Climate warming and land-use changes drive broad-scale floristic changes in Southern Sweden.

Land-use changes, pollution and climate warming during the 20th century have caused changes in biodiversity across the world. However, in many cases, the environmental drivers are poorly understood. To identify and rank the drivers currently causing broad-scale floristic changes in N Europe, we analysed data from two vascular plant surveys of 200 randomly selected 2.5 × 2.5 km grid-squares in Scania, southernmost Sweden, conducted 1989-2006 and 2008-2015, respectively, and related the change in frequency (performance) of the species to a wide range of species-specific plant traits. We chose traits representing all plausible drivers of recent floristic changes: climatic change (northern distribution limit, flowering time), land-use change (light requirement, response to grazing/mowing, response to soil disturbance), drainage (water requirement), acidification (pH optimum), nitrogen deposition and eutrophication (N requirement, N fixation ability, carnivory, parasitism, mycorrhizal associations), pollinator decline (mode of reproduction) and changes in CO2 levels (photosynthetic pathway). Our results suggest that climate warming and changes in land-use were the main drivers of changes in the flora during the last decades. Climate warming appeared as the most influential driver, with northern distribution limit explaining 30%-60% of the variance in the GLMM models. However, the relative importance of the drivers differed among habitat types, with grassland species being affected the most by cessation of grazing/mowing and species of ruderal habitats by on-going concentration of both agriculture and human population to the most productive soils. For wetland species, only pH optimum was significantly related to species performance, possibly an effect of the increasing humification of acidic water bodies. An observed relative decline of mycorrhizal species may possibly be explained by decreasing nitrogen deposition resulting in less competition for phosphorus. We found no effect of shortage or decline of pollinating lepidopterans and bees.

Herbivory on calcicolous lichens: different food preferences and growth rates in two co-existing land snails.

A total of 32 calcicolous lichen species, one alga and one bryophyte were recorded on a limestone wall in the grassland Great Alvar on the Baltic island of Öland, Sweden. Fourteen (41%) of these 34 species and free-living cyanobacteria showed herbivore damage, most probably due to grazing by the land snails Chondrina clienta and Balea perversa which inhabited the limestone wall. Three laboratory experiments were conducted to examine the food preferences of individuals of C. clienta and B. perversa collected at this site and to evaluate any association between their preference and the net food quality of the lichens to the snails. Chondrina clienta and B. perversa exhibited food preferences, which differed significantly between species. Within species, variation in food choice was similar among individuals. This indicates that snail populations may be composed of polyphagous individuals with similar food preferences. Different lichen species were of different net food quality to the snails as indicated by growth rate differences. In both snail species the most preferred lichen species of the choice experiment caused the largest weight increase in juveniles, viz. Caloplaca flavovirescens for C. clienta and Aspicilia calcarea for B. perversa. This suggest that the snail species studied differ in their abilities to deal with secondary compounds and physical characteristics of certain lichens or that they can utilize the energy and nutrients of these lichens to a different extent. It is suggested that differential food preferences might reduce the intensity of interspecific competition for resources (lichens) between C. clienta and B. perversa.

Blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors among treated hypertensives in Swedish primary health care.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate antihypertensive treatment and other cardiovascular risk factors in primary health care. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of consecutive patients with treated hypertension in 1999. SETTING: 17 primary care centres in Sweden. SUBJECTS: 512 patients (mean age 67; SD 11 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Antihypertensive treatment, cardiovascular risk factors. RESULTS: Patients with high diastolic BP (> or = 100 mmHg) and systolic BP (> 180 mmHg) values were few. The proportions with diastolic BP < 90, BP < 160/95 and < 140/90 mmHg were 64%, 54% and 15%. Mono-therapy was given in 51%, and > or = 3 drugs in 13%. Hypertensives with hyperlipidaemia were 42%, and only 26% of them were given lipid-lowering drugs, mainly statins, 21%. Smokers were 10%, 23% had diabetes, and many had overweight BMI = 25 kg/m2, 72%. CONCLUSION: Although two-thirds had diastolic BP < 90 mmHg, few had BP below the current treatment target < 140/90 mmHg. More than half of the hypertensives had at least one additional cardiovascular risk factor, and these hypertensives also had low proportions within several current treatment targets of hypertension and hyperlipidaemia, implying a need for intensified multiple risk factor intervention.