Articles containing the keyword 'flora'

Abundant snowfalls and thick snow cover influence forest ecology mainly in two ways. Snow loading increases the number of damaged stems, which increases the amount of decay in stems, in its turn important for many animals. Second, the ground remains unfrozen under the snow cover, which is of crucial importance for many perennial species of ground vegetation. These winter phenomena also have influenced the early Finnish culture as man in his everyday life in the wilderness was in close contact with nature. In this paper, ecological interactions between snow conditions, forest flora, fauna and early culture are discussed mainly with reference to the province of Uusimaa in Southern Finland.

• Solantie, E-mail: rs@mm.unknown

The article is a literature review focusing on the reaction of soil respiration, litter decomposition and microflora of forest soils to various pollutants like acidic deposition, heavy metals and unusual high amounts of basic cations. There is a great deal of evidence indicating that environmental pollution affects soil microbial activity and community structure. Much of the data originates from experimental designs where high levels of pollutants were applied to the soil under field or laboratory conditions. Furthermore, many were short-term experiments designed to look for large effects. These experiments have an indicative value, but it has to be kept in mind that environmental pollution is a combination of many pollutants, mostly at low concentrations, acting over long periods of time. There is therefore consequently a demand for research performed in natural forest environments polluted with anthropogenic compounds. 

• Fritze, E-mail: hf@mm.unknown

The Lauhavuori area is barren, consisting of sandstone and granite bedrock covered by coarse moraine and sand. The woodlands are dominated by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Calluna. The top of the hill, rising 230 metres above the sea level, is more fertile, as it was never covered by the ancient Baltic Sea. Numerous springs and spring brooks are bordered by herb-rich Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) woodlands and swamps. Although most of the peatlands are oligotrophic, several mesotrophic peatland plants occur, some southern, giving the peatlands a rather northerly character.

The study area is 8 by 12 km. According to the vegetation analysis, 310 species were identified, 208 of which were native to the area and 102 immigrants. The native species can be separated from the immigrants because the area is largely undisturbed.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Suominen, E-mail: js@mm.unknown
• Varkki, E-mail: av@mm.unknown

The Sinivuori Nature Park, located in the northeast part of the county of Häme in Southern Finland represents the rare fertile forest lands in the country, and belong partly to the so-called centre of herb‐rich forests of Häme. Sinivuori is one of the smallest nature reserves in Finland (64 ha). The detailed vegetation analysis was performed in 1969, supplemented by earlier and later observations. The area was divided into 69 one-hectare squares for the study of the flora and vegetation.

The most common rock in the park is mica schist. The pH of the soil is relatively high, in average 6.6. Thermal-time sum is 1,100–1,200. The vegetation differs to a large extent from the surrounding areas. 169 vascular plants were found in the area, some of which very rare in the area. The paper lists the plants and their abundance in the area, and the vegetation is described by the forest types. Distribution maps are presented for the species.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Rutanen, E-mail: kr@mm.unknown

The 4.4 km² sized area of Rokua is a sandy ridge situated in the transitional zone between Central and Northern Finland. It has been suggested to become a new national park due to its, in the area unique landscape and geological characteristics.

The vegetation of the area has been little studied. A vegetation analysis was performed in 1945, 1947 and 1949. Due to low nutrients in the sandy soil, the number of species is relatively low, including 236 vascular plants. The climate is continental. Lichen covering of soil in the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) dominated forests is mostly intact compared to the more northern areas, because grazing of reindeer has been little. Fellings have increased in the surrounding areas of the planned national park. The article includes a detailed description of vegetation and flora in the area.

The article includes a summary in German.

• Jalas, E-mail: jj@mm.unknown

Metsähallitus (Forest Service) decided to protect two areas around Hiisijärvi lake in Eastern Finland already in 1916. Later, a natural park was suggested to be established in the area. A survey of the vegetation in the area was composed in 1931-1932. The total land area of the protected area was 3.5 km³. A vegetation map was drawn based on a nature inventory. A detailed description of the forest site types, peatland types, aquatic flora and the vegetation of the area are included in the article. The calcareous soil promotes rich vegetation. Typical for the area are also rich fens. The area can be divided to a eutrophic and a oligotrophic part.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Brandt, E-mail: ab@mm.unknown

The study is based on pollen analyses of varves collected from Kivennapa area. The varves contain the plant fossils of Dryas sp., which were the typical plants of the era. Geological samples form the Russia side of the border are also utilized. The study describes the results regarding the late-glacial forests and the vegetation that consist mostly of Dryas sp. and the climate in the area in the late-glacial era.

The late-glacial era in the Karelian Isthmus should be divided into two periods and better named as glacial and subglacial eras, also known as arctic and subarctic eras. 

The PDF contains a summary in Finnish.

• Hyyppä, E-mail: eh@mm.unknown

The article begins on the page 82/122 of the PDF file.

The article is a travel report of the author’s travel from Helsinki to north of Finland. Alongside the description of the travel arrangements, it contains observations about the vegetation of the destinations they visited. The observations are divided into section of “spruce region”, “pine region” and “fjeld region”. 

• Norrlin, E-mail: jn@mm.unknown

The article begins on the page 27/122 of the PDF file.

The first part of the text deals with a general presentation of the geographical, biological and cultural conditions of the studied areas. The second part presents the characteristics of vegetation classified according the forest types, with lists of species. Forested areas, open lands and swampy areas are dealt with separately. The Saoneshje peninsula is presented separately.

The third part of the text discusses the similarities of the natural conditions between studied area and respective part of Finland. The vegetation and amount of species is clearly more diverse in studied area than in parts of middle-Finland. The study shows that in respect to vegetation Onega-Karelia cannot be seen as a part of the same region than Finland.  

• Norrlin, E-mail: jn@mm.unknown

The article begins on the page 8/122 of the PDF file.

Data for this paper have been collected during years between 1859 and 1862 in the communes of Asikkala, Hollola, Padasjoki, Lammi and Koski. 

The first part of the text deals with a general presentation of the geographical, biological and cultural conditions of the studied areas. The second part presents the vegetation according their habitats; they are classified by the degree of moisture. The last is further classified as forested areas or open lands. The examination concentrates on phanerogams (seed plants).   

The characteristics of vegetation of forests, open lands and paludified places (swampy or swamp forming places) are presented with the most influential characters and lists of species.   

• Norrlin, E-mail: jn@mm.unknown

For the purpose of defining the area and borders of former Littorina-sea (littorine stage of development of the Baltic) in Finland, the subfossil diatoms are a proof. During the year 1916 there were clay samples collected among the river Pyhäjoki, from the places that are presumably above and below the Littorina sea border. The examination of the samples showed that at six of them there contained no fossils, and four of them had only one kind of them.  After this pre-examination 46 samples more were collected from the similar spots than the ones where the diatom fossils were found. This article presents the preliminary results of the project defining the borders of the Littorina-sea. The places of discovery of the diatom fossils are described.

The fossils in Ostrobothnia are rich of diatom flora. The most commonly occurred species were e.g. Epithemia turgida and Gyrosigma attenuatum. The half of the total number of the species are found in only five samples; most species feature only in few samples, if not in only one sample.

The article presents minimum levels of Littorina-sea as preliminary results. 

• Backman, E-mail: ab@mm.unknown
• Cleve-Euler, E-mail: ac@mm.unknown

The paper deals with the ground vegetation of the barren coniferous forests of Åland Islands and seeks to describe its special vegetation characters with general features. The study is based on data collected during summers from 1918-1922 on Åland Islands.  Work presents the forest types of Åland Islands classified according Cajander (1909) with their typical species.

The Ålandian coniferous forests seem to have a low number of species. This is because they are mostly old and closed, and have been developing for a long time without human induced disturbances from outside. Some changes have occurred due to forest fires. There is very few traces of non-native species in the forests. If some are found, they have not been able to regenerate or distribute widely.   

• Palmgren, E-mail: ap@mm.unknown

Microcatchment water harvesting (MCWH) improved the survival and growth of planted trees on heavy soils in eastern Kenya five to six years after planting. In the best method, the cross-tied furrow microcatchment, the mean annual increment (MAI; based on the average biomass of living trees multiplied by tree density and survival) of the total and usable biomass of Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. were 2,787 and 1,610 kg ha^-1 a^-1 respectively, when the initial tree density was 500 to 1,667 trees per hectare. Based on survival, the indigenous Acacia horrida Span., A. mellifera (Vahl) Benth. and A. zanzibarica (S. Moore) Taub. were the most suitable species for planting using MCWH. When both survival and the yield were considered, a local seed source of P. Juliflora was superior to all other species. The MAI in MCWH was at best distinctly higher than that in the natural vegetation (163–307 and 66–111 kg ha^-1 a^-1 for total and usable biomass respectively); this cannot satisfy the fuelwood demand of concentrated populations, such as towns or irrigation schemes.

The density of seeds of woody species in the topsoil was 40.1 seeds/m² in the Acacia-Commiphora bushland and 12.6 seeds/m² in the zone between the bushland and the Tana riverine forest. Rehabilitation of woody vegetation using the soil seed bank alone proved difficult due to the lack of seeds of desirable species.

The regeneration and dynamics of woody vegetation were also studied both in cleared and undisturbed bushland. A sub-type of Acacia-Commiphora bushland was identified as Acacia reficiens bushland, in which the dominant Commiphora species is C. campestris. Most of the woody species did not have even-aged population but cohort structures that were skewed towards young individuals. The woody vegetation and the status of soil nutrients were estimated to recover in 15–20 years on Vertic Natrargid soils after total removal of above-ground vegetation.

• Kaarakka, E-mail: vk@mm.unknown