Background： After their death, Scots pine trees can remain standing for decades and sometimes up to 200 years,forming long-lasting and ecologically important structures in boreal forest landscapes. Standing dead pine...Background： After their death, Scots pine trees can remain standing for decades and sometimes up to 200 years,forming long-lasting and ecologically important structures in boreal forest landscapes. Standing dead pines decay very slowly and with time develop into ‘kelo＇ trees, which are characterized by hard wood with silvery-colored appearance. These kelo trees represent an ecologically important, long lasting and visually striking element of the structure of natural pine-dominated forests in boreal Fennoscandia that is nowadays virtually absent from managed forest landscapes.Methods： We examined and mapped the amount, structural features, site characteristics and spatial distribution of dead standing pine trees over a ten hectare area in an unmanaged boreal forest landscape in the Kalevala National Park in Russian Viena Karelia.Results： The mean basal area of dead standing pine trees in the forested part of the landscape was 1.7 m^2·ha^-1 and the estimated volume 12.7 m^3·ha^-1. From the total number of standing dead pine trees 65% were kelo trees, with a basal area of 1.1 m^2·ha^-1 and volume of 8.0 m^3·ha^-1, the remainder consisting of standing dead pines along the continuum between a recently dead tree and a kelo tree. Overall, standing dead pines were distributed throughout the study area, but there was a tendency towards spatial clustering up to 〈100 m distances. Standing dead pines were most commonly situated on flat ground or in the mid slope in the local topography.In addition, standing dead pines contributed to substrate diversity also by commonly having charred wood and broken tops. Based on the presence of dead pine snags in different stage of transition from a recently dead pine to a kelo with silvery surface, it seems evident that the process of kelo recruitment was continuously in action in the studied landscape.Conclusions： Kelo trees are an omnipresent feature in natural pine-dominated forest landscapes with important contribution to forest structural and substrate diversity. Because of their longevity and extremely slow turnover dynamics and importance for biodiversity, protection of vulnerable kelo tree populations, and ensuring their continuous recruitment, should be of high priority in forest restoration and sustainable management.展开更多
Cryophenological records （i.e. observational series of freeze and breakup dates of ice） are of great importance when assessing the environmental variations in cold regions. Here we employed the extraordinarily long ...Cryophenological records （i.e. observational series of freeze and breakup dates of ice） are of great importance when assessing the environmental variations in cold regions. Here we employed the extraordinarily long observational records of river ice breakup dates and air temperatures in northern Fennoscandia to examine their interrelations since 1802. Historical observations, along with modern data, comprise the informational setting for this analysis carried out using t-test. Temperature history of April-May season was used as cli- matic counterpart for the breakup timings. Both records （temperature and breakup） showed seven sub-periods during which their local means were distinctly different relative to preced- ing and subsequent sub-periods. The starting and ending years of these sub-periods oc- curred in temporal agreement. The main findings of this study are summarized as follows： （1） the synchrony between the temperature and river ice breakup records ruled out the possibility that the changes would have occurred due to quality of the historical series （i.e. inhomoge- neity problems often linked to historical time-series）; （2） the studied records agreed to show lower spring temperatures and later river ice breakups during the 19th century, in comparison to the 20th century conditions, evidencing the prevalence of cooler spring temperatures in the study region, in agreement with the concept of the Little Ice Age （1570-1900） climate in North-West Europe; （3） the most recent sub-period demonstrate the highest spring tem- peratures with concomitantly earliest river ice breakups, showing the relative warmth of the current springtime climate in the study region in the context of the past two centuries; （4） the effects of anthropogenic changes in the river environment （e.g. construction and demolition of dams） during the 20th century should be considered for non-climatic variations in the breakup records; （5） this study emphasizes the importance of multi-centurial （i.e. historical） cryo- phenological information for highly interesting viewpoints of climate and environmental his- tory.展开更多
The drainage of peatland areas for peat extraction, agriculture or bioenergy requires affordable, simple and reliable treatment methods that can purify waters rich in particulates and dissolved organic carbon. This wo...The drainage of peatland areas for peat extraction, agriculture or bioenergy requires affordable, simple and reliable treatment methods that can purify waters rich in particulates and dissolved organic carbon. This work focused on the optimisation of chemical purification process for the direct dosage of solid metal salt coagulants. It investigated process requirements of solid coagulants and the influence of water quality, temperature and process parameters on their performance. This is the first attempt to provide information on specific process requirements of solid coagulants. Three solid inorganic coagulants were evaluated： aluminium sulphate, ferric sulphate and ferric aluminium sulphate. Pre-dissolved aiuminium and ferric sulphate were also tested with the objective of identifying the effects of in-line coagulant dissolution on purification performance. It was determined that the pre-dissolution of the coagulants had a significant effect on coagulant performance and process requirements. Highest purification levels achieved by solid coagulants, even at 30% higher dosages, were generally lower （5%-30%） than those achieved by pre-dissolved coagulants. Furthermore, the mixing requirements of coagulants pre-dissolved prior to addition differed substantially from those of solid coagulants. The pH of the water samples being purified had a major influence on coagulant dosage and purification efficiency. Ferric sulphate （70 mg/L） was found to be the best performing solid coagulant achieving the following load removals： suspended solids （59%-88%）, total organic carbon （56%-62%）, total phosphorus （87%-90%）, phosphate phosphorus （85%-92%） and total nitrogen （33%-44%）. The results show that the use of solid coagulants is a viable option for the treatment of peatland-derived runoff water if solid coagulant-specific process requirements, such as mixing and settling time, are considered.展开更多
Purpose:The purpose of this study is to develop and compare model choice strategies in context of logistic regression.Model choice means the choice of the covariates to be included in the model.Design/methodology/appr...Purpose:The purpose of this study is to develop and compare model choice strategies in context of logistic regression.Model choice means the choice of the covariates to be included in the model.Design/methodology/approach:The study is based on Monte Carlo simulations.The methods are compared in terms of three measures of accuracy:specificity and two kinds of sensitivity.A loss function combining sensitivity and specificity is introduced and used for a final comparison.Findings:The choice of method depends on how much the users emphasize sensitivity against specificity.It also depends on the sample size.For a typical logistic regression setting with a moderate sample size and a small to moderate effect size,either BIC,BICc or Lasso seems to be optimal.Research limitations:Numerical simulations cannot cover the whole range of data-generating processes occurring with real-world data.Thus,more simulations are needed.Practical implications:Researchers can refer to these results if they believe that their data-generating process is somewhat similar to some of the scenarios presented in this paper.Alternatively,they could run their own simulations and calculate the loss function.Originality/value:This is a systematic comparison of model choice algorithms and heuristics in context of logistic regression.The distinction between two types of sensitivity and a comparison based on a loss function are methodological novelties.展开更多
Background:Increasing the use of forest harvest residues for bioenergy production reduces greenhouse emissions from the use of fossil fuels.However,it may also reduce carbon stocks and habitats for deadwood dependent ...Background:Increasing the use of forest harvest residues for bioenergy production reduces greenhouse emissions from the use of fossil fuels.However,it may also reduce carbon stocks and habitats for deadwood dependent species.Consequently,simple tools for assessing the trade-offs of alternative management practices on forest dynamics and their services to people are needed.The objectives of this study were to combine mapping and simulation modelling to investigate the effects of forest management on ecosystem services related to carbon cycle in the case of bioenergy production;and to evaluate the suitability of this approach for assessing ecosystem services at the landscape level.Stand level simulations of forest growth and carbon budget were combined with extensive multi-source forest inventory data across a southern boreal landscape in Finland.Stochastic changes in the stand age class distribution over the study region were simulated to mimic variation in management regimes.Results:The mapping framework produced reasonable estimates of the effects of forest management on a set of key ecosystem service indicators:the annual carbon stocks and fluxes of forest biomass and soil,timber and energy-wood production and the coarse woody litter production over a simulation period 2012–2100.Regular harvesting,affecting the stand age class distribution,was a key driver of the carbon stock changes at a landscape level.Extracting forest harvest residues in the final felling caused carbon loss from litter and soil,particularly with combined aboveground residue and stump harvesting.It also reduced the annual coarse woody litter production,demonstrating negative impacts on deadwood abundance and,consequently,forest biodiversity.Conclusions:The refined mapping framework was suitable for assessing ecosystem services at the landscape level.The procedure contributes to bridging the gap between ecosystem service mapping and detailed simulation modelling in boreal forests.It allows for visualizing ecosystem services as fine resolution maps to support sustainable land use planning.In the future,more detailed models and a wider variety of ecosystem service indicators could be added to develop the method.展开更多
Water covers most of the Earth’s surface and is nowhere near a good ecological or recreational state in many areas of the world.Moreover,only a small fraction of the water is potable.As climate change-induced extreme...Water covers most of the Earth’s surface and is nowhere near a good ecological or recreational state in many areas of the world.Moreover,only a small fraction of the water is potable.As climate change-induced extreme weather events become ever more prevalent,more and more issues arise,such as worsening water quality problems.Therefore,protecting invaluable and useable drinking water is critical.Environmental agencies must continuously check water sources to determine whether they are in a good or healthy state regarding pollutant levels and ecological status.The currently available tools are better suited for stationary laboratory use,and domain specialists lack suitable tools for onsite visualisation and interactive exploration of environmental data.Meanwhile,data collection for laboratory analysis requires substantial time and significant effort.We,therefore,developed an augmented reality system with a Microsoft HoloLens 2 device to explore the visualisation of water quality and status in situ.The developed prototype visualises geo-referenced sensor measurements incorporated into the perspective of the surroundings.Any users interested in water bodies’conditions can quickly examine and retrieve an overview of water body status using augmented reality and then take necessary steps to address the current situation.展开更多
The sustainable use of renewable resources has become an important issue worldwide in the move towards a less fossil-fuel-intensive future.Mainstream method for fulfilling this aim is to increase the share of renewabl...The sustainable use of renewable resources has become an important issue worldwide in the move towards a less fossil-fuel-intensive future.Mainstream method for fulfilling this aim is to increase the share of renewable energy and materials to substitute fossil fuels and to become fully independent from fossil fuels over the long-term.However, the environmental sustainability of this endeavor has been questioned.In addition,economic and social sustainability issues are also much debated topics in this particular context.Forest resources are often thought to contribute partially to achieving a so-called ＂carbon-neutral society＂.In this review, we discuss sustainability issues of using forest biomass.We present several sustainability indicators for ecological,economic and social dimensions and discuss the issues in applying them in sustainability impact assessments（SIAs）.We also present a number of tools and methods previously used in conducting SIAs.We approach our study from the perspective of the Finnish forestry; in addition, various aspects regarding the application of SIAs in a broader context are also presented.One of the key conclusions of the study is that although sufficient data are available to measure many indicators accurately, the impacts may be very difficult to assess（e.g.impact of greenhouse gases on biodiversity） for conducting a holistic SIA.Furthermore, some indicators, such as ＂biodiversity＂, are difficult to quantify in the first place.Therefore, a mix of different methods, such as Multi-criteria Assessment, Life-cycle Assessment or Cost-Benefit Analysis, as well as different approaches（e.g.thresholds and strong/weak sustainability） are needed in aggregating the results of the impacts.SIAs are important in supporting and improving the acceptability of decision-making, but a certain degree of uncertainty will always have to be tolerated.展开更多
In managed forests,leaving retention trees during final harvesting has globally become a common approach to reconciling the often conflicting goals of timber production and safeguarding biodiversity and delivery of se...In managed forests,leaving retention trees during final harvesting has globally become a common approach to reconciling the often conflicting goals of timber production and safeguarding biodiversity and delivery of several ecosystem services.In Finland,the dominant certification scheme requires leaving low levels of retention that can benefit some specific species.However,species responses are dependent on the level of retention and the current low amounts of retention clearly do not provide the habitat quality and continuity needed for declining and redlisted forest species which are dependent on old living trees and coarse woody debris.Several factors contribute to this situation.First,the ecological benefits of the current low retention levels are further diminished by monotonous standwise use of retention,resulting in low variability of retention habitat at the landscape scale.Second,the prevailing timber-oriented management thinking may regard retention trees as an external cost to be minimized,rather than as part of an integrated approach to managing the ecosystem for specific goals.Third,the main obstacles of development may still be institutional and policy-related.The development of retention practices in Finland indicates that the aim has not been to use ecological understanding to attain specific ecological sustainability goals,but rather to define the lowest level of retention that still allows access to the market.We conclude that prevailing retention practices in Finland currently lack ecological credibility in safeguarding biodiversity and they should urgently be developed based on current scientific knowledge to meet ecological sustainability goals.展开更多
Historically,wildfires have played an important role in forest dynamics in Fennoscandia.In Finland,the annually burned area has diminished in recent decades.This has led to a decline of fire-adapted habitat types and ...Historically,wildfires have played an important role in forest dynamics in Fennoscandia.In Finland,the annually burned area has diminished in recent decades.This has led to a decline of fire-adapted habitat types and species,many of which have become red-listed.In Fennoscandia,there is a long tradition of silvicultural burnings to enhance tree regeneration.Recently,prescribed burnings have been modified for biodiversity goals following the recommendations that have emerged from ecological research.Prominent biodiversity gains can be obtained by combining sufficient retention levels with burnings.Consequently,burning and retention have been recommended by recent national red-list assessments,strategies,and forest-management guidelines,and they have been adopted in forest-certification standards in Finland.Contrary to these recommendations,the opposite development has taken place:(1)the ecological efficiency of the criterion concerning prescribed burning in the PEFC forestcertification standard has been impaired,(2)state funding to encourage private forest owners to apply prescribed burning was reduced significantly,and(3)prescribed burnings have been abandoned altogether in commercial state-owned forests.Traditional burnings with variable retention have also been partially replaced with burning of small retention-tree groups.This new method is less risky and cheaper,but its ecological benefits are questionable because small-sized fires produce much smaller areas of burned forest soil with less fire-affected wood than traditional silvicultural burnings.Generally,the widely accepted goal to increase burnings with retention appears difficult to achieve and would require stronger political will and economic support from the government.We identified several actions that could improve the weakened situation of fire-dependent biodiversity and recommend the following:(1)setting a clear goal and ensuring sufficient funding for the burnings—including restoration burnings in conservation areas—and targeting these to specific fire-continuum areas with sufficient retention to ensure the continuity of fire-affected habitats at landscape level;(2)renewing the current subsidizing policies to encourage private landowners to perform prescribed burnings in regeneration areas after final fellings,and to safeguard accidental forest-fire areas as set-asides;(3)renewing the current prescribed-burning criterion of the Finnish PEFC forest-certification standard with more ambitious ecological goals;and(4)re-introducing prescribed burnings in commercial state forests where management targets are under political steering.展开更多
Background:Protected areas(PA)are central to biodiversity,but their efficiency is challenged by human‑induced habitat loss and fragmentation.In the Fennoscandian boreal region,forestry with clearcutting is a threat to...Background:Protected areas(PA)are central to biodiversity,but their efficiency is challenged by human‑induced habitat loss and fragmentation.In the Fennoscandian boreal region,forestry with clearcutting is a threat to biodiversity causing the loss of mature forest elements and deterioration of ecological processes in forest landscapes,ultimately affecting PAs via declined structural connectivity.This paper aims to(1)determine PAs with high,red‑listed species concentrations;(2)estimate the change in forest habitat around these PAs on different spatial scales;and(3)determine if forest management intensity is higher around biologically most valuable PAs.Occurrences of red‑listed forest‑dwelling species in Finland were used to identify PAs harbouring these species and to produce site‑specific importance indices.CORINE landcover data was used as a baseline for the distribution of forests to assess the cover of clear‑cuttings from 2001 to 2019 with the Global Forest Change(GFC)data set in three buffer areas around the PAs with occurrences of red‑listed species.Results:The largest proportion of clear‑cuts occurred in 1 km and 10 km buffers around the PAs in the southern and middle boreal zones,being ca.20%.This indicates that the forest habitat is degrading fast at regional and landscape levels.On the positive side,the change in forest cover was lower around the biologically most important PAs compared to other PAs with red‑listed species.Conclusions:Open and free satellite‑data based assessments of the cover and change of forests provide reliable estimates about the rates at which mature and old‑growth forests are being converted into young managed ones in Finland mainly via clear‑cuts on different scales around PAs.The rate of clear‑cuts was lowest in adjacent buffer areas next to the most species‑rich PAs,which provides opportunities for biodiversity conservation efforts to be targeted to the remaining mature and old‑growth forests found in the vicinity of these areas.展开更多
基金the EBOR-project funded by the Academy of Finland (proj.no.276255)
文摘Background： After their death, Scots pine trees can remain standing for decades and sometimes up to 200 years,forming long-lasting and ecologically important structures in boreal forest landscapes. Standing dead pines decay very slowly and with time develop into ‘kelo＇ trees, which are characterized by hard wood with silvery-colored appearance. These kelo trees represent an ecologically important, long lasting and visually striking element of the structure of natural pine-dominated forests in boreal Fennoscandia that is nowadays virtually absent from managed forest landscapes.Methods： We examined and mapped the amount, structural features, site characteristics and spatial distribution of dead standing pine trees over a ten hectare area in an unmanaged boreal forest landscape in the Kalevala National Park in Russian Viena Karelia.Results： The mean basal area of dead standing pine trees in the forested part of the landscape was 1.7 m^2·ha^-1 and the estimated volume 12.7 m^3·ha^-1. From the total number of standing dead pine trees 65% were kelo trees, with a basal area of 1.1 m^2·ha^-1 and volume of 8.0 m^3·ha^-1, the remainder consisting of standing dead pines along the continuum between a recently dead tree and a kelo tree. Overall, standing dead pines were distributed throughout the study area, but there was a tendency towards spatial clustering up to 〈100 m distances. Standing dead pines were most commonly situated on flat ground or in the mid slope in the local topography.In addition, standing dead pines contributed to substrate diversity also by commonly having charred wood and broken tops. Based on the presence of dead pine snags in different stage of transition from a recently dead pine to a kelo with silvery surface, it seems evident that the process of kelo recruitment was continuously in action in the studied landscape.Conclusions： Kelo trees are an omnipresent feature in natural pine-dominated forest landscapes with important contribution to forest structural and substrate diversity. Because of their longevity and extremely slow turnover dynamics and importance for biodiversity, protection of vulnerable kelo tree populations, and ensuring their continuous recruitment, should be of high priority in forest restoration and sustainable management.
基金Academy of Finland,No.251441The Project of Ministry of Finance,No.GYHY200706005Kone Foundation(Finland)
文摘Cryophenological records （i.e. observational series of freeze and breakup dates of ice） are of great importance when assessing the environmental variations in cold regions. Here we employed the extraordinarily long observational records of river ice breakup dates and air temperatures in northern Fennoscandia to examine their interrelations since 1802. Historical observations, along with modern data, comprise the informational setting for this analysis carried out using t-test. Temperature history of April-May season was used as cli- matic counterpart for the breakup timings. Both records （temperature and breakup） showed seven sub-periods during which their local means were distinctly different relative to preced- ing and subsequent sub-periods. The starting and ending years of these sub-periods oc- curred in temporal agreement. The main findings of this study are summarized as follows： （1） the synchrony between the temperature and river ice breakup records ruled out the possibility that the changes would have occurred due to quality of the historical series （i.e. inhomoge- neity problems often linked to historical time-series）; （2） the studied records agreed to show lower spring temperatures and later river ice breakups during the 19th century, in comparison to the 20th century conditions, evidencing the prevalence of cooler spring temperatures in the study region, in agreement with the concept of the Little Ice Age （1570-1900） climate in North-West Europe; （3） the most recent sub-period demonstrate the highest spring tem- peratures with concomitantly earliest river ice breakups, showing the relative warmth of the current springtime climate in the study region in the context of the past two centuries; （4） the effects of anthropogenic changes in the river environment （e.g. construction and demolition of dams） during the 20th century should be considered for non-climatic variations in the breakup records; （5） this study emphasizes the importance of multi-centurial （i.e. historical） cryo- phenological information for highly interesting viewpoints of climate and environmental his- tory.
基金funded by Vapo Oy and also supported by Maa-ja Vesitekniikan tuki r.y
文摘The drainage of peatland areas for peat extraction, agriculture or bioenergy requires affordable, simple and reliable treatment methods that can purify waters rich in particulates and dissolved organic carbon. This work focused on the optimisation of chemical purification process for the direct dosage of solid metal salt coagulants. It investigated process requirements of solid coagulants and the influence of water quality, temperature and process parameters on their performance. This is the first attempt to provide information on specific process requirements of solid coagulants. Three solid inorganic coagulants were evaluated： aluminium sulphate, ferric sulphate and ferric aluminium sulphate. Pre-dissolved aiuminium and ferric sulphate were also tested with the objective of identifying the effects of in-line coagulant dissolution on purification performance. It was determined that the pre-dissolution of the coagulants had a significant effect on coagulant performance and process requirements. Highest purification levels achieved by solid coagulants, even at 30% higher dosages, were generally lower （5%-30%） than those achieved by pre-dissolved coagulants. Furthermore, the mixing requirements of coagulants pre-dissolved prior to addition differed substantially from those of solid coagulants. The pH of the water samples being purified had a major influence on coagulant dosage and purification efficiency. Ferric sulphate （70 mg/L） was found to be the best performing solid coagulant achieving the following load removals： suspended solids （59%-88%）, total organic carbon （56%-62%）, total phosphorus （87%-90%）, phosphate phosphorus （85%-92%） and total nitrogen （33%-44%）. The results show that the use of solid coagulants is a viable option for the treatment of peatland-derived runoff water if solid coagulant-specific process requirements, such as mixing and settling time, are considered.
文摘Purpose:The purpose of this study is to develop and compare model choice strategies in context of logistic regression.Model choice means the choice of the covariates to be included in the model.Design/methodology/approach:The study is based on Monte Carlo simulations.The methods are compared in terms of three measures of accuracy:specificity and two kinds of sensitivity.A loss function combining sensitivity and specificity is introduced and used for a final comparison.Findings:The choice of method depends on how much the users emphasize sensitivity against specificity.It also depends on the sample size.For a typical logistic regression setting with a moderate sample size and a small to moderate effect size,either BIC,BICc or Lasso seems to be optimal.Research limitations:Numerical simulations cannot cover the whole range of data-generating processes occurring with real-world data.Thus,more simulations are needed.Practical implications:Researchers can refer to these results if they believe that their data-generating process is somewhat similar to some of the scenarios presented in this paper.Alternatively,they could run their own simulations and calculate the loss function.Originality/value:This is a systematic comparison of model choice algorithms and heuristics in context of logistic regression.The distinction between two types of sensitivity and a comparison based on a loss function are methodological novelties.
基金supported by Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation through the grant “Coupling carbon sequestration of forests and croplands with ecosystem service assessments”(decision No. 201700251)LIFE+financial instrument of the European Union (LIFE12 ENV/FI/000409, MONIMET)+1 种基金the Academy of Finland Strategic Research Council project (SRC 2017/312559 IBC-CARBON)supported by the Academy of Finland through the grant “Trade-offs and synergies in land-based climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation”(decision No. 322066)
文摘Background:Increasing the use of forest harvest residues for bioenergy production reduces greenhouse emissions from the use of fossil fuels.However,it may also reduce carbon stocks and habitats for deadwood dependent species.Consequently,simple tools for assessing the trade-offs of alternative management practices on forest dynamics and their services to people are needed.The objectives of this study were to combine mapping and simulation modelling to investigate the effects of forest management on ecosystem services related to carbon cycle in the case of bioenergy production;and to evaluate the suitability of this approach for assessing ecosystem services at the landscape level.Stand level simulations of forest growth and carbon budget were combined with extensive multi-source forest inventory data across a southern boreal landscape in Finland.Stochastic changes in the stand age class distribution over the study region were simulated to mimic variation in management regimes.Results:The mapping framework produced reasonable estimates of the effects of forest management on a set of key ecosystem service indicators:the annual carbon stocks and fluxes of forest biomass and soil,timber and energy-wood production and the coarse woody litter production over a simulation period 2012–2100.Regular harvesting,affecting the stand age class distribution,was a key driver of the carbon stock changes at a landscape level.Extracting forest harvest residues in the final felling caused carbon loss from litter and soil,particularly with combined aboveground residue and stump harvesting.It also reduced the annual coarse woody litter production,demonstrating negative impacts on deadwood abundance and,consequently,forest biodiversity.Conclusions:The refined mapping framework was suitable for assessing ecosystem services at the landscape level.The procedure contributes to bridging the gap between ecosystem service mapping and detailed simulation modelling in boreal forests.It allows for visualizing ecosystem services as fine resolution maps to support sustainable land use planning.In the future,more detailed models and a wider variety of ecosystem service indicators could be added to develop the method.
基金supported by the Freshwater Competence Centre,Academy of Finland(Decision No.345008)the Nordic University Cooperation on Edge Intelligence(Grant No.168043).
文摘Water covers most of the Earth’s surface and is nowhere near a good ecological or recreational state in many areas of the world.Moreover,only a small fraction of the water is potable.As climate change-induced extreme weather events become ever more prevalent,more and more issues arise,such as worsening water quality problems.Therefore,protecting invaluable and useable drinking water is critical.Environmental agencies must continuously check water sources to determine whether they are in a good or healthy state regarding pollutant levels and ecological status.The currently available tools are better suited for stationary laboratory use,and domain specialists lack suitable tools for onsite visualisation and interactive exploration of environmental data.Meanwhile,data collection for laboratory analysis requires substantial time and significant effort.We,therefore,developed an augmented reality system with a Microsoft HoloLens 2 device to explore the visualisation of water quality and status in situ.The developed prototype visualises geo-referenced sensor measurements incorporated into the perspective of the surroundings.Any users interested in water bodies’conditions can quickly examine and retrieve an overview of water body status using augmented reality and then take necessary steps to address the current situation.
基金supported by the research project“Sustainable,climate-neutral and resource-efficient forest-based bioeconomy”funded by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland(Council(Decision No.293380)
文摘The sustainable use of renewable resources has become an important issue worldwide in the move towards a less fossil-fuel-intensive future.Mainstream method for fulfilling this aim is to increase the share of renewable energy and materials to substitute fossil fuels and to become fully independent from fossil fuels over the long-term.However, the environmental sustainability of this endeavor has been questioned.In addition,economic and social sustainability issues are also much debated topics in this particular context.Forest resources are often thought to contribute partially to achieving a so-called ＂carbon-neutral society＂.In this review, we discuss sustainability issues of using forest biomass.We present several sustainability indicators for ecological,economic and social dimensions and discuss the issues in applying them in sustainability impact assessments（SIAs）.We also present a number of tools and methods previously used in conducting SIAs.We approach our study from the perspective of the Finnish forestry; in addition, various aspects regarding the application of SIAs in a broader context are also presented.One of the key conclusions of the study is that although sufficient data are available to measure many indicators accurately, the impacts may be very difficult to assess（e.g.impact of greenhouse gases on biodiversity） for conducting a holistic SIA.Furthermore, some indicators, such as ＂biodiversity＂, are difficult to quantify in the first place.Therefore, a mix of different methods, such as Multi-criteria Assessment, Life-cycle Assessment or Cost-Benefit Analysis, as well as different approaches（e.g.thresholds and strong/weak sustainability） are needed in aggregating the results of the impacts.SIAs are important in supporting and improving the acceptability of decision-making, but a certain degree of uncertainty will always have to be tolerated.
文摘In managed forests,leaving retention trees during final harvesting has globally become a common approach to reconciling the often conflicting goals of timber production and safeguarding biodiversity and delivery of several ecosystem services.In Finland,the dominant certification scheme requires leaving low levels of retention that can benefit some specific species.However,species responses are dependent on the level of retention and the current low amounts of retention clearly do not provide the habitat quality and continuity needed for declining and redlisted forest species which are dependent on old living trees and coarse woody debris.Several factors contribute to this situation.First,the ecological benefits of the current low retention levels are further diminished by monotonous standwise use of retention,resulting in low variability of retention habitat at the landscape scale.Second,the prevailing timber-oriented management thinking may regard retention trees as an external cost to be minimized,rather than as part of an integrated approach to managing the ecosystem for specific goals.Third,the main obstacles of development may still be institutional and policy-related.The development of retention practices in Finland indicates that the aim has not been to use ecological understanding to attain specific ecological sustainability goals,but rather to define the lowest level of retention that still allows access to the market.We conclude that prevailing retention practices in Finland currently lack ecological credibility in safeguarding biodiversity and they should urgently be developed based on current scientific knowledge to meet ecological sustainability goals.
文摘Historically,wildfires have played an important role in forest dynamics in Fennoscandia.In Finland,the annually burned area has diminished in recent decades.This has led to a decline of fire-adapted habitat types and species,many of which have become red-listed.In Fennoscandia,there is a long tradition of silvicultural burnings to enhance tree regeneration.Recently,prescribed burnings have been modified for biodiversity goals following the recommendations that have emerged from ecological research.Prominent biodiversity gains can be obtained by combining sufficient retention levels with burnings.Consequently,burning and retention have been recommended by recent national red-list assessments,strategies,and forest-management guidelines,and they have been adopted in forest-certification standards in Finland.Contrary to these recommendations,the opposite development has taken place:(1)the ecological efficiency of the criterion concerning prescribed burning in the PEFC forestcertification standard has been impaired,(2)state funding to encourage private forest owners to apply prescribed burning was reduced significantly,and(3)prescribed burnings have been abandoned altogether in commercial state-owned forests.Traditional burnings with variable retention have also been partially replaced with burning of small retention-tree groups.This new method is less risky and cheaper,but its ecological benefits are questionable because small-sized fires produce much smaller areas of burned forest soil with less fire-affected wood than traditional silvicultural burnings.Generally,the widely accepted goal to increase burnings with retention appears difficult to achieve and would require stronger political will and economic support from the government.We identified several actions that could improve the weakened situation of fire-dependent biodiversity and recommend the following:(1)setting a clear goal and ensuring sufficient funding for the burnings—including restoration burnings in conservation areas—and targeting these to specific fire-continuum areas with sufficient retention to ensure the continuity of fire-affected habitats at landscape level;(2)renewing the current subsidizing policies to encourage private landowners to perform prescribed burnings in regeneration areas after final fellings,and to safeguard accidental forest-fire areas as set-asides;(3)renewing the current prescribed-burning criterion of the Finnish PEFC forest-certification standard with more ambitious ecological goals;and(4)re-introducing prescribed burnings in commercial state forests where management targets are under political steering.
基金supported by funding provided by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment(Evaluating the protected area network in the changing climate,SUMI,and the Finnish Ecosystem Observatory,FEO)the Strategic Research Council(SRC)at the Academy of Finland(Decision No 312559).
文摘Background:Protected areas(PA)are central to biodiversity,but their efficiency is challenged by human‑induced habitat loss and fragmentation.In the Fennoscandian boreal region,forestry with clearcutting is a threat to biodiversity causing the loss of mature forest elements and deterioration of ecological processes in forest landscapes,ultimately affecting PAs via declined structural connectivity.This paper aims to(1)determine PAs with high,red‑listed species concentrations;(2)estimate the change in forest habitat around these PAs on different spatial scales;and(3)determine if forest management intensity is higher around biologically most valuable PAs.Occurrences of red‑listed forest‑dwelling species in Finland were used to identify PAs harbouring these species and to produce site‑specific importance indices.CORINE landcover data was used as a baseline for the distribution of forests to assess the cover of clear‑cuttings from 2001 to 2019 with the Global Forest Change(GFC)data set in three buffer areas around the PAs with occurrences of red‑listed species.Results:The largest proportion of clear‑cuts occurred in 1 km and 10 km buffers around the PAs in the southern and middle boreal zones,being ca.20%.This indicates that the forest habitat is degrading fast at regional and landscape levels.On the positive side,the change in forest cover was lower around the biologically most important PAs compared to other PAs with red‑listed species.Conclusions:Open and free satellite‑data based assessments of the cover and change of forests provide reliable estimates about the rates at which mature and old‑growth forests are being converted into young managed ones in Finland mainly via clear‑cuts on different scales around PAs.The rate of clear‑cuts was lowest in adjacent buffer areas next to the most species‑rich PAs,which provides opportunities for biodiversity conservation efforts to be targeted to the remaining mature and old‑growth forests found in the vicinity of these areas.
