Future management of Laisriver Brown trout

The life history and coexistence of subpopulations of brown trout in the same drainage area are relatively well known. The three forms of trout; sea-run, lake-run and resident, can all be present in the same location at some period of their life cycle, e.g. during the parr stage or at spawning. Despite the presence of all three forms, mostly the sea-run strategy is targeted in management actions from fishery organizations. Commonly this is done by compensatory stocking, even though the survival and fate of stocked individuals are not fully understood. This study investigates the fate of two groups of brown trout in the Laisriver in northern Sweden; stocked sea-run hatchery-reared juveniles and wild adult trout. This was done by tagging and tracking using acoustic telemetry during 2019 and 2020 to 2021. In addition, a genetic comparison of the adult trout with a genetic baseline for the whole Vindelriver system. My results indicate that survival of stocked hatchery-reared juvenile trout is low and that wild adult trout in Laisriver is from a common origin with a genetic profile partly unique to Laisriver and that they can adopt both resident and anadromous life histories. The home range size for the adult trout that has adopted a resident life history reached over 80 km including both stream sections and lakes but was limited to the Laisriver only. My conclusion is that future management actions should aim on enhancing the resident trout stock rather than stocks assumed to be purely sea-run. I suggest that this should be done by habitat restoration measures and improved fishing regulations to protect the important large trout individuals. Finally, I highlight the need for future monitoring of movement patterns of adult trout to increase the knowledge which will lead to further improved management actions in the future

The effect of restorations for insects in the riparian habitat

Flottningen har varit en dominerande del av transporten för skogsråvara sedan skogsindustrierna började växa fram under mitten av 1800-talet. Trots att flottningen idag har upphört är effekterna fortfarande kvarvarande efter den flottledsrensning som utfördes i vattendragen. Dessa effekter påverkar de organismer som lever i och kring de påverkade vattendragen och idag genomförs alltfler restaureringsprojekt i dessa berörda vattendrag. Restaureringarna har som mål att återställa vattendragen till ett mer ursprungsliknande skick. Restaureringsarbetet utförs oftast med målen att stärka framförallt öring- och laxpopulationer. Däremot är kunskapen liten om hur insekter påverkas av restaureringen och denna fråga blir särskilt intressant med tanke på att insekterna utgör en stor del av födan för dessa fiskarter. Med hjälp av data som samlades in i fönsterfällor efter olika biflöden till Vindelälven under säsongen år 2011 analyserades sju olika insektsgrupperingar. De valdes ut med kriteriet att de var ekologisk intressanta. Resultatet visade att ingen skillnad gick att påvisa mellan insekternas numerär knutet till restaurering. Detta resultat är dock inte ovanligt i detta sammanhang där flertalet studier har kommit fram till liknande slutsatser. Däremot visade analyserna att akvatiska insekter ökade i numerär närmast vattendraget. Slutsatsen från studien visar på insekters krav på god tillgång till varierade mikrohabitat. Således blir skapandet av mikrohabitat en viktig del att inkludera vid restaureringsarbetet, om målet är att även främja insekternas numerär och artsammansättning.Timber floating has been an important part of the transport of forest resources since the birth of forest industries during the middle of the nineteenth century. Despite the timber floating has ceased, the effects from the construction of floatways still remains. These effects impacts the organisms that lives in or in relation to the water, and today several restoration projects are in progress in affected rivers. The aim for these projects is to restore the rivers back to its primordial state. The restoration projects are performed mainly with the salmonid populations in mind. However, the knowledge of how the restorations impacts the insects is scarce. This is especially an interesting question when taken into consideration that the insects constitutes a large part of the diet for these fish species. Insects data collected in window traps after different tributaries to Vindelälven during the season 2011, was analyzed with the aim to try to answer this question. Seven different insects categories was selected on the criteria that they were ecological interesting. The results showed no significant difference between the quantity of insects depending on restoration. The following results is under no means abnormal and several other studies have concluded the same result. On the contrary, the result showed that aquatic insects increased with closer distance to the river. Something that is explained by the fact that the rivers is their reproduction area. The study makes the conclusion that the access of different micro habitats is important for insects living demands. Therefore the importance to include the making of these micro habitats when restoring rivers, if the aim is to also increase the numbers and species composition of insects

The Influence of Value Statements on Affective Commitment : A case of civil servants

There has been a value-based control fad sweeping through organizations in recent years and more recently this “fad” made its foray into government agencies. A reason for this is the decline of citizen’s trust in government agencies. Value statements have been suggested as one part of the solution for this problem. Although, many have argued to what extent value statements influence the behavior of employees. Studies have shown that employees exhibit high awareness of organizational values. However, less than half of them are being said to be living the values. A reason for this may be that values are explicated through value statements with the aims and beliefs that will guide employee behavior and employees are expected to act in accordance with them even if they do not support them personally. Affective commitment is an employee’s emotional bond with the organization and is highly desirable as it holds many benefits such as increased job performance. Studies on value congruence have shown that employees who hold similar values to those of the organization can influence affective commitment. This complicates the process of value statements influencing affective commitment as value statements also are subject to deep breed cynicism. However, civil servants are rather different than employees in the private sector. Working for the public good drives them, this is known as the notion of public service motivation. This can help mitigate aspects of aimed cynicism as government agencies most often have value statements that go with the public service values of civil servants. This aspect makes civil servants an interesting group to study when it comes to affective commitment. Thus, as there was an absence of research in this area, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how civil servants awareness and use of value statements influence affective commitment. The chosen research strategy was a case study and the research was conducted by using both a deductive and inductive approach. The empirical data has been gathered through two focus groups, the first consisting of seven civil servants and the second six. Participants were strategically chosen to be able to observe differences contributed by recruitment and socialization.Results of this study show that there is a difference in the construct of awareness. Civil servants understanding the context that the values constitute tend to influence a conscious use of value statements. Relying on smart solutions to remember values, however, tend to trigger an unconscious use of value statements. The use of value statements influences affective commitment by stimulating loyalty and an interest in the future development of the organization. It was found that cynicism does not prevent the use of value statements. However, cynicism does prevent the use of value statements to influence affective commitment. It can be concluded that public-service motivation and analytical capabilities had a major role concerning civil servants use of value statements and its influence on affective commitment.Validerat; 20160608 (global_studentproject_submitter