Search results for "boreaalinen"

Ecology, environmental requirements and conservation of corticioid fungi occupying small diameter dead wood

2016

The increasing human impact upon the biosphere of earth is causing profound changes across all spatial scales. The ability to cope with human-induced disturbance varies among organisms; specialist species are more negatively affected than generalist species. Forests are among the most heavily affected ecosystems; especially the dead wood associated organisms are in peril. The earlier research has strongly focused on large diameter dead wood and associated species. The aim of this thesis was to investigate small diameter dead wood and collect systematic information about species richness and abundance as well as habitat and substrate preferences of associated corticioid fungi. Fungal data wa…

Spatial and temporal variation in denitrification and in the denitrifier community in a boreal lake

2011

We investigated the spatial and temporal variation in denitrification rates (isotope-­pairing technique, IPT) and in the denitrifier community (examination of gene nirK by denaturing-gradient gel electrophoresis [DGGE] of microbial DNA) in the sediments of a boreal, clear-water, eutrophic lake using samples collected from shallow littoral, deep littoral and shallow profundal ­sediments during early summer, mid-summer, autumn and winter. The measured denitrification rates (44 to 613 µmol N m−² d−¹) are among the lowest ever reported from lacustrine sediments. Denitri­fi­cation rates varied both spatially and temporally, being highest in the profundal zone during mid-­summer and in the littor…

Spatial and temporal variation in denitrification and in the denitrifier community in a boreal lake

2011

We investigated the spatial and temporal variation in denitrification rates (isotopepairing technique, IPT) and in the denitrifier community (examination of gene nirK by denaturinggradient gel electrophoresis [DGGE] of microbial DNA) in the sediments of a boreal, clear-water, eutrophic lake using samples collected from shallow littoral, deep littoral and shallow profundal sediments during early summer, mid-summer, autumn and winter. The measured denitrification rates (44 to 613 μmol N m−2 d−1) are among the lowest ever reported from lacustrine sediments. Denitri fi - cation rates varied both spatially and temporally, being highest in the profundal zone during midsummer and in the littoral z…

Biotic homogenization of forest bird communities under human influence

2018

Human actions impact biodiversity worldwide. Specialist species are particularly sensitive to environmental degradation whereas generalists may even benefit from habitat changes. As a consequence, specialists are declining while generalists are increasing and, therefore, communities become more similar. This phenomenon is known as biotic homogenization. In boreal forests logging and forest management is the most important factor changing the native habitat. In this thesis I studied if human actions are homogenizing boreal forest bird communities. I further studied if protected areas can maintain their diversity and, thus, prevent homogenization. Through the individual studies, biodiversity …

Influence of littoral periphyton on whole-lake metabolism relates to littoral vegetation in humic lakes

2017

The role of littoral habitats in lake metabolism has been underrated, especially in humic lakes, based on an assumption of low benthic primary production (PP) due to low light penetration into water. This assumption has been challenged by recent recognition of littoral epiphyton dominance of whole-lake PP in a small highly humic lake and of epiphyton as an important basal food source for humic lake biota. However, as these studies have mostly concerned single lakes, there is a need to test their wider generality. We studied the whole-lake PP and community respiration (CR) in eight small humic lakes in southern Finland during July 2015 using 14C incorporation to measure pelagic PP and the ch…

Disentangling the effects of methanogen community and environment on peatland greenhouse gas production by a reciprocal transplant experiment

2020

Northern peatlands consist of a mosaic of peatland types that vary spatially and temporally and differ in their methane (CH4) production. Microbial community composition and environment both potentially control the processes that release carbon from anoxic peat either as CH4 or carbon dioxide (CO2), a less potent greenhouse gas than CH4. However, the respective roles of these controls remain unclear, which prevents incorporating microbes in the predictions of peatland CH4 emissions. 2.Here, a reciprocal transplant experiment was carried out to separate the influences of microbial community and environment in CH4 and anaerobic CO2 production. Peat from an acidic Sphagnum bog and a sedge fen …

Future supply of boreal forest ecosystem services is driven by management rather than by climate change

2022

Forests provide a wide variety of ecosystem services (ES) to society. The boreal biome is experiencing the highest rates of warming on the planet and increasing demand for forest products. To foresee how to maximize the adaptation of boreal forests to future warmer conditions and growing demands of forest products, we need a better understanding of the relative importance of forest management and climate change on the supply of ecosystem services. Here, using Finland as a boreal forest case study, we assessed the potential supply of a wide range of ES (timber, bilberry, cowberry, mushrooms, carbon storage, scenic beauty, species habitat availability and deadwood) given seven management regi…

Overwintering strategies of a boreal small mammal in a changing climate

2015

Littoral energy pathways in highly humic boreal lakes

2017

Littoral zones in lakes are among the most productive habitats in the world, but have been seriously understudied, as most limnological studies have concerned only pelagic habitats. The likely importance of littoral zones in clear lakes is widely acknowledged, but in contrast their role in dystrophic humic lakes has generally been assumed to be minor. In this thesis, littoral importance in whole-lake metabolism was studied in small and highly humic lakes in Southern Finland, where Lake Mekkojärvi was the principal study lake. Primary production (PP) measurements revealed that littoral periphyton, growing on surrounding aquatic vegetation, can dominate the whole-lake PP, and the highly autot…

Applicability and consequences of the integration of alternative models for CO2 transfer velocity into a process-based lake model

2019

Freshwater lakes are important in carbon cycling, especially in the boreal zone where many lakes are supersaturated with the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) and emit it to the atmosphere, thus ventilating carbon originally fixed by the terrestrial system. The exchange of CO2 between water and the atmosphere is commonly estimated using simple wind-based parameterizations or models of gas transfer velocity (k). More complex surface renewal models, however, have been shown to yield more correct estimates of k in comparison with direct CO2 flux measurements. We incorporated four gas exchange models with different complexity into a vertical process-based physico-biochemical lake model, MyLak…