  The thesis focuses on different aspects of radio pulsars: on the one hand it
describes research on the pulsar emission mechanism (nulling, drifting
subpulses, single-pulse polarisation and their mutual interaction). On the
other it gives an account of investigations into the evolution of the pulsar
population as a whole (birthrates, velocities, magnetic field evolution) and
possible ways to probe this population (simulations of upcoming pulsar
surveys).
