Vesa Nivala

Effects of emissions from copper‐nickel smelters on the frost hardiness of Finns sylvestris needles in the subarctic region

It has been proposed that freezing injuries play an important role in the forest decline phenomenon. In this study, the effect of emissions from the copper-nickel smelters in Monchegorsk and Nikel-Zapolyarnyi in the Kola Peninsula, south-west Russia, on seasonal changes in the frost hardiness of Pinus sylvestris L. needles were studied. The frost hardiness of current-year needles during autumn, winter, spring and early summer in 1991-1993 was estimated by the electrolyte leakage method and by visual estimation of the proportion of damaged needles at nine sites in Finnish Lapland, at five sites in the vicinity of Monchegorsk and at two sites in Norway, in the vicinity of Nikel. The foliar S, Cu, and Ni concentrations also analysed. There were no significant differences at any time of the year between the frost hardiness of pine needles at the sites in Norway and Finnish Lapland. However, in the winter, the degree of visual damage at -45 °C, the temperature close to the lowest recorded temperature in this area, was slightly higher at the sites near to Nikel than at the sites in Finnish Lapland. In the Kola Peninsula the frost hardiness was consistently lower at the sites located 10 km to the south and 36 km to the south-west of Monchegorsk than at the other sites (48-110 km to the south-west). The differences were greatest in early June, 1991, when frost hardiness was -2 °C and -8°C at the sites closest to Monchegorsk. At the same time, the frost hardiness at the other sites was e.-20 °C. There were slight differences between years, but the trends were the same. A clearly increasing gradient in the S, Cu and Ni concentrations was observed on moving towards the emission point source at Monchegorsk. Highly elevated concentrations were found within 40 km of the smelter. The results suggest that air pollutants from the copper-nickel smelter have predisposed the pines to freezing injuries, rhus contributing to forest decline in the Kola Peninsula.

A method for assessing ecological values to reconcile multiple land use needs

We present a new method for ecologically sustainable land use planning within multiple land use schemes. Our aims were (1) to develop a method that can be used to locate important areas based on their ecological values; (2) to evaluate the quality, quantity, availability, and usability of existing ecological data sets; and (3) to demonstrate the use of the method in Eastern Finland, where there are requirements for the simultaneous development of nature conservation, tourism, and recreation. We compiled all available ecological data sets from the study area, complemented the missing data using habitat suitability modeling, calculated the total ecological score (TES) for each 1 ha grid cell in the study area, and finally, demonstrated the use of TES in assessing the success of nature conservation in covering ecologically valuable areas and locating ecologically sustainable areas for tourism and recreational infrastructure. The method operated quite well at the level required for regional and local scale planning. The quality, quantity, availability, and usability of existing data sets were generally high, and they could be further complemented by modeling. There are still constraints that limit the use of the method in practical land use planning. However, as increasing data become available and open access, and modeling tools improve, the usability and applicability of the method will increase.

Alueellinen metsähaketase vuonna 2030

Anttila P., Nivala V., Salminen O., Hurskainen M., Kärki J., Lindroos T.J., Asikainen A. (2018). Alueellinen metsähaketase vuonna 2030. Metsätieteen aikakauskirja 2018-9999. Tutkimusseloste. 3 s. https://doi.org/10.14214/ma.9999 Yhteystiedot 1Luonnonvarakeskus (Luke), Tuotantojärjestelmät, Joensuu; 2 Luonnonvarakeskus (Luke), Biotalous ja ympäristö, Rovaniemi; 3 Luonnonvarakeskus (Luke), Biotalous ja ympäristö, Helsinki; 4 Teknologian tutkimuskeskus VTT Oy, Luonnonvaraja ympäristöratkaisut, Jyväskylä; 5 Teknologian tutkimuskeskus VTT Oy, Älykäs teollisuus ja energiajärjestelmät, Espoo Sähköposti perttu.anttila@luke.fi Hyväksytty 04.05.2018 Seloste artikkelista Anttila P., Nivala V., Salminen O., Hurskainen M., Kärki J., Lindroos T.J., Asikainen A. (2018). Regional balance of forest chip supply and demand in Finland in 2030. Silva Fennica vol. 52 no. 2 article id 9902. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.9902

Effects of bedrock and surficial deposit composition on moose damage in young forest stands in Finnish Lapland

There is evidence that moose are attracted to fertile growth habitats apparently due to better quality and larger quantities of food. The nutrients in mineral soils originate from the weathering of bedrock and the composition of parental bedrock affects the fertility of produced mineral soil, thus affecting also the import of nutrients into the whole food web. We surveyed the connection between moose damage in forest plantations and the composition of bedrock and surficial deposits in Finnish Lapland. We used a database of compensated moose damage in private forests in years 1997−2010. Undamaged stands in National Forest Inventories (NFI) from years 1986–2008 served as a control data and moose-damaged NFI-stands as a reference data. Bedrock and surficial depositions and the location of studied stands in relation to ancient shorelines were explored by using the digital databases of the Geological Survey of Finland. Moose-damaged stands were concentrated in southwestern and east Lapland in the areas of the Peräpohja Schist Belt and Lapland’s Greenstone Belt that are both composed of nutrient-rich rocks. The bedrock of damaged stands contained a higher proportion of mafic and alkaline rocks than did the control stands. Moose-damaged stands were pine-dominated and grew in more fertile forest sites than did control stands. Part of pine stands probably located in soils formerly occupied by spruce, which may increase the stands’ vulnerability to biotic threats. Especially, there were relatively more moose damage in pine plantations regenerated on fine-grained mineral soils derived from nutrient rich rocks than in less fertile soils.