Sustainable production systems and the management of natural resources

One of SLU's strengths

"SLU leads a national program which is laying the scientific foundations for new adaptive management systems for game and fish resources in Sweden.
 
SLU is also involved in successful research on the effects of herbivores on forest ecosystem processes and biodiversity, as well as on the population dynamics of predators and on how the benefits of various conservation methods can be optimized in forest landscapes.
 
In addition, analysis tools are being developed within SLU’s interdisciplinary program, Heureka, in order to improve the multipurpose use of forest landscapes.
 
Sustainable forestry and agriculture are dependent on effective, environmentallyfriendly pest control. SLU is involved in world-leading research on the sensory systems of insects with direct applications to chemical ecology, the domestication of micro-organisms for biological control and plant diseases, and the interactions between plants and mycorrhiza.
 
SLU’s internationally recognized resistance biology research combines molecular genetics-based model systems with a knowledge of pest species found in commercial production systems.
 
SLU researchers have found that plants can utilize organic forms of nitrogen. This has revolutionized views of the role of plants in the nitrogen cycle, and created new possibilities for a replacement of conventional fertilizers with more environmentally friendly products.
 
Within the area of sustainable plant nutrition, different applications have been investigated as to how growing systems influence the release of nutrients within large-scale and small-scale cultivation, as well as how plant nutrients can be recycled using minimal resources and with minimized nitrogen and phosphate leaching into lakes and oceans.

(From The Life Sciences and Knowledge for a Sustainable Future, pdf)