Swedish Landscape Research Articles

Carbon removal potentials in agricultural systems – participatory scenario modelling with farmers in Sweden

Estimates of theoretical climate change mitigation potentials in agriculture need to be complemented with investigations of factors that influence deployment. This study introduces a framework for landscape-level assessment of climate change mitigation in agriculture that accounts for existing land uses, soil carbon stocks, and farmers’ preferences concerning specific mitigation options. The framework is used in an assessment of the deployment potentials for selected mitigation options in an agricultural landscape in Sweden, in which arable land covers approximately one-third of the land area. Three options were found to be preferable by farmers: biochar as soil amendment, cover crops, and (an increased) cultivation of ley crops in crop rotations. Cultivation of cover crops and leys was found to increase SOC stocks by 1.9 and 1.6 MgC ha−1 over three decades, respectively. About 10.2 MgC ha−1 is sequestered in soils over three decades when biochar is added as a soil amendment, if 50% of available residues are collected and utilized. This can be compared with GHG emissions from agriculture from the studied area, estimated at 1.6 Mg CO2-eq ha−1 yr−1 (GWP100). The framework was found useful for assessing mitigation options in the agriculture sector, underlining farmer involvement to identify actionable strategies.

Social Democratic Hauntings: On Swedish Dissociation and Melancholia

Abstract Once seen as a Western frontrunner of social progressivism and equality, Sweden has undergone momentous changes since the aggressive neoliberal dismantling of the postwar universal welfare state model started in the 1980s; today it is a stronghold of the European far right and has one of the highest levels of wealth inequality in the world. This essay analyzes the contemporary post–social democratic political landscape in Sweden, arguing that it is characterized by a state of both dissociation and melancholia, interlinked affective responses to the intensifying social pressures and structural crises the country faces. While the Right mobilizes racial melancholia to conjure up the stability of the past, significant segments of the political spectrum—including the Left—have long been demobilized by the stranglehold of a form of tragic optimism produced by a post-1991 fusion between the twentieth-century social democratic construction of Swedish exceptionalism and a neoliberal Fukuyaman triumphalism that disavows history and historical change. The essay traces this crisis of historical consciousness back to the hegemony of the Swedish Social Democratic Party in the twentieth century and the genre of folkhemmet nationalism that underpinned its project and whose affective afterlives continue to inform the political impasses we see today.

Phacoemulsification practices: A comprehensive analysis of the surgical landscape in Sweden 2021-2022.

This cross-sectional survey study aimed to explore the phacoemulsification techniques among Swedish cataract surgeons, and investigate the association between technique preferences and surgical outcomes, particularly posterior capsular rupture (PCR). A survey questionnaire was responded by 170 cataract surgeons and data from 192 494 cases, linked to the surgeons, were analysed from the Swedish National Cataract Registry (SNCR) for 2021-2022. Surgeons' demographic characteristics, surgical techniques and complications were assessed. Associations between surgical technique preferences and outcomes were analysed with binary logistic regression. The chopping technique (stop and chop or direct chop) was favoured by 64.6% of surgeons, followed by divide and conquer (32.4%), and tilt and tumble (7.6%). Surgeons' annual caseloads varied widely (range 11-2687). No significant correlation was found between technique preference and PCR rates, which was consistently 0.5%-0.6% in all groups, except for a trend suggesting reduced risk with tilt and tumble. Mentoring activity (35.0%) and public surgical setting (40.3%) was highest in the direct chop group. Notably, 75% of the surgeries were performed by surgeons with more than 10 years' experience. Confounding factors, such as high-volume surgeons having a low frequency of complications, have been accounted for in a logistic regression. This study provides insights into cataract surgery practices in Sweden and suggests that surgeons can choose their preferred approach without significantly affecting complication rates. This research also underscores the need for continued exploration of surgical practices and their impact on patient outcomes, particularly in the case of the tilt and tumble technique, which is less commonly employed.

Regional forest green infrastructure planning and collaborative governance: A case study from southern Sweden

Green Infrastructure (GI) is a strategically planned network delivering and enhancing diverse ecosystem services whilst preventing further biodiversity loss. Although not mandatory for EU members to implement GI, it is increasingly advocated as a tool for landscape planning. In 2016, the Swedish Government mandated the County Administrative Boards (CABs) to design regional GI plans using a collaborative process. This study explored the GI collaborative process in the region of Scania in southern Sweden, focusing on forest as an important component of Swedish landscapes. We interviewed 14 different stakeholders who participated in the process, and analysed the preconditions, inner workings and outcomes of collaborative GI planning. Despite remarkably different expectations, the perceived outcomes were consistent. Most stakeholders perceived the process as mainly informational rather than deliberative and, in general, use of the GI plan was limited. Despite successful finalisation of the plan, collaboration as a long-term process has not been achieved, which may limit the realisation of activities that foster GI. Scania’s GI planning illustrates the defects of top-down approaches with insufficient resources, failing to address the stakeholders’ trust and positioning. A lack of inclusivity and deliberation undermine the legitimacy of collaborative processes, discrediting the very concept of GI in Sweden. Our analysis indicates that a genuine collaborative process and a long-term commitment to implementing GI is unachievable without sustained and substantial governmental funding, capacity development at the lead agency, thorough consideration of prehistory, and targeted measures to increase trust among stakeholders.

Recovering the Historical Construction and Materials of Erik Gunnar Asplund’s Stockholm Public Library

This work presents the first detailed study of the construction and materials of the Stockholm Public Library. As the building undergoes a rare period of maintenance and renovation, the floors and walls of the library are examined from three perspectives. First, using available but limited archival documents and plans; second, with non-destructive ground-penetrating radar measurements; and finally, through on-site surveys during local interventions for the maintenance and renovation process. The ensuing results emphasize the complementary nature of this combined research approach in recovering lost or forgotten construction details and further reveal several important findings. In the case of the unique wall finishing of the library’s rotunda, multiple layers of lime mortar, each varying in thickness and coarseness, were used to build up and craft the relief-like interior wall surface. With the use of in-situ aerated concrete and prefabricated Solomite panels in the library’s 1931–32 floor construction, a material connection between Asplund and the broader modern movement in architecture is further highlighted. At first glance, these construction-related findings seem to reinforce the common architectural narrative of the library as a transitional project between neoclassicism and modernism. At the same time, however, the library’s separate periods of construction of 1925–28 and 1931–32 and their distinct materials can be seen as a continuity of construction culture, with the innovative use of local raw materials related to the Swedish landscape.

Trait-environment interactions of saproxylic beetles as a guide to biodiversity conservation strategies

Conservation of biodiversity requires in-depth knowledge of trait-environment interactions to understand the influence the environment has on species assemblages. Saproxylic beetles exhibit a wide range of traits and functions in the forest ecosystems. Understanding their responses to surrounding environment thus improves our capacity to identify habitats that should be restored or protected. We investigated potential interactions between ecological traits in saproxylic beetles (feeding guilds and habitat preferences) and environmental variables (deadwood, type and age of surrounding forest). We sampled beetles from 78 plots containing newly created high stumps of Scots pine and Silver birch in boreal forest landscapes in Sweden for three consecutive years. Using a model based approach, our aim was to explore potential interactions between ecological traits and the surrounding environment at close and distant scale (20 m and 500 m radius). We found that broadleaf-preferring beetle species are positively associated with the local broadleaf-originated deadwood and broadleaf-rich forests in the surrounding landscapes. Conifer-preferring species are positively associated with the local amount of coniferous deadwood and young and old forests in the surrounding landscape. Fungivorous and predatory beetles are positively associated with old forests in the surrounding landscapes. Our results indicate that both local amounts of deadwood and types of forests in the landscape are important in shaping saproxylic beetle communities. We particularly highlight the need to increase deadwood amounts of various qualities in the landscape, exempt older forests from production and to increase broadleaf-rich habitats in order to meet different beetle species’ habitat requirements. Trait responses among saproxylic beetles provide insights into the significance of broadleaf forest and dead wood as essential attributes in boreal forest restoration, which helps conservation planning and management in forest landscapes.

The conservation value of forests can be predicted at the scale of 1 hectare

To conserve biodiversity, it is imperative to maintain and restore sufficient amounts of functional habitat networks. Therefore, the location of the remaining forests with natural structures and processes over landscapes and large regions is a key objective. Here we integrated machine learning (Random Forest) and open landscape data to scan all forest landscapes in Sweden with a 1 ha spatial resolution with respect to the relative likelihood of hosting High Conservation Value Forests. Using independent spatial stand- and plot-level validation data, we confirmed that our predictions correctly represent different levels of forest naturalness, from degraded to those with high and associated biodiversity conservation values. Given ambitious national and international conservation objectives and increasingly intensive forestry, our model and the resulting wall-to-wall mapping fill an urgent gap for assessing the achievement of evidence-based conservation targets, spatial planning, and designing forest landscape restoration.

How slow is ‘slow TV’? Audiences’ experiences of meditation, obsession and authenticity when watching swimming moose on Swedish television

This article explores viewers’ experiences of the Swedish Public Service (SVT) ‘slow TV’ broadcast Den stora älgvandringen (The Great Moose Migration), aired as a three-week long, live, multi-platform programme since 2019. Through semi-structured interviews with key informants, the aim is to qualitatively understand the audience attraction to the 24/7 programme, especially when it comes to authenticity, affordances and its apparent slowness of pace. The study showcases a spectrum of audiences’ experiences, ranging from appreciating the programme’s serenity and stillness to its potential for unexpected drama. It is suggested that The Great Moose Migration offers a ‘direct’ link to Swedish nature as it enables a wallowing in Swedish landscapes and fauna, and allows for an unashamed adoration of the majestic Swedish moose, but without it being experienced as something particularly ‘Swedish’. It is found that authenticity is central to the programme’s success with both production team and audiences. However, both personal and sociable experiences of the programme as authentic rest on the collective acceptance of authenticity as something intrinsically produced by people and technologies yet not experienced as constructed. Rather, it is something that hovers in between experienced mediated and unmediated reality.

The non-native Quercus rubra does not substitute the native Quercus robur and Q. petraea as substrate for epiphytic lichens and bryophytes

Climate change will cause alterations in tree species ranges. Non-native tree species are likely to be increasingly used in production forests, due to their often better adaptation to a warmer climate and their lower susceptibility to pests and pathogens. Trees form an important habitat for numerous species, many of which are more or less specialised regarding tree species. Thus, the tree-associated flora and fauna may be heavily impacted if non-native trees replace native ones. Risk assessments from the introduction of non-native trees must rest on a solid knowledge base, including insights into the potential of such trees to function as biodiversity substitutes, i.e. to host similar biodiversity as closely related native tree species. In a study in temperate Sweden, we inventoried epiphytic lichens and bryophytes on ten random trees in each of 28 stands (14 stands of North American red oak Quercus rubra and 14 stands of native oak Q. robur/petraea), to compare species richness and composition. Overall, 101 lichen taxa and 35 bryophyte taxa were identified, and we found a generally higher diversity for native oak. The regional species richness (gamma diversity) for both lichens and bryophytes was higher in native oak than in red oak, and the lichen species richness at stand level (alpha diversity) was nearly significantly higher. Lichen composition differed between the two oak species, while there was no difference for bryophytes. More lichens were strongly associated with native oak than red oak, while most bryophyte species were generalists with no specific preference for either oak taxa. Bark structure was an important explanatory variable separating the lichen epiphytes, with species preferring smooth bark largely confined to red oak. In conclusion, our study suggests that substituting native oak with red oak could have adverse consequences for epiphytic lichen populations associated with native oak, resulting in a decline of several species. However, certain lichen and bryophyte species were exclusively found on Q. rubra, implying that incorporating a proportion of red oak stands in southern Swedish landscapes may enhance diversity. Further research is needed to explore the overlap between species associated with Q. rubra and other deciduous tree species that possess similar smooth bark. Our findings indicate that red oak may not be an appropriate alternative host tree for epiphytic lichens typically found on native oak, while the implications for bryophytes remain less clear.

Det nationella landskapet som kulturminnets medium i Snoilskys Svenska bilder

National Landscape as a Medium of Cultural Memory in Snoilsky’s Svenska bilder: The aim of this article is to illuminate, from an ecocritical perspective, the spacial aspect of cultural memory in Carl Snoilsky’s cycle of poems Svenska bilder (Swedish Pictures). According to Jan Assmann, cultural memory locates its signs in a natural space, whereby whole landscapes can also function as a medium of cultural memory. Consequently, they become semanticised, elevated in their entirety to the status of a sign. Thus, a landscape becomes a topographical text of cultural memory, a place of memory that Assmann calls mnemotopos. Drawing on one of the most important tropes of ecocritical thought, i.e. the pastoral, the article examines how Snoilsky’s collection of poems presents the Swedish landscape and how this landscape becomes a vehicle of cultural memory.

How restorative landscapes can benefit psychological and physiological responses: a pilot study of human–nature relationships in Sweden and Taiwan

Restorative landscapes provide people with the opportunity to experience nature. This pilot study aimed to determine whether cultural differences affect psychological and physiological responses to restorative landscapes. Two populations, one in Taiwan and one in Sweden, were experimentally compared by showing them photos of restorative landscapes from each country. The results showed that restorativeness was affected more by photos of the restorative landscape in Sweden than in Taiwan. The results showed that restorativeness in terms of psychological and physiological responses was affected. A significant variation in heart rate was observed between the populations: Taiwanese participants experienced higher heart rates when viewing unfamiliar and novel scenery when compared to Swedish participants. No significant differences between the populations were observed regarding attention capacity, working memory, and muscle tension. The psychological and physiological responses to the two countries’ distinctive restorative landscapes may have implications for designing such landscapes in urban green spaces.

Johan Turi's Ecology

This essay discusses Johan Turi's images (most of them undated) and his text published in 1910, recently translated by Thomas A. DuBois as An Account of the Sámi. It is the first book in Sámi in which the colonized talks back to their colonizers. Together, Turi's Account and his paintings and drawings, some of which are published here for the first time, provide detailed descriptions of the lives of Sámi herders in the mountain areas in northern Sweden, their seasonal migrations towards the coastal areas of northern Norway, and their knowledge, culture, and belief systems. Turi's main objective was to make the state administrations in Sweden and Norway understand Sámi culture and put an end to their detrimental colonial practices so that the Sámi could continue living in their traditional land. I compare his project to studies of the Sámi performed by Swedish authors and scientists, whose views, despite their thorough investigations and “scientific” approaches, gave support to ongoing processes of Swedish/Norwegian colonization and assimilation of Sápmi, i.e. the Sámi and their land. The imagery of Johan Turi adds to his text by demonstrating the hidden as well as the perceptible. As such, his artworks differ fundamentally from those of contemporaneous Swedish landscape painters. Turi's production insists on a holistic and relational acknowledgement of nature, animals, humans, and the spiritual. The need to understand, protect, live within, and respect their environment is fundamental for the Sámi. Together, Turi's artworks and text constitute profound and well-founded arguments for the preservation of Sápmi, in ecological as well as human terms.

Im/Mobile Commons and Trans/National Claims-Making: The Phenomenon of Swedish Afghans in Paris

Responding to asylum seekers’ relocation from Sweden to France, migrant solidarity groups have started to share resources and information relevant to the process of deciding about and going through with the journey, and, on arrival in Paris, providing advice on how to make it through sleeping rough and the asylum process in France. The relocation of Afghan asylum seekers to France, has gained a specific form of visibility and presence, in media and in migration rights networks, that we claim has placed the route on the Swedish landscape of migration and border debate. The purpose of this article is to develop the conceptual discussions of mobile commons through an analysis of the networks of and around ‘Swedish Afghans in Paris’. The article explores the ways in which national bordering scapes are both reinscribed, expanded and destabilized by migrant networks and claims. Further, we analyze the phenomenon of ‘Swedish Afghans in Paris’ with attention to the tensions and contradictions in regard to the politics of belonging and mobile commons. The phenomenon of Swedish Afghans in Paris forms a productive starting point for analyzing the conditions of commoning in the context of the Swedish bordering scape; of the ways in which belonging and nationality are claimed in complex and shifting ways; and of the ways in which these commons bridge different places transnationally. The article contributes to scholarly discussions on migrant struggles by developing a nuanced understanding of mobile commons as contestations and entanglements of bordering and claims to national belonging. Thus, we emphasize the ambivalent elements of mobile commoning.

Land-use patterns of energy crops in the agricultural landscape

Lignocellulosic energy crops can produce substantial amounts of biomass for energy purposes, but their introduction implies land-use changes as they are mainly cultivated in agriculturally dominated landscapes. This thesis presents a land-use analysis of lignocellulosic energy crops in the agricultural landscape in Sweden, specifically aiming to i) assess different energy crops’ regarding production, location and climatic profiles, ii) characterise and define the surrounding agricultural landscape, and iii) study the overall land-use changes derived from the establishment of energy crops in the country. The analysis is based on empirical data from commercial fast-growing tree plantations (willow, poplar, and hybrid aspen) and energy grasses (reed canary grass) at multiple spatial scales from field to landscape level, during the period 1986-2018. At field level, there is a trend for smaller and more regular fields dedicated to energy crops, with cultivation patterns moving towards more productive lands, reflecting an intensification in the land-use management. Willow was initially established mainly on fallow lands, but many plantations were subsequently replaced by cereals due to changes in global cereal prices. In the case of grasses, this pattern was similar, although changes appeared later and not so markedly. At landscape level, energy crops significantly diversify the agricultural landscape, as fast-growing tree plantations are largely introduced in cereal areas and grasses in forest-dominated landscapes. The methods and analysis of this thesis contribute to a better understanding of land-use changes associated to energy crops, and help define their contribution to diversifying the agricultural landscape.

Cool Nature

In this essay, an interdisciplinary group of researchers sets out to address the period 1780–1840 in Sweden in a new way, by placing nature at its centre. With the help of ecocritical and transcultural theory, combined with renewed attention to the Swedish fine arts, learned discourses, and practices, we suggest a new approach to these revolutionary decades. The perceived dissonance, the interplay between climatic conditions and cultural template in early modern and modern Sweden, has not been fully addressed in current research, despite the fact that the relationship between humankind and the environment is a central issue in contemporary society and scholarship. Representations of nature situate the nation, they negotiate the relationship between a sensed reality and an ideal, between human and more-than-human beings. We suggest a focus on the unpredictable space created by negotiations of nature in Swedish representations during this crucial period, and, furthermore, on the ways in which this creative space is charged with utopian possibilities in the early Anthropocene. This is the background and the driving force of the planned research project ‘Cool Nature: Utopian Landscapes in Sweden 1780–1840’.

Convergence of Groundwater Discharge through the Hyporheic Zone of Streams.

Significant attention has been given to hyporheic water fluxes induced by hydromorphologic processes in streambeds and the effects they have on stream ecology. However, the impact of hyporheic fluxes on regional groundwater flow discharge zones as well as the interaction of these flows are much less investigated. The groundwater-hyporheic interactive flow not only governs solute mass and heat transport in streams but also controls the retention of solute and contamination following the discharge of deep groundwater, such as naturally occurring solutes and leakage from geological waste disposal facilities. Here, we applied a physically based modeling approach combined with extensive hydrologic, geologic and geographical data to investigate the effect of hyporheic flow on groundwater discharge in the Krycklan catchment, located in a boreal landscape in Sweden. Regional groundwater modeling was conducted using COMSOL Multiphysics by considering geologic heterogeneity and infiltration constraint of the groundwater circulation intensity. Moreover, the hyporheic flow was analyzed using an exact spectral solution accounting for the fluctuating streambed topography and superimposed with the regional groundwater flow. By comparing the discharge flow fields with and without consideration of hyporheic flows, we found that the divergence of the discharge was substantially enhanced and the distribution of the travel times of groundwater was significantly shifted toward shorter times due to the presence of hyporheic flow. Particularly important is that the groundwater flow paths contract near the streambed interface due to the hyporheic flow, which leads to a phenomenon that we name "fragmentation" of coherent areas of groundwater upwelling in pinhole-shaped stream tubes.

Quantifying effects of wetland restorations on bird communities in agricultural landscapes

Restoring wetlands to improve habitats for birds has become an important conservation tool as many wetlands have deteriorated and wetland bird populations declined. To what extent such restorations are effective is not well known because surveys usually either lack data before the restoration or means of correcting for background population trends. We identified wetland restorations made in agricultural landscapes in Sweden and retrieved all available Before-After survey data of breeding birds. From the resulting heterogeneous surveys, we quantified the effectiveness of restorations for eight bird groups comprising 72 bird species from 30 wetlands. We used national survey data to correct for background population trends. We estimated that island breeder populations have increased by between 62 % and 315 % (95 % confidence intervals) following restorations. Deep water foragers, shallow water foragers and short meadow breeders also mainly increased following restoration. The direction of effect was uncertain for tall meadow breeders, reed breeders and predators. Shrubland breeder populations declined between −55 % and −4 % following restorations. While restoration measures seemed to generally benefit about half of the breeding wetland bird community, estimated species- and site-specific responses varied greatly and were associated with large uncertainty. Such heterogeneity in responses can arise due to biotic and abiotic interactions, varying management actions and survey methods between wetlands. Thus, to improve the effectiveness of future wetland restorations, funding bodies and environmental agencies should require standardised Before-After bird surveys at both restored and non-restored reference sites. Such improved survey designs would facilitate the development of more efficient restoration efforts.

Police officers' attitudes and practices toward harm reduction services in Sweden - a qualitative study.

Since the 1980s, Swedish drug policy has combined a restrictive zero tolerance approach with the vision of a "drug-free society". However, in recent years, access to harm reduction services has increased through local initiatives and new national guidelines. The possible success of these services may be affected in part by police drug law enforcement. The aim of this study was to explore how Swedish police officers act toward and view harm reduction services in a national drug policy setting of zero tolerance toward drug use. Applying a qualitative research design, we conducted 19 in-depth interviews with police officers who worked with drug law enforcement in Malmö. We conducted a qualitative textual analysis of the data. Officers largely supported harm reduction services and refrained from overtly enforcing drug laws in their vicinity. Officers engaged in boundary work that assigned the responsibility of care of marginalized people who use drugs (PWUD) to the health care system, while including policing of drug market problems, young PWUD and dealers in their own jurisdiction. Opioid substitution treatment was seen as positive, although diversion of medicines was pointed out as a problem. Needle exchange programs were seen as offering important public health services and a no-go zone for the police. Several officers wanted to carry naloxone on duty but requested more information about its use. The general support among police officers for harm reduction services is an indication of a changing drug policy landscape in Sweden. Drug policy should take police officers' views into consideration and there is a need for collaboration between police and harm reduction services. Further research should focus on how the police conduct boundary work since police actions may impact on the success of harm reduction services.

Subsidized Common Agricultural Policy grazing jeopardizes the protection of biodiversity and Natura 2000 targeted species

AbstractIn Europe, Natura 2000 sites should protect threatened target species and networks of habitats. The management of Natura 2000 grasslands is often financed by subsidized grazing as part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). We studied the extent of CAP grazing for Natura 2000 management and how this affects a butterfly target species (the marsh fritillary) and floral resources. Based on extensive capture‐mark‐release studies from 2 years in >550 ha grid cells in a 225 km2landscape in Sweden that includes 15 Natura 2000 sites, we compared marsh fritillary occurrence probabilities and population densities in ungrazed and CAP‐grazed habitats. Moreover, we analyzed how nectar resources and orchids were affected by CAP grazing based on plants records from 2347 sample plots. We estimated the proportion of butterfly habitats that were CAP‐grazed within and outside Natura 2000 sites. In total, 10 453 and 4417 butterflies were marked in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The grid cell occurrence probability was 1.8 times higher and the population density was 2.3 times higher in ungrazed compared with CAP‐grazed habitats in 2017, and the corresponding numbers for 2019 were 10 and 5.3 times higher, respectively. The number of flowering plants were on average 6.9 times higher and the density of orchids was 12.3 times higher in ungrazed habitats. Roughly, 30% (130 ha) of the marsh fritillary habitat was CAP grazed, and 97% of this grazing occurred within protected areas, of which 111 ha was situated within Natura 2000 area where the marsh fritillary is the target species. Alarmingly, we show that intense yearly CAP grazing, which is the dominant management strategy in all Natura 2000 sites, has devastating consequences for the target species and other aspects of biodiversity. Less intense management, which would benefit biodiversity, requires changes in the CAP, to allow more flexible payments for habitat management objectives and conservation of target species.

Mapping Archeological Signs From Airborne Lidar Data Using Deep Neural Networks: Primary Results

– Complexity of large-scale Airborne LIDAR data: its processing, and interpretation emerges the necessity of automated analysis with novel techniques. – Detection and documentation of archaeological ruins, hidden in the forests of the Swedish landscape.