Resilience and vulnerability of northern regions to social and environmental change

The arctic tundra and boreal forest were once considered the last frontiers on earth because of their vast expanses remote from agricultural land-use change and industrial development. These regions are now, however, experiencing environmental and social changes that are as rapid as those occurring anywhere on earth. This paper summarizes the role of northern regions in the global system and provides a blueprint for assessing the factors that govern their sensitivity to social and environmental change.     

The evaluation of a low resolution fourier transform infrared (FTIR) gas analyser for monitoring of solvent emission rates under field conditions

The applicability of a low resolution (8 cm-1) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) gas analyser with an absorption path length of 3 m was evaluated for the on-line monitoring of organic solvent mixture emissions in a flexographic ink manufacturing plant. The on-line monitoring revealed that the highest variations of solvent concentrations, up to three decades, occurred in the exhaust air. The FTIR analyser with a dynamic range of four decades covers well the concentration ranges typically found in the exhaust air and in the workroom air of ink manufacturing plants. The average emission rate of solvent mixture based on a sampling period of two days was 1.8 kg h-1 consisting of mainly ethanol (70%), ethyl acetate (15%) and propan-2-ol (11%). The detection limits of the analyser for the solvent compounds ranged from 0.3 to 4.3 mg m-3 and the measurement uncertainty was less than 10% in the concentration range of 8-15,000 mg m-3. These characteristics make the apparatus appropriate for most industrial hygiene applications. An FTIR spectrophotometer, equipped with an multipoint sampling unit, facilitates rapid identification of solvent components, real-time display of concentration data relevant to workroom air and environment monitoring as well as process control. Furthermore, the on-line concentration information enabled a rapid selection of representative sampling locations. The spectrophotometer is transportable, rugged and relatively simple to calibrate even in a hostile industrial environment.     

The history of seabird colonies and the North Water ecosystem: Contributions from palaeoecological and archaeological evidence

The North Water (NOW) polynya is one of the most productive marine areas of the Arctic and an important breeding area for millions of seabirds. There is, however, little information on the dynamics of the polynya or the bird populations over the long term. Here, we used sediment archives from a lake and peat deposits along the Greenland coast of the NOW polynya to track long-term patterns in the dynamics of the seabird populations. Radiocarbon dates show that the thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) and the common eider (Somateria mollissima) have been present for at least 5500 cal. years. The first recorded arrival of the little auk (Alle alle) was around 4400 cal. years bp at Annikitsoq, with arrival at Qeqertaq (Salve Ø) colony dated to 3600 cal. years bp. Concentrations of cadmium and phosphorus (both abundant in little auk guano) in the lake and peat cores suggest that there was a period of large variation in bird numbers between 2500 and 1500 cal. years bp. The little auk arrival times show a strong accord with past periods of colder climate and with some aspects of human settlement in the area.     

Perceived Mental Stress and Reactions in Heart Rate Variability—A Pilot Study Among Employees of an Electronics Company

In this study perceived mental stress during occupational work was compared to heart rate variability (HRV) using a traditional questionnaire and a novel wristop heart rate monitor with related software. The aim was to find HRV parameters useful for mental stress detection. We found the highest correlation between perceived mental stress with the differences between the values of triangular interpolation of rythm-to-rythm (RR) interval histogram (TINN) and the root mean square of differences of successive RR intervals (RMSSD) obtained in the morning and during the workday(r = -.73 andr = -.60, respectively). The analysis shows that as the RMSSD and TINN value differences increase from night to morning, the stress decreases.     

Analysis of Moisture Findings in the Interior Spaces of Finnish Housing Stock

ABSTRACT

A grading system was developed to rate the moisture damage profile of dwellings and to study the relationship between moisture-induced indoor air problems and occupant health. A total of 630 randomly selected houses and apartments, built between 1950 and 1989, were visually inspected. Moisture observations were standardized into three damage levels. Thus, a system to classify the homes into three grades was devised. The two grades of homes associated with the highest levels of damage were graded as index homes.

Overall, 51% of the sample had some kind of moisture fault in them and one in every three homes (33%) was classified as an index home. The mean number of damage incidents in the index dwellings varied from 1.4 to 2.6. The mean number of damage incidents in the reference homes was 0.28. Prevalence of index dwellings was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in houses (38%) than in apartments (26%). There was no major difference in the prevalence of index buildings in houses built in any particular decade (30-35%). Moisture was observed in 28% of bathrooms, in 10% of kitchens, and in 17% of other spaces. Indoor relative humidity (RH) levels were low in most homes.     

Triclosan,a commonly used bactericide found in human milk and in the aquatic environment in Sweden

High levels of the commonly used, effective bactericide Triclosan was found in three out of five randomly selected human milk samples. It was also found in the bile of fish exposed to municipal wastewater and in wild living fish from the receiving waters of the three wastewater treatment plants.     

Immune function, dominance and mating success in drumming male wolf spiders Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata

In this study, we provide a piece of experimental evidence that immune function is related to dominance and mating success in wild caught male wolf spiders, Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata. In the mating season, H. rubrofasciata males are actively searching for receptive females, and while searching males often engage in agonistic behavior (i.e., agonistic drumming signals, chases, and fights) with each other. The present results demonstrate that dominant males had higher lytic activities in their hemolymph than subordinates. Lytic activity estimates the concentration of antimicrobial peptides with lysozyme-like activity in hemolymph, which have been shown to play an important role in defense against bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Dominants also had higher courtship drumming rates than subordinates. Moreover, winners in mating competition had higher lytic activities than losers, but this was measured nonindependently of dominance status. Among males with mating failure, there was a moderate negative correlation between encapsulation rate and courtship drumming rate, suggesting that low quality males might not be able to bear the immunological costs of courtship behavior. These results suggest that females might gain immunological benefits by preferring vigorous males.     

Invertebrates and Boreal Forest Management

Logging has ecological effects on invertebrates in Fennoscandian boreal forest. Especially affected are species associated with micro-habitats of natural old-growth forest, such as coarse woody debris, large deciduous trees, and patches of wet swamp-forest. Furthermore, the effective control of forest fires has adversely affected many species that require burned substrates. Although old-growth specialists tend to disappear from clear-cuts, local invertebrate species richness (α-diversity) may increase as forest generalists persist and numerous open-habitat species appear. This seems true at least for taxa (e.g., ground-beetles and spiders) that are not directly associated with the characteristic micro-habitats of old growth mentioned above. However, at the landscape or biogeographical scale intensive logging tends to homogenize forest habitats and lead to declines of sensitive species. Based on these findings three complementary approaches appear useful for the maintenance of boreal biodiversity while harvesting timber. (1) Undisturbed old-growth forests must be set aside to sustain specialist species and to serve as sources for recolonization. (2) Because these reserves are not, and will probably not be, large and regionally representative enough, ecologically sound silvicultural practices must be developed using natural disturbance regimes as guidelines. (3) Restoration of habitats and the process of natural regeneration through fire is imperative for the recovery of associated species assemblages. However, the process of recovery presupposes that colonists are available, which may not always be the case.     

A method for facilitating the use of algae growing on tree trunks as bioindicators of air quality

The abundance of epiphytic green algae has been observed to correlate strongly with air quality in several studies. In contrast to lichens, the abundance of green algae is difficult to measure accurately by visual observation. A new method based on photography and digital image processing was developed to estimate the chlorophyll content of algae growing on the bark of pine. Calibration data for the method was collected from polluted areas by spectrophotometric analysis of chlorophyll density.