No evidence of systematic pre-emptive loggings after notifying landowners of their lands’ conservation potential

Landowners can intentionally impair biodiversity values occurring on their land to pre-empt biodiversity protection. This often leads to significant negative effects on biodiversity. We studied whether landowners in Finland engaged in pre-emptive loggings after they were notified that their wooded mires are candidate sites for a mire protection program. After the notification, harvesting rates of the candidate wooded mires were significantly lower compared to harvesting rates of similar but non-candidate wooded mires. Annual and monthly harvesting rates indicated that notifying landowners of the conservation potential did not launch systematic pre-emptive logging behavior. Nevertheless, part of the candidate wooded mires were logged, so some landowners place more weight on other values than the biodiversity ones. Pre-emptive behavior has been observed in other studies suggesting that many country- or system-specific factors such as cultural background or level of compensation can affect landowners’ behavior.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01354-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Study of organochlorine pollutants in snow at North Pole and comparison to the snow at north, central and south Finland

Organic pollutants, especially polychlorinated hydrocarbons, phenols, guaiacols and catechols have been studied by analyses of snow samples from North Pole, May 1984. All of these pollutants were below the limit of determination which was estimated to be as fallout 0.1–0.05 μg/m² for individual compounds. For comparison, snow samples from Central Finland and South Finland 1983–1985 also showed non-detectable levels of chlorinated hydrocarbons but well measurable levels of chlorophenol compounds which were significantly higher at urban (heavy traffic) than rural and higher at South than Central Finnish places, respectively. One sample from Lapland, North Finland 1985, however, had no measurable amounts of chlorophenols like the North Pole sample.     

Toward Integrative Management Advice of Water Quality, Oil Spills, and Fishery in the Gulf of Finland: A Bayesian Approach

Understanding and managing ecosystems affected by several anthropogenic stressors require methods that enable analyzing the joint effects of different factors in one framework. Further, as scientific knowledge about natural systems is loaded with uncertainty, it is essential that analyses are based on a probabilistic approach. We describe in this article about building a Bayesian decision model, which includes three stressors present in the Gulf of Finland. The outcome of the integrative model is a set of probability distributions for future nutrient concentrations, herring stock biomass, and achieving the water quality targets set by HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. These distributions can then be used to derive the probability of reaching the management targets for each alternative combination of management actions.     

Combining Conservation Value,Vulnerability, and Effectiveness of Mitigation Actions in Spatial Conservation Decisions: An Application to Coastal Oil Spill Combating

Increasing oil transportation and severe oil accidents in the past have led to the development of various sensitivity maps in different countries all over the world. Often, however, the areas presented on the maps are far too large to be safeguarded with the available oil combating equipment and prioritization is required to decide which areas must be safeguarded. While oil booms can be applied to safeguard populations from a drifting oil slick, decision making on the spatial allocation of oil combating capacity is extremely difficult due to the lack of time, resources and knowledge. Since the operational decision makers usually are not ecologists, a useful decision support tool including ecological knowledge must be readily comprehensible and easy to use. We present an index-based method that can be used to make decisions concerning which populations of natural organisms should primarily be safeguarded from a floating oil slick with oil booms. The indices take into account the relative exposure, mortality and recovery potential of populations, the conservation value of species and populations, and the effectiveness of oil booms to safeguard different species. The method has been implemented in a mapping software that can be used in the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) for operational oil combating. It could also be utilized in other similar conservation decisions where species with varying vulnerability, conservational value, and benefits received from the management actions need to be prioritized.     

A synthesis of the impacts of ditch network maintenance on the quantity and quality of runoff from drained boreal peatland forests

Drained peatlands are an important source of forest biomass in boreal regions and ditch network maintenance (DNM) operations may be needed to restore the drainage functions of ditches. By reviewing the available literature, as well as utilizing an existing hydrological model and analyzing the characteristics of eroded sediments, we assessed the impacts of DNM on runoff and exports of suspended solids (SS), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P). In general, DNM had minor impact on runoff and dissolved N and P, and it decreased rather than increased DOC exports. To increase the understanding of the hydrochemical impacts of DNM, future research should focus on the characteristics of SS and particulate nutrient exports. A major gap in knowledge is also the very limited regional representativeness of the available studies. High erosion risk in the ditches reaching the mineral soil below peat should be acknowledged when planning mitigation measures.     

CO2 capture from coal-fired power plants based on sodium carbonate slurry; a systems feasibility and sensitivity study

In this work the feasibility of a CO₂ capture system based on sodium carbonate–bicarbonate slurry and its integration with a power plant is studied. The results are compared to monoethanolamine (MEA)-based capture systems. Condensing power plant and combined heat and power plant with CO₂ capture is modelled to study the feasibility of combined heat and power plant for CO₂ capture.Environmental friendly sodium carbonate would be an interesting chemical for CO₂ capture. Sodium carbonate absorbs CO₂ forming sodium bicarbonate. The low solubility of sodium bicarbonate is a weak point for the sodium carbonate based liquid systems since it limits the total concentration of carbonate. In this study the formation of solid bicarbonate is allowed, thus forming slurry, which can increase the capacity of the solvent. With this the energy requirement of stripping of the solvent could potentially be around 3.22 MJ/kg of captured CO₂ which is significantly lower than with MEA based systems which typically have energy consumption around 3.8 MJ/kg of captured CO₂.Combined heat and power plants seem to be attractive for CO₂ capture because of the high total energy efficiency of the plants. In a condensing power plant the CO₂ capture decreases directly the electricity production whereas in a combined heat and power plant the loss can be divided between district heat and electricity according to demand.     

Fetal granulocytes in maternal venous blood detected by in situ hybridization

Fetal male cells from maternal venous blood were detected by a non-radioactive in situ hybridization method using the biotinylated Y-specific DNA probe pY431. The hybridizations were performed on Ficoll-Paque-isolated nucleated blood cells obtained from 11 pregnant women in the seventh to 31st week of gestation. A Y-specific signal was detected in both granulocytes and lymphocyte-like cells in seven of the 11 women studied. These women gave birth to boys. In one of the four remaining cases, a Y-specific signal was detected in the lymphocyte-like cells but not in the granulocytes. This woman gave birth to a girl. The other three women had no cells with a Y-specific signal and all three gave birth to girls. Altogether, 83 500 nucleated cells were analysed. One hundred and three cells showed a Y-specific signal. Of these Y-specific cells, 62 per cent were granulocytes and 38 per cent lymphocyte-like cells. Our results suggest that fetomaternal transfer of granulocytes is common and that it occurs as early as in the seventh week of gestation. None of the ten non-pregnant female control samples showed positive cells with the Y-chromosome-specific probe; approximately 97 per cent of the cells from the five adult male controls showed a Y-specific signal. Our results indicate that in situ hybridization using a Y-specific DNA probe performed on granulocytes in maternal blood can be used for fetal male sex determination.     

Human dietary intake of organochlorines from Baltic herring: implications of individual fish variability and fisheries management

This study examines the extent to which Finnish human dietary intake of organochlorines (PCDD/Fs and PCBs) originating from Northern Baltic herring can be influenced by fisheries management. This was investigated by estimation of human intake using versatile modeling tools (e.g., a herring population model and a bioenergetics model). We used a probabilistic approach to account for the variation in human intake of organochlorines originating from the variation among herring individuals. Our estimates were compared with present precautionary limits and recommendation for use. The results show that present consumption levels and frequencies of herring give a high probability of exceeding recommended intake limits of PCDD/Fs and PCBs. Furthermore, our results clearly demonstrate that in the risk management of dioxinlike organochlorines, regulating fishing (in this case increasing fishing pressure) is a far less effective way to decrease the risk than regulating the consumption of herring. Increased fishing would only slightly decrease organochlorine concentrations of herring in the Finnish fish market.     

Ditch network maintenance in peat-dominated boreal forests: Review and analysis of water quality management options

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of different water management options to mitigate sediment and nutrient exports from ditch network maintenance (DNM) areas in boreal peatland forests. Available literature was reviewed, past data reanalyzed, effects of drainage intensity modeled, and major research gaps identified. The results indicate that excess downstream loads may be difficult to prevent. Water protection structures constructed to capture eroded matter are either inefficient (sedimentation ponds) or difficult to apply (wetland buffers). It may be more efficient to decrease erosion, either by limiting peak water velocity (dam structures) or by adjusting ditch depth and spacing to enable satisfactory drainage without exposing the mineral soil below peat. Future research should be directed towards the effects of ditch breaks and adjusted ditch depth and spacing in managing water quality in DNM areas.     

Involving Stakeholders in Building Integrated Fisheries Models Using Bayesian Methods

A participatory Bayesian approach was used to investigate how the views of stakeholders could be utilized to develop models to help understand the Central Baltic herring fishery. In task one, we applied the Bayesian belief network methodology to elicit the causal assumptions of six stakeholders on factors that influence natural mortality, growth, and egg survival of the herring stock in probabilistic terms. We also integrated the expressed views into a meta-model using the Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method. In task two, we used influence diagrams to study qualitatively how the stakeholders frame the management problem of the herring fishery and elucidate what kind of causalities the different views involve. The paper combines these two tasks to assess the suitability of the methodological choices to participatory modeling in terms of both a modeling tool and participation mode. The paper also assesses the potential of the study to contribute to the development of participatory modeling practices. It is concluded that the subjective perspective to knowledge, that is fundamental in Bayesian theory, suits participatory modeling better than a positivist paradigm that seeks the objective truth. The methodology provides a flexible tool that can be adapted to different kinds of needs and challenges of participatory modeling. The ability of the approach to deal with small data sets makes it cost-effective in participatory contexts. However, the BMA methodology used in modeling the biological uncertainties is so complex that it needs further development before it can be introduced to wider use in participatory contexts.