Understanding the responses of species and ecosystems to human-induced global environmental change has become a high research priority. The main aim of this thesis was to investigate how certain environmental factors that relate to global change affect European aspen (Populus tremula), a keystone species in boreal forests, and hybrid aspen (P. tremula × P. tremuloides), cultivated in commercial...

The ecological consequences of biodiversity have become a prominent public issue. Little is known on the effect of genetic diversity on ecosystem services. Here, a diversity experiment was established with European and North American aspen (Populus tremula, P. tremuloides) planted in plots representing either a single deme only or combinations of two, four and eight demes. The goals of this stu...

Studies on the durability and dimensional stability of a series of hardwoods and softwoods after thermal modification in vegetable oils and in steam atmospheres have been performed. Mass loss after exposure to Coniophora puteana (BAM Ebw.15) for 16 weeks was very low for European birch, European aspen, Norway spruce, and Scots pine thermally modified in a linseed oil product with preservative (...

We conducted a study of natural variation in functional leaf traits and herbivory in 116 clones of European aspen, Populus tremula L., the Swedish Aspen (SwAsp) collection, originating from ten degrees of latitude across Sweden and grown in a common garden. In surveys of phytophagous arthropods over two years, we found the aspen canopy supports nearly 100 morphospecies. We identified significan...

to evaluate the nutritive value in some lignocellulosic materials, 3 sets of experiments were conducted on aspen, and grape woods. to enhance the digestibility, the woods were treated with 5% naoh. throughout the first trial, chemical composition and digestibility coefficients of dry matter, organic matter and ndf of experimental feeds, ph of rumen, as well as palatability were evaluated while ...

Aspen has been declining in Jackson Hole for many years, a condition generally attributed to the fact that lightning fires have been aggressively suppressed since the early 1900s. It is also believed that burning will successfully regenerate aspen stands despite high elk numbers. To test this hypothesis, I evaluated 467 burned and 495 adjacent, unburned aspen stands at eight different locations...