ISSN 1239-6095 (print),   ISSN 1797-2469 (online)
© Boreal Environment Research 2008

Contents of Volume 13 Number 1

Heino, J. & Toivonen, H. 2008: Aquatic plant biodiversity at high latitudes: patterns of richness and rarity in Finnish freshwater macrophytes. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 1–14.
Abstract
Full text (pdf format)

Pekka, L., Halmeenpää, H., Ecke, F., Vuori, K.-M., Mokrotovarova, O., Öhlander, B. & Ingri, J. 2008: Assessing pollution in the Kola River, northwestern Russia, using metal concentrations in water and bryophytes. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 15–30.
Abstract
Full text (pdf format)

Pudas, E., Tolvanen, A., Poikolainen, J., Sukuvaara, T. & Kubin, E. 2008: Timing of plant phenophases in Finnish Lapland in 1997–2006. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 31–43.
Abstract
Full text (pdf format)

Carlsson, R., Hæggström, C.-A. & Kraufvelin, P. 2008: The vascular plant flora of shell gravel deposits on the Åland Islands, SW Finland — community structure in relation to calcium. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 45–65.
Abstract
Full text (pdf format)

Kilpeläinen, T., Tuomenvirta, H. & Jylhä, K. 2008: Climatological characteristics of summer precipitation in Helsinki during the period 1951–2000. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 67–80.
Abstract
Full text (pdf format)


Heino, J. & Toivonen, H. 2008: Aquatic plant biodiversity at high latitudes: patterns of richness and rarity in Finnish freshwater macrophytes. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 1–14.

We examined patterns, causes, and implications of freshwater macrophyte richness and rarity in Finland. The provincial richness of all macrophyte species and that of rare species showed strong declines with latitude, and this pattern did not vary between helophytes, hydrophytes, and shore plants. Aquatic mosses deviated from the patterns found for the other groups. Nationally rare species showed strong preferences for mesotrophic and eutrophic conditions, while nationally common species occurred more evenly across the whole gradient of trophic conditions. Although some species classified as rare in Finland were also rare in other regions in Europe, the majority of nationally rare species appeared to be inclined to eutrophic conditions and do well in the more southerly regions. By contrast, many species that are still common in Finland tended to be either endangered in or absent from regions further south in Europe. Such contrasting patterns of species' rarity among regions call for international evaluation in the conservation efforts for freshwater macrophyte biodiversity.
Back to the top

Pekka, L., Halmeenpää, H., Ecke, F., Vuori, K.-M., Mokrotovarova, O., Öhlander, B. & Ingri, J. 2008: Assessing pollution in the Kola River, northwestern Russia, using metal concentrations in water and bryophytes. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 15–30.

Intensive Cu-Ni and Fe mining and smelting in northwestern Russia constitutes a potential risk of pollution in the Kola River. We assessed the degree of pollution along the Kola River by means of overall water quality evaluation and analyses of metals in water samples (dissolved and particulate fractions) and aquatic mosses. The observed pollutant levels were compared with those in unpolluted reference rivers. The results indicate relatively low overall contamination in the Kola River, although Cu and Ni levels are elevated relative to the reference data. Furthermore, PCA ordination models identified clear metal concentration patterns along the river. Al, Cd, Co, Fe, Pb and Zn exhibited an almost continuous increase from the headwaters to the river mouth, whereas As, Ba, Cu, Mn, Mo and Ni showed their highest concentrations in the headwaters, close to the mining areas, relatively low concentrations in the middle parts of the river and elevated concentrations at the river mouth. Bryophyte analysis appeared to be a more sensitive tool for metal pollution assessment than metal concentrations in water.
Back to the top

Pudas, E., Tolvanen, A., Poikolainen, J., Sukuvaara, T. & Kubin, E. 2008: Timing of plant phenophases in Finnish Lapland in 1997–2006. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 31–43.

We investigated whether there were consistent changes in plant phenophases in 1997–2006 at 13 observation sites in Finnish Lapland, and whether such changes could be explained by measured climatic conditions. The phenological data were collected within the Finnish National Phenological Network organised by the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla). During the observation period, the effective temperature sum (ETS) increased on average by 17.7 day degrees/year, while the maximum snow depth decreased by 3.5 cm/year and the timing of snow melt advanced by 1.4 days/year. The spring phenophases advanced on average by 1–2 days/year in the case of most of the species studied, which resulted in a lengthening of their growth period. The autumn phenophases did not show any trends or relationships with respect to the studied climatic conditions, however. The mean May temperature and the date of snow melt explained best of all the onset of spring in the studied species.
Back to the top

Carlsson, R., Hæggström, C.-A. & Kraufvelin, P. 2008: The vascular plant flora of shell gravel deposits on the Åland Islands, SW Finland — community structure in relation to calcium. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 45–65.

Plants are referred to as calciphilic (calcicole) or acidophilic depending on their relation to lime. We censused the vascular plant flora on seven shell gravel deposits from the Littorina Age and in two reference areas with naturally high species richness on the Åland Islands, assuming that a higher proportion of calciphilic plants would be found on the shell gravel deposits than elsewhere. Both the total number of plants and the number of calciphiles showed a significant positive correlation with the calcium (Ca) concentrations of the soils, but the highest number of species and proportions of calciphilic species were not found on shell gravel, but at intermediate to high Ca-levels in areas affected by man and domestic animals. We did not observe a strong influence of Ca on the species distribution patterns, otherwise than possibly indirectly via a raised pH-value. On the contrary, the strongest explanatory environmental variable seemed to be phosphorus, P. This in turn raises further questions: Should we rather use the word alkaliphilic? Are plants Ca-dependent or Ca-tolerant? Could the whole story be about P and not Ca? When switching the analytical focus from sites to species, Ca-neutral species were on average found at more sites than moderately or strongly calciphilic species. In a species-based ordination, the calciphiles also clustered significantly differently from the Ca-neutral species, both when analysing all species simultaneously and when analysing a subset of the most widely distributed species. The exact meaning of this is hard to evaluate, but it may give a hint that many calciphiles could be poor generalists and that the Ca concentration not always was sufficiently high at all shell-gravel sites. It also demonstrates the functionality of dividing species into these four groups with regard to Ca dependency, especially if the Ca-neutral group solely consists of acidophilic species. This is also in support for a continuing use of calciphilic plants as indicators for rough assessments or initial screenings of plant diversity in applied conservation.
Back to the top

Kilpeläinen, T., Tuomenvirta, H. & Jylhä, K. 2008: Climatological characteristics of summer precipitation in Helsinki during the period 1951–2000. Boreal Env. Res. 13: 67–80.

Rainfall data, collected with a continuously-recording rain gauge in Helsinki, southern Finland, during the summers of the period 1951–2000 were used to study the climatology of the transient characteristics of summer precipitation. Despite some missing data and erroneous values, the quality of the data proved to be good. According to the observations, it typically rains 4.5% of the total time during summer, with rainfall lasting 60 minutes. Dry spells last on average 21 hours. The precipitation amount and the occurrence of moderate and heavy intensities have diurnal maxima both in the afternoon and in the morning, particularly in August. The main parts of the frequency distributions of rain event duration, dry spell duration and precipitation in a rain event could be reasonably well approximated by the sum of two exponential distributions. However, an extreme value distribution was more appropriate for the upper tails of the observed distributions.
Back to the top