibilities to alter fatty and resin acid composition and to improve particle bonding within fuel pellets.
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| 4. |
- Boesen, Amanda H., et al.
(författare)
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Assessment of the LeadCare® Plus for Use on Scandinavian Brown Bears (Ursus arctos)
- 2019
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Veterinary Science. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 2297-1769. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lead (Pb) exposure is associated with adverse health effects in both humans and wildlife. Blood lead levels (BLL) of sentinel wildlife species can be used to monitor environmental lead exposure and ecosystem health. BLL analyzers, such as the LeadCare (R), are validated for use in humans, assessed for use in some avian species and cattle, and are increasingly being used on wildlife to monitor lead exposure. The LeadCare (R) analyzers use a technique called anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). Species-specific conversion equations have been proposed to approximate the levels found with gold standard measuring methods such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) because the ASV method has been shown to underestimate BLL in some species. In this study we assessed the LeadCare (R) Plus (LCP) for use on Scandinavian brown bears (Ursus arctos). LCP measurements were correlated with ICP-MS with a Bland-Altman analyzed bias of 16.3-22.5%, showing a consistent overestimation of BLL analyzed with LCP. Based on this analysis we provide conversion equations for calculating ICP-MS BLL based on the LCP results in Scandinavian brown bears. Our study shows that the LeadCare (R) Plus can be used for monitoring of lead exposure by approximating gold standard levels using conversion equations. This enables comparison with other gold standard measured BLL within the observed range of this study (38.20-174.00 mu g/L). Our study also found that Scandinavian brown bears are highly exposed to environmental lead.
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| 5. |
- Chlot, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Modelling nitrogen transformations in waters receiving mine effluents
- 2011
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 409:21, s. 4585-4595
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents a biogeochemical model developed for a clarification pond receiving ammonium nitrogen rich discharge water from the Boliden concentration plant located in northern Sweden. Present knowledge about nitrogen (N) transformations in lakes is compiled in a dynamic model that calculates concentrations of the six N species (state variables) ammonium-N (Nam), nitrate-N (Nox), dissolved organic N in water (Norg), N in phytoplankton (Npp), in macrophytes (Nmp) and in sediment (Nsed). It also simulates the rate of 16 N transformation processes occurring in the water column and sediment as well as water–sediment and water–atmosphere interactions. The model was programmed in the software Powersim using 2008 data, whilst validation was performed using data from 2006 to 2007. The sensitivity analysis showed that the state variables are most sensitive to changes in the coefficients related to the temperature dependence of the transformation processes. A six-year simulation of Nam showed stable behaviour over time. The calibrated model rendered coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.93, 0.79 and 0.86 for Nam, Nox and Norg, respectively. Performance measures quantitatively expressing the deviation between modelled and measured data resulted in values close to zero, indicating a stable model structure. The simulated denitrification rate was on average five times higher than the ammonia volatilisation rate and about three times higher than the permanent burial of Nsed and, hence, the most important process for the permanent removal of N. The model can be used to simulate possible measures to reduce the nitrogen load and, after some modification and recalibration, it can be applied at other mine sites affected by N rich effluents.
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| 6. |
- Eriksson, D., et al.
(författare)
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Characterization of Scots pine stump-root biomass as feed-stock for gasification
- 2012
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Ingår i: Bioresource Technology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-8524 .- 1873-2976. ; 104, s. 729-736
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The main objective was to explore the potential for gasifying Scots pine stump-root biomass (SRB). Washed thin roots, coarse roots, stump heartwood and stump sapwood were characterized (solid wood, milling and powder characteristics) before and during industrial processing. Non-slagging gasification of the SRB fuels and a reference stem wood was successful, and the gasification parameters (synthesis gas and bottom ash characteristics) were similar. However, the heartwood fuel had high levels of extractives (≈19%) compared to the other fuels (2-8%) and thereby ≈16% higher energy contents but caused disturbances during milling, storage, feeding and gasification. SRB fuels could be sorted automatically according to their extractives and moisture contents using near-infrared spectroscopy, and their amounts and quality in forests can be predicted using routinely collected stand data, biomass functions and drill core analyses. Thus, SRB gasification has great potential and the proposed characterizations exploit it. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
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| 7. |
- Hjältén, Joakim, et al.
(författare)
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Forest–Stream Links, Anthropogenic Stressors, and Climate Change: Implications for Restoration Planning
- 2016
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Ingår i: BioScience. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0006-3568 .- 1525-3244. ; 66:8, s. 646-654
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The global extraction of forest and water resources has led to habitat degradation, biodiversity loss, and declines in ecosystem services. As a consequence, ecological restoration has become a global priority. Restoration efforts to offset this trend, however, are not always effective. One reason is that many restoration projects target single ecosystems and fail to acknowledge functional links between ecosystems. We synthesized current knowledge on links between forest and stream ecosystems, the effect of anthropogenic stressors on these links, and their implications for restoration planning. Many examples show that lateral subsidies, such as invertebrate prey and nutrients, are important in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Stressors such as commercial forestry, flow regulation, stream channelization, and climate change affect these links and should be considered in restoration planning. Restoration practitioners are encouraged to view adjacent forest and stream ecosystems as one entity.
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| 8. |
- Johansson, Therese, et al.
(författare)
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Short-term responses of beetle assemblages to wildfire in a region with more than 100 years of fire suppression
- 2011
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Ingår i: Insect Conservation and Diversity. - : Wiley. - 1752-458X .- 1752-4598. ; 4:2, s. 142-151
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. Suppression of wildfires in boreal landscapes has become widespread and has seriously affected many fire favoured species. However, little is known about the response of organism assemblages to large wildfires in regions with a long history of effective fire suppression, such as Scandinavia.2. We studied the short-term effects of a >1600 ha wildfire on beetle assemblages in northern Sweden. The first summer after fire, beetles were sampled in 12 sites using 36 large window traps, half in old pine forest stands in the burned area and half in similar, but unburned control stands. The entire beetle assemblage and eight subgroups were analysed: saproxylics, non-saproxylics, moderately fire favoured, strongly fire favoured, fungivores, predators, cambium consumers and red-listed species.3. Species composition differed markedly between burned and unburned forests in all nine groups. Furthermore, beetle abundance was higher in the burned area for the entire assemblage and for saproxylics, both groups of fire favoured species, predators and cambium consumers. Species number was higher only for non-saproxylics, strongly fire favoured species and cambium consumers.4. Our results show that wildfire has rapid and strong effects on a wide range of beetles. However, we only trapped two individuals of fire-dependent beetles, which may suggest a lack of such species in the region, possibly due to >100 years of fire suppression. At the regional scale, the studied wildfire may potentially increase the abundance of these beetles after a longer period of reproduction in the burned area.
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| 9. |
- Lindström, Erica, et al.
(författare)
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Slagging characteristics during combustion of woody biomass pellets made from a range of different forestry assortments
- 2010
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Ingår i: Energy & Fuels. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0887-0624 .- 1520-5029. ; 24:6, s. 3456-3461
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, multivariate methods were used to select representative raw materials of the pellet assortments prior to combustion. The fuels were selected to form a range of expected slagging tendencies. During combustion, temperatures and O2, CO, NO, and SO2 were measured continuously. The deposits (i.e., slag and bottom ash) were quantified after every experiment and collected for analysis to identify the crystalline phases and to study the morphology and elemental composition respectively. As expected, the slagging was most severe for the whole-tree assortments because of their content of branches, foliage, and twigs. In the most severe case over three-quarters of the total amount of ash melted to form slag. This study indicates that certain concentrations of silicon, inherent in the fuel but also as silicates from contamination, together with alkali metals, mainly potassium, are prerequisites for the initiation of and progress of slag formation. Generally the concentrations of silicon and potassium are low in stemwood but higher in bark, foliage, and living tissues of the tree. Also, the contamination from sand and/or soil is present in the bark and foliage.
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| 10. |
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