Combining spatial prioritization and expert knowledge facilitates effectiveness of large-scale mire protection process in Finland

Conservation resource allocation involves a complex set of considerations including species, habitats, connectivity, local to global biodiversity objectives, alternative protection and restoration actions, while requiring cost-efficiency and effective implementation. We present a national scale spatial conservation prioritization analysis for complementing the network of protected mires in Finland. We show how spatial prioritization coupled with regional targets and expert knowledge can facilitate structured decision-making. In our application, discussion between experts was structured around the prioritization model enabling integration of quantitative analysis with expert knowledge. The u…

The impact of weather and the phase of the rodent cycle on breeding populations of waterbirds in Finnish Lapland

Climate change may affect bird populations both directly by changing the weather conditions, and indirectly through changes in the food chain. While both theoretical and empirical studies have shown climate change having drastic impacts on polar areas, its consequences on Arctic bird species are still poorly known. Here we investigated how weather and changes in predator–prey interactions affected the annual growth rates of sub-Arctic birds by monitoring the breeding numbers of three duck and seven wader species in the alpine tundra of Finnish Lapland during 2005–2015 (except for 2006). We hypothesized that growth rates of waterbirds would be positively associated with warm and dry weather …

National high-resolution conservation prioritisation of boreal forests

The continuous decline of forest biodiversity highlights the importance of the development of cost-effective and ecologically sustainable land-use planning approaches. Spatial conservation prioritisation (SCP) can be regarded as a useful tool for this challenge. We produced high-resolution, national scale SCP analyses to identify unprotected forest areas that host valuable forest biodiversity. We used stand-based modelled dead wood potential (DWP) data as a primary surrogate for conservation value. In addition, data on forestry operations that have negative impacts on biodiversity, connectivity between forest areas, the observations of red-listed forest species, connectivity to forest habit…

Suomen metsät tarvitsevat toimivia monimuotoisuuskarttoja ja menetelmät päivityksiä – Vastine Kankaalle ja Mehtätalolle

Data from: The dual role of rivers in facilitating or hindering movements of the false heath fritillary butterfly

Background: Species movement responses to landscape structures have been studied using a variety of methods, but movement research is still in need of simple methods that help predicting and comparing movements across structurally different landscapes. We demonstrate how habitat-specific movement models can be used to disentangle causes of differentiated movement patterns in structurally different landscapes and to predict movement patterns in altered and artificial landscapes. In our case study, we studied the role of riparian landscapes to the persistence of the endangered false heath fritillary butterfly (Melitaea diamina) in its newly discovered coastal distribution region in Finland. W…

Datapackage for national high-resolution conservation prioritisation of boreal forests

This data package concerns the following work: Ninni Mikkonen, Niko Leikola, Joona Lehtomäki, Panu Halme, Atte Moilanen, National high-resolution conservation prioritisation of boreal forests, Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 541, 2023, 121079 ISSN 0378-1127 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121079 The overall objective of the work was to develop spatial prioritizations that can assist the forest conservation programme METSO (The Finnish Government 2008; 2014) to make well-informed decisions about acquisition of forests for protection. The results are also aimed to be useful for other actors interested in forest conservation or biodiversity friendly forest management. We focused th…

Spatial conservation prioritization of Finnish forests for more sustainable land use planning

Accelerating use of natural resources causing harmful impacts on biodiversity, together with limited resources for conservation, highlight the importance of developing cost-effective, ecologically sustainable land use planning approaches. In Finland, a recent conservation project “METSO - Forest Biodiversity Programme for Southern Finland” tackles the challenge of integrating conservation with sustainable forestry to halt the decline in forest species and habitats. A core element in METSO is the spatial conservation prioritization of forests to supplement the current protected area network, based on concepts of complementarity, and voluntarity. These analyses pave way towards new practices …