Press releases

What is the effect of large-scale wind power exploitation on the golden eagle? Researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences are about to find out.
At present, a number of juvenile golden eagles are being fitted with satellite transmitters in northern Sweden. The aim is to study how planned wind farms will affect the golden eagle.

Research at SEI, the Stockholm Environment Institute, is of consistently high scientific quality, but SEI must get better at marketing its research and itself. The Institute also needs to develop its co-operation with the private sector. These are the findings of the international panel of experts which Formas has engaged for the governmental remit of evaluating SEI’s research.

Hydrogen gas is today used primarily for manufacturing chemicals, but a bright future is predicted for it as a vehicle fuel in combination with fuel cells. In order to produce hydrogen gas in a way that is climate neutral, bacteria are added to forestry or household waste, using a method similar to biogas production. One problem with this production method is that hydrogen exchange is low, i.e. the raw materials generate little hydrogen gas. Now, for the first time, researchers have studied a newly discovered bacterium that produces twice as much hydrogen gas as the bacteria currently used. The results show how, when and why the bacterium can perform its excellent work and increase the possibilities of competitive biological production of hydrogen gas.

In the French Alps, wolf researchers from Grimsö Wildlife Research Station at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences have darted a wolf from helicopter and put a GPS collar on it. This is the first helicopter-darted wolf in Europe outside of Fennoscandia. It will provide major insights into the role of wolves in ecosystems.

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) will be allocating SEK 85 million to already successful research teams, eight of which are of world-class quality, as well as to promising research fields. Some of the funding will also go to the university’s commissioned research. This is the first result of the major evaluation of Quality and Impact that SLU had performed in 2008-2009.

Take a close look at your Christmas tree – it has seven times more genetic material (DNA) than you do! Why this is so is still largely unknown, but now the DNA of the spruce is going to be mapped by Swedish researchers from Umeå Plant Science Center (a collaboration between the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Umeå University), the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), and the Karolinska Institute (KI), with the aid of a SEK 75 million grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

Det är nu det gäller! Hur ska vi i framtiden använda jordbruksmarken – i Sverige och världen? Hur ska vi klara av att producera både mat och energi?

Oxygen deficiency in the Baltic Sea has never been greater than it is now. But it is not an effect of climate change but rather of increased inputs of nutrients and fertilisers. This is the finding of researchers at the University of Gothenburg, who have analysed the ocean climate of the Baltic Sea since the 16th century.

As the six months of Swedish Presidency of the EU gets underway, the Swedish Research Council Formas is publishing an English edition of a book about the European cultural landscape, titled The Rural Landscapes of Europe – How Man has Shaped European Nature. The cultural landscapes and nature in Europe are the result of thousands of years of human impact and constitute our common heritage. Wars, revolutions, and diseases have affected nature. The landscape has been cultivated and become overgrown, back and forth. Forestry, agriculture, and animal husbandry have altered the flora and fauna. The book offers a holistic view of the cultural landscape from both a biological and a historical perspective.

What do poor forest farmers want from China’s ongoing forest land reform?
Well, it is not private ownership of the land that makes them invest. What Chinese farmers value most and what attracts them to investments that can raise their standard of living and contribute to sustainable forestry is secure rights of usage, as shown by Ping Qin’s doctoral thesis in economics at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.