A typical lake outlet of the Canadian Shield was treated for 15 min with a high dose (5.28 g/L s⁻¹ of discharge) of Teknar^®, a commercial formulation of Bacillus thuringiensis serovar. israelensis. Efficacy on Simuliidae larvae and impact on non-target aquatic insects of this stream were monitored using drift nets, counting plates, and artificial turf substrates along a 1000-m section downstream of the site of application. Compared with a 4-day pre-treatment average for 12-h sampling periods, drift of Simuliidae increased from 64 to 92 ×, with shorter peaks of 133–184 ×, 2–6 h after treatment. There was no evident drift increase in larvae of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Chironomidae, or dipterous pupae, but larvae of Blephariceridae (Diptera) were severely affected as their drift was increased by up to 50 × and remained high for 3 days. After 30 h the mortality of Simuliidae on counting plates ranged from 95 to 82% in the first 300 m, with detachment rates of 78.5–46.5%. Densities of non-target insect larvae were not reduced on the artificial substrates, except for 2 genera of Chironomidae (Eukiefferella and Polypedilum) which were reduced 26 to 39% of their original density. Drifting larvae of 1 chironomid genus (Phaenopsectra) also showed symptoms of toxemia by B.t.i. The main impact of the treatment was thus seen in 2 Nematocera families (Chironomidae and Blephariceridae) which were mainly exposed to B.t.i. sedimented on the bottom of the stream or attached to periphyton growing on rocks.

Antibiotics in the environment are a potential threat to environmental ecosystems as well as human health and safety. Antibiotics are designed to have a biological effect at low doses, and the low levels detected in the environment have turned focus on the need for more research on environmental occurrence and fate, to assess the risk and requirement for future regulation. This article describes the first occurrence study of the antibiotic polyether ionophores (lasalocid, monensin, narasin, and salinomycin) in the Danish environment. Various environmental matrices (river water, sediment, and soil) have been evaluated during two different sampling campaigns carried out in July 2011 and October 2012 in an agricultural area of Zealand, Denmark. Lasalocid was not detected in any of the samples. Monensin was measured at a concentration up to 20 ng·L⁻¹ in river water and 13 µg·kg⁻¹ dry weight in the sediment as well as being the most frequently detected ionophore in the soil samples with concentrations up to 8 µg·kg⁻¹ dry weight. Narasin was measured in sediment samples at 2 µg·kg⁻¹ dry weight and in soil between 1 and 18 µg·kg⁻¹ dry weight. Salinomycin was detected in a single soil sample at a concentration of 30 µg·kg⁻¹ dry weight.

Outdoor educators are concerned about a perceived human disconnection from nature. There is awareness of a lack of human affiliation, connection, or identity with nonhuman nature and its impact on attitudes and behaviors. This essay raises the possibility that despite our concern, we may contribute toward this disconnection via language that supports a separation of the natural and the cultural. Our ability to separate ourselves conceptually from the rest of nature may be partially to blame for environmental degradation, therefore challenging the nature-culture dichotomy is both useful and constructive. This essay will present examples of how outdoor educators can attempt to get past this problematic dichotomy and motivate more relational discourse within the practice of outdoor education.

Climate resilience is an important mix of climate mitigation and climate adaptation designed to minimize current and future disruption while promoting opportunity. Given the importance of the regional and local arena for consideration of impacts of climate change trends and needs for climate action, climate resilience in one community, Duluth, Minnesota, is considered. At the core of this project is the climate resilience question: what can we currently be doing in our communities to prepare for projected climate change while simultaneously improving life for current residents and visitors? Given the growing importance of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism in Duluth, the role this sector may be able to play in climate resilience is considered. Using action research methodology, the research process of adjusting, presenting, and conducting follow-up from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Adaptation for Coastal Communities workshop is presented. The study takes a unique look at one workshop outcome, a Duluth Parks and Recreation planning tool. Specifically, a resilience checklist is presented as a useful sample outcome of the overall process. Beyond the study community, the role of outdoor recreation to serve climate resilience is explored and affirmed.

People depend on functioning ecosystems to meet human needs and support well-being across the life span. This article considers the interest in ecosystem service valuation, the growing interest in the benefits of nature experience for children, and ways to bridge these perspectives. We focus on embodied childhood nature experiences: the physical and multisensory experiences that intertwine child and nature. Additionally, we highlight the reciprocal quality of nature and child experience relationship as an example of how this relationship goes beyond the instrumental and demonstrates relational value. Underlying this perspective is the belief that children need to be better represented in the perception and action of ecosystem valuation in environmental policy.

It is important to do something outside, not only inside this building...if you are outside the nature is talking to you. (Arabic/English speaking visitor)

Concern for a diminished nature experience has been referred to as an extinction of experience (Pyle, 1993). The concern is based on the fear that diminished experience of nature leads to reduced environmental awareness and knowledge, and ultimately, to a reduction in pro-environmental behavior. Attention to both the value and potential loss of nature experience is at the foundation of the research presented here.

Two related studies are briefly presented that explore the experience of nature, and specifically, the experience of biodiversity in the Kristianstad Vattenrike biosphere reserve. The first is a study of the relationship between place attachment and participation in nature based outdoor recreation. Random and targeted field based surveys with residents of the Kristianstad municipality were used to gather information. Results indicated a positive and significant relationship between measures of place attachment and nature-based outdoor recreation. The second study, an investigation of the Swedish EPA mandated goal that Swedish Nature Centers (Naturum) will inspire or motivate a direct experience of nature was conducted using thought listing methods. The results of these interviews indicated that the nature center in the Kristianstad Vattenrike is serving this noted function. An outcome that links both studies are the results that highlight the importance of proximate access (in regard to residence and transportation) of recreation and outdoor opportunity to facilitate direct experiences of nature.

Objective: The objective of this study is to explore the co-evolutionary foundation for place-based human affiliation with nonhuman nature, and its potential to support sustainable development at the local level. In particular, we analyse the Topophilia Hypothesis, an expansion of the Biophilia Hypothesis which includes also non-living elements in the environment.

Methods: The study represents a multidisciplinary conceptual analysis of how biological selection and cultural learning may have interacted during human evolution to promote adaptive mechanisms for human affiliation with nonhuman nature via specific place attachment. 

Results and Conclusions: The Biophilia Hypothesis has been one of the most important theories of human connectedness with nature, suggesting a genetically based inclination for human affiliation with the biological world. The Topophilia Hypothesis has extended the ideas of Biophilia to incorporate a broader conception of nonhuman nature and a co-evolutionary theory of genetic response and cultural learning. It also puts more emphasis on affiliation processes with the local environment. We propose that nurturing potential topophilic tendencies may be a useful method to promote sustainable development at the local level, and ultimately at the global level. Tendencies of local affiliation may also have implications for multifunctional landscape management, an important area within sustainability research, and we provide some examples of successful landscape management with a strong component of local engagement. Since human affiliation with nonhuman nature is considered an important dimension of environmental concern and support for pro-environmental attitudes, the Topophilia Hypothesis may provide a fruitful ground for a discourse within which scholars from many scientific fields, including human evolution and humanistic geography, can participate.

Outdoor recreation management perspectives were investigated based on the general perception of increased public outdoor recreation participation during the Covid-19 pandemic and supported by survey research at local, regional, and national levels in Sweden. There is an interest in how outdoor recreation professionals perceived outdoor recreation by the public during the pandemic and whether professionals could identify specific implications from the Covid-19/outdoor recreation experience. Climate adaptation literature supports the idea that current global challenge coupled with projections for ongoing challenge requires a pro-active approach; this turn to climate adaptation for potential consideration or guidance is based on characteristics that the Covid-19 pandemic shares with climate change. Outdoor recreational professionals' review of a recent public survey and subsequent semi-structured interviews with this group were conducted to obtain outdoor recreation professionals' detailed perceptions on survey outcomes. Results show that the professionals confirm a rapid and significant increase in outdoor recreation participation. Further, professionals identified critical trends in the increase of new or inexperienced outdoor recreation participants. A positive and proactive list of implications emerged as themes of the interviews. A review and synthesis of the themes support the national goals for outdoor recreation in Sweden. Further, results indicate a current opportunity for outdoor recreation to address concerns for diminishing nature experience and support connectedness to nature. The connectedness to nature outcome further strengthens the comparison with climate adaptation strategy given the potential relationship between connectedness to nature and pro-environmental behavior.

A current focus of ecosystem services (ES) implementation is on the municipal level of government where international and national legislation and policies have to be translated into practice. Given this focus, an understanding of perceptions within municipalities of the ES concept is crucial to support the implementation process. Against this background, this paper examines the perceptions of Swedish municipal stakeholders for the ES concept. A 2013 Swedish federal mandate that states that the values of ecosystem services should be considered in relevant decision-making processes, provides a timely context. Current perceptions, preconditions and awareness are explored via interviews and analyses. The results show that the views on the ecosystem services concept and its usefulness are generally very positive. Conceptual knowledge use is perceived as important as is the recognition of monetary valuation of ES. However, clarification of the distinction between implicit and explicit use of the concept by stakeholders is needed. Finally, results indicate that a deeper understanding of monetary valuation of ecosystem services by municipal staff members is connected with a more critical view on monetary valuation. It is concluded that detailed and clear definitions and guidelines are needed in order to support the process of implementing ES in municipalities.

The environmental connectedness perspective posits that direct encounter with generalized, or non-specific “nature,” leads to environmental connectedness and subsequent pro-environmental behavior. This article examines this perspective and proposes a place-based application of the nature encounter-environmental behavior relation. An empirical study using data from a national survey on outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism is presented. Results show a minimal relationship between measures of environmental connectedness and self-reports of environmental behavior. The following examination of the environmental connectedness perspective reveals that environmental connectedness is rooted in a material/objective perspective, neglecting the human domain of perceptions, values, and representations. The environment as “nature” is portrayed as a geographically undefined agent with the inherent power to change human attitudes and behavior. Based on this, the article concludes with a proposed replacement of the elusive concept of nature for the relational concept of place.

Granular activated carbon (GAC) filters can be used to reduce emissions of organic micropollutants via municipal wastewater, but it is still uncertain to which extent biological degradation contributes to their removal in GAC filters. ¹⁴C-labeled organic micropollutants were therefore used to distinguish degradation from adsorption in a GAC-filter media with associated biofilm. The rates and extents of biological degradation and adsorption were investigated and compared with other biofilm systems, including a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and a sand filter, by monitoring ¹⁴C activities in the liquid and gas phases. The microbial cleavage of ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, and mecoprop was confirmed for all biofilms, based on the formation of ¹⁴CO₂, whereas the degradation of ¹⁴C-labeled moieties of sulfamethoxazole and carbamazepine was undetected. Higher degradation rates for diclofenac were observed for the GAC-filter media than for the other biofilms. Degradation of previously adsorbed diclofenac onto GAC could be confirmed by the anaerobic adsorption and subsequent aerobic degradation by the GAC-bound biofilm. This study demonstrates the potential use of ¹⁴C-labeled micropollutants to study interactions and determine the relative contributions of adsorption and degradation in GAC-based treatment systems.

In the MORPHEUS project we estimated the occurrence and load of pharmaceuticals in four areas of the South Baltic Sea. This included the released loads from selected WWTPs as well as the environmental occurrence of pharmaceutical substances downstream of the WWTPs in the coastal regions Skåne (Sweden), Mecklenburg (Germany),Pomerania (Poland) and Klaipėda (Lithuania).In this article, we report on some of the findings from the Swedishmodel area Skåne and Kristianstad Municipality in the north eastpart of Skåne (Scania) as an example of a local assessment.

In the MORPHEUS project three Swedish Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) were investigated for their release of pharmaceuticals into the recipient. One of these was Degeberga WWTP which discharges its treated wastewater into the Segesholmsån river, ending in the Baltic Sea. Segesholmsån river has a length of 23 km and an average flow of roughly 0.6 m3/s (Figure 1).

In this project the release of 15 pharmaceuticals from three different WWTPs into three different recipients inKristianstad Municipality, Region Skåne was investigated. All three WWTPs are situated within the borders of thefirst UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Sweden, Kristianstads Vattenrike – “Vattenriket®”, established in 2005. Pharmaceutical included were: 1. Atenolol 2. Azithromycin 3. Carbamazepine 4. Ciprofloxacin 5. Clarithromycin 6. Diclofenac 7. Erythromycin 8. Estrone 9. Ibuprofen 10. Naproxen 11. Metoprolol 12. Propranolol 13. Oxazepam 14. Paracetamol 15. Sulfamethoxazole

Under februari 2019 togs 7 dygnsprover på det totala utgående flödet av avloppsvatten från Skånes Universitetssjukhus (SUS) i Malmö samt på det totala inkommande flödet av avlopssvatten till Sjölunda avloppsreningsverk i Malmö, som är Malmös största reningsverk. Syftet var att få kunskap om utgående koncentrationer av läkemedel från sjukhuset i relation till de inkommande koncentrationerna till avloppsreningsverket. Proverna togs från måndag till söndag under en och samma vecka och analyserades med avseende på förekomst av 33 läkemedel, antibiotika och andra mikroföroreningar. Detta innefattade 9 st antibiotika, 19 st läkemedel samt 5 andra kemikalier.

There is not much knowledge about pharmaceutical residues in Norwegian horse manure. In this project we have further developed a method that enables the analysis of various antibiotics and anthelmintics in a single sample. The method is designed for the analysis of solid substrates, such as horse manure. Manure from treated horses and horse manure with additions of controlled amounts of medicines were composted outdoors in a windrow consisting of horse manure and freshly cut grass. In a pot trail earthworms were added to some of the manure from the treated horses to study the effect of worm action on the biodegradation of pharmaceutical residues. - At the start of the project, several veterinary medicines were considered. The developed analysis method covers several active ingredients in the most commonly used equine medicines. The antibiotic Tribrissen vet inj with the active ingredients sulfadiazine and trimethoprim, and the equine anthelmintics Panacur (active ingredient fenbendazole) and Banminth (active ingredient pyrantel embonate) were included in the entire preliminary study. In total, 70 samples of horse manure and horse manure compost were analysed. We found that dried manure from treated horses could be analysed directly, thus making it unnecessary to freeze-dry samples prior to sending them further for analysis. The method can be used to analyse all four active ingredients at the same time. - Contents of pharmaceutical residues in horse manure are highest 1-2 days after the horse has been treated, with some variation between substances. After this peak, residue contents in manure decrease rapidly. Degradation of the added medicines was slow in the composting trials. In the compost windrow, the contents of medicines decreased gradually throughout a 60-day period, with slightly different degradation curves for the various substances. Three of the tested active ingredients were still detectable in the compost after 60 days. The earthworm trials have to be improved and repeated, among other things, because many worms died in the untreated horse manure plots. - Our trials show that manure from treated horses should be kept apart from other manure for the first 1-3 days after medical treatment. Strategies for the management of such manure have to be developed so that this resource can be used safely in plant production. Additional studies are needed to assess the degradation rate of pharmaceutical residues using different composting methods. Important factors that need to be studied in greater detail under Norwegian conditions include temperature development, windrow dimensions, moisture conditions and earthworm survival. We did not study the contents of pharmaceutical residues in urine. - We performed a survey on soil and fertilizer products among 100 garden centre customers. The results showed that there is a certain interest for peat-free, locally produced soil and fertilizer products. Approximately half of the respondents replied that they are willing to pay as much as 20 % more for such products. Consumers preferred soil amendments that contain nutrients and are typically ”all-purpose”, i.e. a single product that can be used across a wide range of applications. - This project has been important for the project partners due to its development of an analysis for pharmaceutical residues in solid horse manure. Furthermore, it provided a basis for the further development of horse manure as a pharmaceutical residue-free product.

Hydrolytic and photolytic degradation were investigated for the ionophore antibiotics lasalocid, monensin, salinomycin, and narasin. The hydrolysis study was carried out by dissolving the ionophores in solutions of pH 4, 7, and 9, followed by incubation at three temperatures of 6, 22, and 28 °C for maximum 34 days. Using LC–MS/MS for chemical analysis, lasalocid was not found to hydrolyse in any of the tested environments. Monensin, salinomycin, and narasin were all stable in neutral or alkaline solution but hydrolysed in the solution with a pH of 4. Half-lives at 25 °C were calculated to be 13, 0.6, and 0.7 days for monensin, salinomycin, and narasin, respectively. Absorbance spectra from each compound indicated that only lasalocid is degraded by photolysis (half-life below 1 h) due to an absorbance maximum around 303 nm, and monensin, salinomycin, and narasin are resistant to direct photolysis because they absorb light of environmentally irrelevant wavelengths.

Understanding the responses of tundra systems to global change has global implications. Most tundra regions lack sustained environmental monitoring and one of the only ways to document multi-decadal change is to resample historic research sites. The International Polar Year (IPY) provided a unique opportunity for such research through the Back to the Future (BTF) project (IPY project #512). This article synthesizes the results from 13 papers within this Ambio Special Issue. Abiotic changes include glacial recession in the Altai Mountains, Russia; increased snow depth and hardness, permafrost warming, and increased growing season length in sub-arctic Sweden; drying of ponds in Greenland; increased nutrient availability in Alaskan tundra ponds, and warming at most locations studied. Biotic changes ranged from relatively minor plant community change at two sites in Greenland to moderate change in the Yukon, and to dramatic increases in shrub and tree density on Herschel Island, and in sub-arctic Sweden. The population of geese tripled at one site in northeast Greenland where biomass in non-grazed plots doubled. A model parameterized using results from a BTF study forecasts substantial declines in all snowbeds and increases in shrub tundra on Niwot Ridge, Colorado over the next century. In general, results support and provide improved capacities for validating experimental manipulation, remote sensing, and modeling studies.

The nutrient load and export of nutrients from the lake "Arkelstorpsviken" in southern Sweden were monitored for one year (2019-04-01 to 2020-03-31). The purpose was to study whether the lake's eutrophication status is a symptom of internal load or caused by the load from the environment. The results can be used in a remediation plan for the heavily eutrophied lake Arkelstorpsviken, where extensive monitoring was carried out. Sampling stations in the main three upstream streams were set up to record the daily flow, supplemented by a 14-day sampling period for chemical analysis. In addition, small agricultural ditches and the local municipal treatment plant were monitored. Both total phosphorus and total nitrogen were reduced during transit through the lake. This indicates that the lake still acts as a nutrient sink contrary to the prevailing suspicion that the sediments are leaking phosphorus.

Fäbodar är en bosättning på den utmark som under sommarsäsongen nyttjas till bete för kreatur. I Sverige förekommer olika former av fäbodtyper som nyttjas olika, exempelvis används vissa endast till bete medan andra har både bete, slåtter och/eller åker. I Ångermanland förekommer två fäbodtyper. En slåtterlös fäbod i landskapets östra och centrala del och en fäbodtyp med slåtter som särskilt förekommer i landskapets västra delar. Orsaken till olika fäbodtyper beskrivs bero på olika jordbruksformer med antingen en inriktning mot åkerbruk eller mot boskapsskötsel. Studiens grundar sig i att utifrån historiska redogörelser och 1865 års jordbruksstatistik studera tio utvalda socknar för att se om det går att tyda olika inriktningar i jordbruket beroende på vilken fäbodtyp som dominerade i socknen. Utifrån statistiken har arealer av åker till stråsäd och skogbeklädd mark samt nötkreaturenheter sammanställts. Utifrån de historiska redogörelserna har studien sammanställt beskrivningar som berör de utvalda socknarna och beskriver boskapsskötsel och jordbruk. Resultaten visar en påtaglig skillnad i tillgången till skogsmark där betesmarkerna är. De socknar med den slåtterlösa fäboden hade lägre arealer skogsmark 1865 och i de historiska redogörelserna beskrivs en betesbrist. Socknarna med slåtter på fäbodarna hade tillgång till större arealer skogsmark 1865 och beskrivs ha vidsträckta betesmarker som gynnar boskapsskötseln. I de historiska skildringarna kan mönster tydas av områdena med slåtterlösa fäbodar hade större tillgång till åkermark än bygderna med slåtter på fäboden. Socknarna med den slåtterlösa fäboden visar en större inbördes variation i såväl kreatursbesättning som åker till stråsäd vilket visar att jordbruket skilde sig mellan socknarna. 

The field study was done to investigate whether it was possible to use purified, filtered wastewater for polymer preparation and in the long run also as other process water at Ellinge treatment plant. The tests was performed in full scale with both water from the intermediate sedimentation and the final sedimentation. Through extensive sampling and analysis of results, it proved to be a working method without a negative impact on the polymer solution and sludge dewatering. However, more work and addiotional purification steps such as disinfection are required to implement the treated wastewater on the entire water system

In Sweden a unique project supported by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency will be developed in close collaboration with coastal municipalities in Skåne, and with a coordinating role by Skåne´s Association of Local Authorities. These municipalities face a range of different environmental challenges, from areas along the eastern coast line facing problems related to the Baltic Sea, to municipalities in the Öresund region. In this study a range of different environmental conditions and related ecosystem services, from vulnerability to floods, erosion and sea level rise to strong pressure on coastal systems from urbanization will be investigated. Research questions and directions are built on cases and scenarios which are a part of the local municipality planning process. The approach will be to study the premises of implementing the Ecosystem Services (ES) in municipal planning and decision making of five coastal municipalities. The present study will analyse past decisions, present planning and future challenges for municipality development and management from the perspective of ES, with the aim of increasing our understanding of the ES concept as a tool for sustainable development. A second aim of the project is to evaluate the potential value of connecting the ES approach to ongoing climate change adaptation in the municipalities. The project will use the six-step approach developed by the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity framework (TEEB) as the main conceptual frame. This approach includes the following steps: 1) Identifying and agreeing on the problem with stakeholders, 2) Identify the ES which are most relevant and pressing in municipality planning, 3) Collect and identify the information needs and the method to collect the data, 4) Assess expected changes in ES due to decision and input from society, 5) Identify policy options based on changes in ES and 6) Assess social and environmental impacts of 1-5.

Denna studie har undersökt möjligheten att kartlägga och identifiera historiska ekosystemtjänster från tidigt 1800-tal i fyra byar i Fränninge socken, Sjöbo kommun. Studien har även undersökt om det historiska materialet är av sådan kvalité att den kan användas till trade-off analys för nutida ekosystemtjänster inom samma område samt för arealförändring. Studien har främst genomförts som en GIS-studie där historiska kartor har digitaliserats och analyserat. Med hjälp av naturvårdsverkets ekosystemtjänstförteckning har ekosystemtjänster kopplats till diverse markslag, både historiska och nutida. Resultatet har sedan ställts emot varandra i syfte att tydliggöra eventuell förändring

Resultatet visar en arealökning av ekosystemtjänsterna kopplade till åkrarna. Det har även skett en ökning av ekosystemtjänster kopplade till skogsmarken inklusive sumpskogen. Minskning av ekosystemtjänsternas areal har skett i markslagen betesmark, äng, våtmark, vattendrag, mosse och torvmosse. Trade-off bland ekosystemtjänsterna har ej skett, det har istället skett en förflyttning av ekosystemtjänsterna från den historiska ängen, främst till dagens ökande areal av skogsmarker.

Det historiska materialet är av sådan kvalité att det är användbart för generell kartering och analys. Dock saknas det data för mer djupgående analyser. Det historiska materialet vittnar ej om ekologisk status varför studien ej bör ses som kvalitativ utan snarare kvantitativ vilket i nuläget visar en generell utveckling och avsaknad av trade-off. Hade ekologisk status tagits i beaktande hade också bilden klarnat över vilka ekosystemtjänster som faktiskt opererar inom ett givet markslag. Förslagsvis bör man därför studera de realiserade ekosystemtjänsterna i samband med historisk kartläggning för en noggrannare bild av förändringen.

This essay is focusing on Kolbäcksåns lower part in Hallstahammar municipality, Västmanlands county in Sweden, aiming on how cultural heritage and it’s importance is treated when changes in the landscape is about to be done. Many of the historic free rivers has due to dams been divided, and the water has gone from rapid to still. If changes is about to be done to acchive approved ecological status, the risk on damaging the cultural heritage sites is palpable. Data, that’s been analyzed, has been collected through interviews with respondents from five instances in Västmanlands county. The Majority of the answers analysed reveals that a cultural heritage site is definied by the affect made by humans, that there is a historical connection and that the site is seen as a unit in the landscape. A cultural heritage site is affected whilst a natural environment site can be both affected and non-affected. When landscape changes that affects cultural heritage sites is performed, it reveals that different interests are colliding and the importance of an early collaboration between interests is performed. The thematic analyze of the answers from the interviews revealed several potential indications on conflicts and potential solutions.  

In recent years, wetlands have drawn scientific attention due to their environmental and economic importance. Preliminary studies show that wetlands in southern Sweden in the vicinity of Kristianstad may be contaminated by iron and aluminium (and possible other metals). Iron precipitates has led to the loss of flora and fauna within the protected natural wetland “Norra Lingenäset” over the last decade. The source of iron is the focus of our investigations, and it is possibly associated with drained acid sulphate soils (ASS) in the north of the wetland. The drained water (varying pH 3-8) from the nearby crop land is pumped to the Norra Lingenäset wetland. Therefore, the interrelation and correlation among the ASS (source of iron contamination) and the wetland are of interest. Our primary results shows 5-70 mg/L of iron in drained water from the ASS and 50-150 mg/g of iron in the accumulated sediments in the draining ditch. Hence, the conditions and state of the cropped ASS regarding iron species and concentrations will be studied. The results from this stage will enable us to design an iron pool for the Kristianstad case study. Understanding metal transportation, speciation and depositions will aid Kristianstad crop lands and wetland managers to provide efficient and effective management plans.

The constant release of pharmaceuticals into the environment can lead to pollution of water and soils which might constitute a risk to human and other living organisms. Residues of common pharmaceuticals such as painkillers, antimicrobials, antidepressants, contraceptives or antiparasitics may enter the environment during manufacturing and disposal processes. The main sources of releases, however, are human consumption and veterinary use. Due to the metabolic stability of some pharmaceuticals up to 90% of the active ingredients are excreted and end up in the wastewater system and finally in the environment – e.g. accumulated in the Baltic Sea and its living organisms.The EU and its Member States have in the past few years increasingly recognised the challenge of pharmaceuticals in the environment (PIE). This is exemplified first and foremost by the European Commission’s Strategic Approach to Pharmaceuticals in the Environment, but also initiatives at the national level aiming at closing main knowledge gaps in the field, comprehensive monitoring systems and more surveys to detect the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in surface and ground water. Moreover, the OECD has recently published a report on pharmaceutical residues in freshwater that calls for a better understanding of the effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment and policy actions.However, this has not yet led to the development of indicators and threshold values at the EU level that aid Member States in implementing systematic monitoring schemes for PIE. As long as this situation persists and as long as we still do not sufficiently understand the effects of pharmaceutical residues on the ecosystem and on human health, the question arises: What can be done about PIE at the regional level? The answer to this lies in the precautionary principle – i.e. taking action to prevent harm to the environment even without having exact knowledge of all facets of the problem.

By combining a large-scale experimental assessment on timing of insect emergence with longtermmonitoring of waterfowl hatching date, we here show that insect emergence is mainly driven bytemperature, whereas there is only a weak effect of increasing spring temperatures on inter-annualvariability in observations of waterfowl chicks. Hence, a change in timing of the mass-emergence of insectsfrom lakes and wetlands, which is the crucial food source for waterfowl chicks, will likely result in aconsumer/resource mismatch in a future climate change perspective. Specifically, we experimentally showthat a moderate increase in temperature of 38C above ambient, expected to occur within 25–75 years, leadsto a considerably (2 weeks) earlier, and more pronounced, peak in insect emergence (Chironomus sp).Moreover, by utilizing long-term Citizen Science databases, ranging over several decades, we also showthat common waterfowl species are unable to significantly adjust their reproduction to fit futuretemperature increase. Hence, based on our data we predict a future mismatch between insect emergenceand waterfowl species basing their reproduction on temperature. This will have a profound impact onreproductive success and population dynamics of many aquatic birds, as well as on freshwaterbiodiversity.

Storm water ponds treat polluted run-off from urban areas, highways and agricultural land. Vegetation plays a key role in water treatment, but further understanding is required to identify how vegetation density and spatial distribution within a pond affect the residence time, an important parameter with respect to water treatment. This paper presents results from a preliminary study where the residence time distribution and discharge of a water treatment pond were measured at two stages within the vegetation’s seasonal growth cycle, representing the minimum and maximum states of the vegetation’s density. The results show clear and significant differences between the residence time distribution for the two cases, and highlight the need for further work on the topic.

A watercare project often brings several stakeholders who are driven by separate interests an need to collaborate to achieve common goals and assure acceptance in society. Economic, environmental, social and political dimensions have been identified by Stockholm Water Institute as dimentions to achieve a sustainable water management. An increased focus on collaboration for watercare projects is today asked by authorities and actors. The report shows that a strategic coordination through mapping stakeholders and systematic use of analysis tools in an early stage can identify and develop priority measures and identify the potential of collaboration to achieve effective measures for a watercare project.

Microalgae co-cultured with certain filamentous fungi form biopellets. Biopellets can be used in microalgae harvesting and in water treatment. White-rot fungi producing laccase are of interest for water treatment. In suitable environmental conditions, certain white-rot fungi can form biopellets with microalgae.

Recent research has demonstrated the potential of using filamentous fungi to form pellets with microalgae (biopellets), in order to facilitate harvesting of microalgae from water following algae-based treatment of wastewater. In parallel, there is a need to develop techniques for removing organic pollutants such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals from wastewater. In experiments using the microalga Chlorella vulgaris, the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger and biopellets composed of these microorganisms, this study investigated whether fungal-assisted algal harvesting can also remove pesticides from contaminated water. A mixture of 38 pesticides was tested and the concentrations of 17 of these were found to be reduced significantly in the biopellet treatment, compared with the control. After harvesting, the concentration of total pesticides in the algal treatment did not differ significantly from that in the control. However, in the fungal treatment and biopellet treatment, the concentration was significantly lower (59.6 ± 2.0 µg/L and 56.1 ± 2.8 µg/L, respectively) than in the control (66.6 ± 1.0 µg/L). Thus fungal-assisted algal harvesting through biopellet formation can also provide scope for removing organic pollutants from wastewater, with removal mainly being performed by the fungus.

The effect of the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris on a wide range of different pesticides in water was studied. Treatments included short-term exposure (1 h) to living and dead microalgal biomass and long-term exposure (4 days) to actively growing microalgae. The initial pesticide concentration was 63.5 ± 3.9 µg L⁻¹. There was no significant overall reduction of pesticides after short-term exposure. A significant reduction of the total amount of pesticides was achieved after the long-term exposure to growing microalgae (final concentration 29.7 ± 1.0 µg L⁻¹) compared with the long-term control (37.0 ± 1.2 µg L⁻¹). The concentrations of 10 pesticides out of 38 tested were significantly lowered in the long-term algal treatment. A high impact of abiotic factors such as sunlight and aeration for pesticide reduction was observed when the initial control (63.5 ± 3.9 µg L⁻¹) and the long-term control (37.0 ± 1.2 µg L⁻¹) were compared. The results suggest that water treatment using microalgae, natural inhabitants of polluted surface waters, could be further explored not only for removal of inorganic nutrients but also for removal of organic pollutants in water.

Genom att sammanföra historiskt och modernt kartmaterial kan våtmarkers naturliga lokaler synliggöras. När kartmaterialet jämförs med inmätningar av dikesstrukturer blir det tydligt hur marken har dränerats. Korrelationen mellan historisk våtmark, modern torvmark och dikesstrukturer synliggör var i landskapet det finns god potential att nyskapa våtmarker med syfte att bilda kolsänkor. Kolsänkor binder in kol och minskar koldioxidutsläpp till atmosfären. Nyskapade våtmarker och regenererade kolsänkor kan bidra till att nå Sveriges miljömål Begränsad klimatpåverkan – ett tvärvetenskapligt perspektiv behöver utvecklas för att naturvetenskaplig forskning ska kunna appliceras effektivt inom klimatpolitiskt arbete. Med ett sådant synsätt tydliggörs även additionalitet gällande andra miljömål som bidrar till hållbar utveckling.

I dagsläget finns ett stort behov av exploatering för nya bostäder och förtätning i många svenska städer. Bra boende - och livsmiljöer innefattar ofta en närhet till grönområden. Utanverken i Kristianstad, Skåne län, är ett grönområde med höga natur - och kulturvärden. Omkring området planeras en stor exploatering av bostäder vilket betyder att grönområdet är viktigt för staden. Genom grönområden kan olika upplevelsekaraktärer upplevas och olika kulturella ekosystemtjänster tas ut. Dessa karaktärer och tjänster är en viktig hälsoaspekt för människan. För att ta reda på vilka upplevelsekaraktärer och kulturella ekosystemtjänster som upplevs och utnyttjas av de boende omkring undersökningsområdet idag genomfördes en enkätundersökning. Resultatet visar att det finns karaktärer och tjänster som upplevs och utnyttjas mer än andra. Däremot finns det meningsskiljaktigheter kring utveckling av undersökningsområdet mellan olika grupper av de boende. För att tillgodose dagens och framtidens invånares önskningar bör det alltid föras en dialog mellan beslutsfattare och invånare. Vid planering av grönområden bör det även tas i beaktande över vilka funktioner dessa bör innehålla för att främja speciella upplevelsekaraktärer och kulturella ekosystemtjänster för skapandet av bra boendemiljöer i urbana områden. 

The project “Implementing the ecosystem services concept at the municipal level” (ECOSIMP, 2013-2016) studies the conditions for integrating the concept and approach of ecosystem services into municipal planning and decision-making. The project is performed in close cooperation with representatives from the seven municipalities Kristianstad, Simrishamn, Trelleborg, Malmö, Lomma, Helsingborg and Båstad in the province Skåne, Region Skåne and Skåne Association of Local Authorities. The project includes studies of how municipality officials and politicians view the opportunities and obstacles to implement the concept, as well as studies of historical and present planning and decision cases involving aspects of ecosystem services. The final report from the project will be delivered at the end of 2016.

Man and Biosphere Health (MABH, www.hkr.se/mabh) is a multidisciplinary research platform at Kristianstad University focusing on the interactions between human impacts on ecosystems, ecosystem functioning and biodiversity, and human health and well-being. The platform was established in 2009 and currently has 29 members from a variety of scientific fields, including microbiology, ecology, and environmental technology/chemistry/education, and has a profile towards applied sustainability research in aquatic systems. The name of the platform connects directly to the UNESCO biosphere programme “Man and the Biosphere”, which consider human populations as an integrated part of the ecosystems. The location of Kristianstad University with the biosphere reserve Kristianstads Vattenrike provides MABH with a unique opportunity to contribute to the supporting functions (which include research) within the biosphere reserve, and to benefit from the manifold activities and practical social-ecological projects taking place. Within its research, MABH collaborates with many societal partners, both local, regional and national, and with businesses, and has a wide international network of collaborators.

Projektet ECOSIMP handlar om förutsättningen för att implementera begreppet ekosystemtjänst, i fortsättningen kallat EST-begreppet, i kommunerna, och undersöker bland annat hur kommunala tjänstemän och politiker ser på denna utmaning. En intervjustudie genomfördes med tjänstemän och politikeri de sju medverkande kommunerna. I en studie av Malmö stad undersöktes hur ekosystemtjänst-relaterade begrepp har integrerats i översiktsplaner ochutvecklats till ett verktyg i hållbar samhällsplanering. Ett annat delprojekt handlar om miljökonsekvens-bedömningar (MKB) och behovet av metodutveckling för att integrera ekosystemtjänstansatsen i MKB, där möjligheten att integrera ekosystemtjänster i den så kallade RIAM-metoden analyserades. Projektet innehåller också en analys av arbetet med att integrera ekosystemtjänsteri kommunernas klimatanpassning, så kallad ekosystembaserad klimatanpassning (EbA). Slutligen redovisas en analys av det transdisciplinära arbetssättet inom ECOSIMP-projektet. Resultaten visar att EST-begreppet idag är relativt välkänt i kommunerna och att det finns en övervägande positiv inställning till det och förhoppningar om att det ska skapa större möjlighet till miljöhänsyn. Förståelsen av begreppet behöver dock fördjupas i den kommunala verksamheten och distinktionen mellan implicit och explicit användning av EST-begreppet och den relaterade EST-ansatsen förtydligas. Ett antal hinder och möjligheter för att börja använda begreppet och för att uppnå etappmålet 2018 identifierades också. Bland annat upplevs innebörden av etappmålet 2018 som oklar, och bara en mindre del av de intervjuade i kommunerna ansåg att etappmålet skulle nås. Betydelsen av att politiker och allmänhet får kännedom om, och förståelse för, EST-begreppet betonades också. Malmö framstår som ett bra exempel på hur långsiktigt arbete för en hållbar stadsutveckling kan skapa förutsättningar att integrera ekosystemtjänster i den fysiska planeringen. Analysen av EbA i kommunerna visade att initiativ relaterade till klimatanpassning och ekosystemtjänster oftast inte är samordnade, men de skulle kunna utvecklas i den riktningen genom bättre samordning mellan kommunernas olika enheter och integrering av EbA i den långsiktiga planeringen utifrån kunskap om nutida och framtida klimatrisker. Verktyg för att värdera förändringar i EST till följd av mänsklig exploatering behövs och här föreslås en utveckling av den såkallade RIAM-metoden, som kan erbjuda ett sätt att väga in olika EST i planeringen. Den transdisciplinära analysen visar på värdet av nära samverkan mellan forskning och kommuner kring implementeringen av EST-ansatsen, men också på behovet av politiskt och ekonomiskt stöd för att frigöra tid för kommunerna att delta i sådana projekt.

This  report  of  MORPHEUS  Project  Partners  documents  the  outcome  of  WP3  –  consumption patterns.   Herein,   the   project   aims   to   identify   and   quantify   the   emission   of   selected pharmaceuticals   especially   discharged   via   wastewater   of   WWTP.   A   comprehensive   data research was performed and prioritized pharmaceutical consumption loads have been calculated for the model areas in Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Germany. The outcome of this report can be summarized in the following key facts:

1.    Consumption data is based on either sales data of wholesalers/pharmacies or data from health care institutions. The unit of consumption is number of reimbursed packages andDDD, respectively.

2.    The resolution and  data coverage (only partly including OTC, hospital etc.) is  country- specific:  The  best  time-resolution  was  found  in  Poland  (monthly),  the  best  spatial resolution in Lithuania (population group <3000).

3.    Country-specific  consumption  was  comparable  by  a  developed  value  intake  load  per inhabitant per year.

4.    For   Swedish   and   German   data,   a   comparison   of   different   distributing   sites   of pharmaceuticals   was   possible   (over   the   counter   sales,   application   in   hospitals, prescriptions/pharmacies).

5.    For Lithuanian data, the high spatial resolution enabled a potential correlation with the local demographic data in regard of consumption of beta blocking pharmaceuticals.

6.    For Polish data, a seasonal variation can be clearly shown for antibiotics.

7.    For  German  data,  an  accumulation  within  the  river  catchment  shows  that  a  complete picture   of   the   whole   system   is   essential   to   understand   the   actual   burden   of pharmaceuticals in the environment.

8.    Comparing the model areas, all results have been in the same order of magnitude more or  less  depending  on  consumption  and  doses.  Metformin  and  diverse  analgesics revealed high intake loads.  In general, mostly German intake loads exceed the  others which  may  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  selection  of  pharmaceuticals  is  mostly  based  on German literature and statistics  due to availability/accessibility.  An  adjustment to  each country-specific list may lead to other results.

9.    Some  substances  remain  unclear:  Contrast  media  and  hormones  are  still  a  matter  of burden  to  the  environment  but  caused  some  difficulties  during  data  collection  andresearch.

Wastewater treatment processes are monitored mainly in terms of biogenic substances removal efficiency. Only recently they started to be perceived as a potential sources of pharmaceutical residues to their recipients the and hot-spots for antibiotic resistance dissemination among bacteria. The scale of the problem has not been fully investigated and understood – missing data on the pharmaceuticals consumption, unidentified and dispersed point sources and non-unified sampling strategy of monitoring programs have been identified as the examples of problematic areas. I n scope of project REPHIRA (Reduction of Pharmaceutical Emissions from Dispersed Point Sources in Rural Areas), financed from the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Seed Money, the cooperation has been established between five partners located in the Baltic Sea catchment area: Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. In order to fulfill the knowledge gap, a preliminary study was conducted by Polish partner on four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) localized in the coastal area in northern Poland. Objects differ in terms of load, people equivalent, treatment technology and the recipient of WWTP effluent. The amount of human gut related indicator organism, E. coli has been estimated in raw and treated wastewater, as well as in the receiver, using classical microbiology approach and cultivation method. Additionally, the bacterial resistance to cefotaxime – an antibiotic belonging to third-generation cephalosporin family – has been tested.

Svenska pressgjuterier producerar cirka 65 000 ton aluminiumgjutgods årligen. Ungefär hälften av tillverkningen är riktad mot fordonsindustrin. Råvaran, gjutlegeringar i tackform, tillverkas på omsmältverk där en blandning av uttjänta aluminiumprodukter smälts ner och legeras till olika gjutlegeringar som efterfrågas av gjuteriindustrin. En nedgradering av aluminiumet sker då skrot med lågt innehåll av legeringsämnen blandas med höglegerat skrot. Pressgjutmetoden ger upphov till stora volymer returskrot som enligt gällande lagstiftning betraktas som avfall. Den senaste revideringen av avfallsdirektivet utmynnade bland annat i ett av huvudmålen som siktar mot att gå från avfall till resurs genom det så kallade avfallspaketet. Genom minskade avfallsmängder, ökad återanvändning och återvinning samt en förbättrad avfallshantering ska en övergång från linjär till cirkulär ekonomi nås. Pressgjuteribranschens bidrag till denna övergång skulle kunna möjliggöras genom att låta branschen skapa egna värdekedjor där returskrot med känt innehåll får köpas och säljas mellan pressgjuteriverksamheter. Denna hantering är inte tillåten idag då pressgjuteriers verksamhetstillstånd i regel är begränsade till en råvaruhantering som endast tillåter köpt gjutlegering och omsmältning av eget returskrot. Dagens ökande elbilstillverkning kommer sannolikt att minska behovet av höglegerat gjutaluminium då komponenter som motorblock och kylare inte behövs i elfordon. Genom att utöka tillstånden för pressgjuterier kring råvaruanvändning skulle värdekedjor skapas där återgångsskrot med känt legeringsinnehåll används som en råvara istället för att som idag betraktas som ett avfall

Som ett led i MuniComp-projektets analys av kommunernas erfarenheter av att tillämpa ekologisk kompensation i samhällsplanering analyserades ett antal fall med detaljplaner där kompensation har använts i Helsingborgs och Lommas kommun. Analysen syftar till att belysa hur den praktiska tillämpningen av kommunernas modeller för kompensation ser ut, samt att identifiera framgångar, begränsningar, och områden för förbättring. Analysen utgör ett komplement till de generella beskrivningarna av kompensationsmodellerna i Helsingborg och Lomma(Delrapport 4:1), och analyserna av beräkningsmodeller för kompensation (Delrapport 4:3), skadelindringshierarkin (Delrapport 3), och kompensation som styrmedel (Delrapport 1) som redovisas separat. Analysen har i huvudsak inriktats på vissa grundläggande frågor kring kompensationsarbetet som innefattar både vilka miljövärden och åtgärder som omfattas av kompensationen, hur kompensationsarbetet redovisas i olika dokument, och vilka begränsningar i tillämpningen av kompensation som kan urskiljas [...]

Inom ramen för forskningsprojektet MuniComps analys av kommunernas tillämpning av ekologisk kompensation i samhällsplaneringen analyseradeskompensationsmodellerna i Helsingborgs och Lommas kommun. Båda kommuner bygger sina modeller på balanseringsprincipen från Tyskland som introducerades till Sverige under 1990-talet (Skärbäck, 1997). Balanseringsprincipen innehåller en skadelindringshierarki med fyra steg som innebär att negativ påverkan på naturvärden till följd av exploatering i första hand ska undvikas och i andra hand minimeras. Kan påverkan inte undvikas eller minimeras så ska värdenakompenseras antingen genom utjämning eller ersättning. Utjämning betyder att kompensation görs inom planområdet med ett liknande värde. Ersättning betyder att kompensation antingen görs med ett annat värde och/eller med samma värde på annan plats än planområdet. [...]