The water footprint by the Water Footprint Network (WF) is an ambitious tool for measuring human ... more The water footprint by the Water Footprint Network (WF) is an ambitious tool for measuring human appropriation and promoting sustainable use of fresh water. Using recent case studies and examples from water-abundant Fennoscandia, we consider whether it is an appropriate tool for evaluating the water use of forestry and forest-based products. We show that aggregating catchment level water consumption over a product life cycle does not consider fresh water as a renewable resource and is inconsistent with the principles of the hydrologic cycle. Currently, the WF assumes that all evapotranspiration (ET) from forests is a human appropriation of water although ET from managed forests in Fennoscandia is indistinguishable from that of unmanaged forests. We suggest that ET should not be included in the water footprint of rain-fed forestry and forestbased products. Tools for sustainable water management should always contextualize water use and water impacts with local water availability and environmental sensitivity.
Fine roots (<2 mm) are very dynamic and play a key rol... more Fine roots (<2 mm) are very dynamic and play a key role in forest ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling and accumulation. We reviewed root biomass data of three main European tree species European beech, (Fagus sylvatica L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) and Scots ...
Significant amounts of organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are accumulated in soil in boreal fore... more Significant amounts of organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are accumulated in soil in boreal forests. However, increased concern has been shown regarding the negative impacts of forestry operations on both the C sequestration and N stocks in soil. Changes in the C and N stocks in woody debris, forest floor and mineral soil (0–20 cm) were studied in Eastern Finland for 10 years after stem-only clear-cutting followed by soil harrowing. Samples were taken from the uncut forest and from the different microsites formed by the harrowing (ridges, furrows and undisturbed areas). Carbon and N from logging residues were not incorporated into the forest floor or mineral soil stocks to any great extent. After 5 years the C stock above the mineral soil was smaller (< 20%) in the treated area than in the uncut forest and after 10 years it was < 50% smaller. The corresponding N stock was marginally larger (< 5%) after 5 years, but smaller (< 20%) after 10 years. In the mineral soil the...
In boreal areas where forestry extends to drained peatlands, erosion and sediment transport from ... more In boreal areas where forestry extends to drained peatlands, erosion and sediment transport from ditch networks are among the most harmful effects of forestry. To explore and quantify the initial bank erosion processes at their source area, topography of a 3.8-metre-long section of a newly cleaned ditch bank was measured at different times with a pin meter. The risk of erosion in the ditch bank was increased by generating elevated water table conditions using artificial irrigation. Erosion and soil deposition were estimated by calculating the changes in the bank topography between the sequential measurements. The total erosion was 41 kg m(-1) within the studied stretch. The eroded material was deposited at the bottom of the ditch and exposed to transportation only later during greater discharge events. The pin meter was found to be a workable device for detecting the erosion-induced changes (1-15 cm) in the ditch dimensions.
Red wood ant (Formica rufa group) mounds release high amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). As red woo... more Red wood ant (Formica rufa group) mounds release high amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). As red wood ants and other invertebrates living in mounds are poikilothermal organisms, their metabolism and therefore CO 2 emissions are affected by changes in temperature. Thus, seasonal or diurnal changes in air temperature could affect CO2 emissions from mounds. We found that seasonal mound CO2 emissions and air temperature were correlated, both peaking in mid-summer. In contrast, diurnal CO2 emissions and air temperature were inversely correlated, as we observed highest C fluxes during the night when air temperature was lowest. This CO2 emission pattern can likely be explained by higher metabolic rates of ants resulting from their clustering, and increased numbers of ants in the mound when outside air temperature drops at night. Changes in microbial decomposition of mound organic matter or thermal convection of warm CO 2-rich mound air to the colder surface at night likely do not play a major...
The wood ants are very important for boreal forest ecosystems. They substantially affect soil pro... more The wood ants are very important for boreal forest ecosystems. They substantially affect soil properties, both in their nests and in the nest surroundings. In this study we focused especially on changes in soil pH and activity of microorganisms. Samples were taken from eight ant nests in each of the two types of forest, both in eastern Finland. Samples were taken at four sampling locations, i. e., from the bottom of the nest, the top, the rim and the control (> 3m from each nest). Soil respiration, pH, water content and organic matter content were measured. Soil respiration was higher in ant nests, although there was lower moisture. This could be explained by the import of easily available substances in prey and honeydew into the nest. pH values were higher in ant nests. This is most probably caused by enhanced contents of basic cations that are usually found in ant nests. Differences in organic matter content were found between individual nest sampling locations, which could be ...
Clear-cutting has been observed to generally increase leaching and element exports to adjacent wa... more Clear-cutting has been observed to generally increase leaching and element exports to adjacent watercourses. Most studies on the effects of clear-cutting on nutrient export in north European boreal forests have been short-term and were carried out in the 1970s and 1980s when forestry practices were different from those of today. Nowadays clear-cut areas are smaller, soil preparation methods are lighter (less soil disturbance), and buffer zones are left along watercourses. Several hundred thousand hectares of forests are clear-cut and soils are scarified before regeneration operations in Fennoscandia, but little is known of the long-term impacts of the current methods on the surface water quality. We studied the long-term (14 years) effects of clear-cutting and site preparation on runoff (mm) and the export of total nitrogen (total N), total organic nitrogen (TON), ammonium (NH4-N), nitrate (NO3-N), total phosphorus (total P), phosphate (PO4-P), total organic carbon (TOC) and suspend...
To clarify the association of the occurrence and density of ant mounds (Formica rufa group and ot... more To clarify the association of the occurrence and density of ant mounds (Formica rufa group and other mound-building ants) with forest habitat attributes, such as stand structure and successional stage, we reanalyzed the data of the third Finnish National Forest Inventory from 1951-1953. Mound occurrence (presence vs. absence) on the sample plots was highest in medium-rich and medium-dense spruce- and
lappalainen, m., Kukkonen, J. v. K., Piirainen, s, sarjala, t., setälä, h., Koivusalo, h., Finér,... more lappalainen, m., Kukkonen, J. v. K., Piirainen, s, sarjala, t., setälä, h., Koivusalo, h., Finér, l. & laurén, a. 2013: nitrogen release in decomposition of boreal mor and peat as affected by enchytraeid worms. Boreal Env. Res. 18: 00–00. Mor, slightly decomposed peat and highly decomposed peat, two soil types of each, were incubated for 154 days in the laboratory at +15 °C with and without enchytraeid worms, which functionally are the most influential faunal group in boreal forests. We quantified the release rates of organic and inorganic nitrogen (N) in dissolved and extractable forms from decomposing organic matter and explored the effects of enchytraeid worms on the release rates. About 80% of the dissolved N was released in the form of NH 4 + -N, except in mor without worms and in slightly decomposed peat with and without worms, where the net release from soil solution was in the form of dissolved organic N (DON). The majority of DON was in the high molecular weight fraction. I...
Peatlands have been drained for forestry extensively in Finland since 1950's, but nowadays th... more Peatlands have been drained for forestry extensively in Finland since 1950's, but nowadays the drainage is shifted from the initial ditching to the ditch network maintenance, which refers to the cleaning of existing ditches and to the digging of complementary ditches in the drained areas. Ditch maintenance operations lead to sediment load that is considered to be among the most harmful environmental effects of forestry. Excess sediment loads cause adverse effects to the receiving waters and their ecosystems in terms of increased turbidity, which reduces primary production, and siltation, which ruins the spawning grounds of fish. To understand the underlying mechanisms behind the sediment load at the source areas, a field experiment was conducted for studying the bank erosion of a newly cleaned ditch. That was done on a shallow peated area with fine textured mineral subsoil (sandy loam) since such areas are assessed to have the greatest risk for sediment load generation. Bank ero...
Finer, L. & Nieminen, M. 1997. Dry mass and the amounts of nutrients in understorey vegetation be... more Finer, L. & Nieminen, M. 1997. Dry mass and the amounts of nutrients in understorey vegetation before and after fertilization on a drained pine bog. Silva Fennica 31(4): 391-400.
The Science of the total environment, Jan 15, 2009
Temporal trends in stream water total organic carbon (TOC) concentration and export were studied ... more Temporal trends in stream water total organic carbon (TOC) concentration and export were studied in 8 forested headwater catchments situated in eastern Finland. The Seasonal Kendall test was conducted to identify the trends and a mixed model regression analysis was used to describe how catchment characteristics and hydrometeorological variables (e.g. precipitation, air and stream water temperatures, and atmospheric deposition) related to the variation in the concentration and export of stream water TOC. The 8 catchments varied in size from 29 to 494 ha and in the proportion of peatland they contained, from 8 to 70%. Runoff and TOC concentration were monitored for 15-29 years (1979-2006). Trends and variation in TOC levels were analysed from annual and seasonal time series. Mean annual TOC concentration increased significantly in seven of the eight catchments. The trends were the strongest in spring and most apparent during the last decade of the study period. The slopes of the trend...
Finér, L. 2006. Responses of silver birch saplings to low soil temperature. Silva Fennica 40(3): ... more Finér, L. 2006. Responses of silver birch saplings to low soil temperature. Silva Fennica 40(3): 429-442.
Finér, L. 2006. Relationship between biomass and percentage cover in understorey vegetation of bo... more Finér, L. 2006. Relationship between biomass and percentage cover in understorey vegetation of boreal coniferous forests. Silva Fennica 40(2): 231-245.
Large-scale forestry operations, like clear-cutting, may impair surface water quality if not done... more Large-scale forestry operations, like clear-cutting, may impair surface water quality if not done with environmental considerations in mind. Catchment and country level estimates of nutrient loads from forestry are generally based on specific export values, i.e., changes in annual exports due to the implemented forestry operations expressed in kg ha(-1). We introduce here a specific concentration approach as a method to estimate the impact of clear-cutting on nutrient concentrations and export in headwater streams. This new method is potentially a more dynamic and flexible tool to estimate nutrient loads caused by forestry, because variation in annual runoff can be taken into account in load assessments. We combined water quality data from eight boreal headwater catchment pairs located in Finland and Sweden, where the effect of clear-cutting on stream water quality has been studied experimentally. Statistically significant specific concentration values could be produced for total nitrogen, nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate. The significant increases in the concentrations of these nutrients occurred between 2 and 6 years after clear-cutting. Significant specific concentration values could not be produced for total phosphorus and total organic carbon with the whole dataset, although in some single studies significant increases in their concentrations after clear-cutting were observed. The presented method enables taking into account variation in runoff, temporal dynamics of effects, and the proportional size of the treated area in load calculations. The number of existing studies considering large site-specific variation in responses to clear-cutting is small, and therefore further empirical studies are needed to improve predictive capabilities of the specific concentration values.
Root (diameter = 10 mm) biomass and production was studied in three Scots pine stands growing on ... more Root (diameter = 10 mm) biomass and production was studied in three Scots pine stands growing on drained peatland sites of different fertility in southern Finland with the sequential coring method during three growing seasons. Both the living and dead root biomasses increased with a decrease in the fertility of the sites. Mean three-year annual Scots pine root production on
Forest management practices such as clearcutting, site preparation, ditching, and ditch network m... more Forest management practices such as clearcutting, site preparation, ditching, and ditch network maintenance increase nitrogen (N) load to streams. In environmentally sustainable forestry, water protection actions are required to decrease the nutrient loading. These include e.g. use of uncut buffer zones between a clear-cut area and a waterbody, sedimentation ponds in the ditch network and overland flow fields. In practical forestry, there is an increasing need for developing design criteria for effective protective actions. Clearly, the efficiency of a protective construction depends on a complex interaction between the catchment, the treatment area, atmosphere, vegetation, microbes and soil.
A new, controlled, environment facility for growing trees was built at Joensuu, Finland, between ... more A new, controlled, environment facility for growing trees was built at Joensuu, Finland, between 1996 and 1998. It consists of four large rooms called dasotrons, with four large root pots in each. Each room is a separate unit, with independent control of air and soil temperature, air humidity and light. The environmental variables can be controlled to simulate conditions ranging from tropical to boreal. The controller set-points can be programmed locally or through a central control system running on a PC. The floor area ...
The water footprint by the Water Footprint Network (WF) is an ambitious tool for measuring human ... more The water footprint by the Water Footprint Network (WF) is an ambitious tool for measuring human appropriation and promoting sustainable use of fresh water. Using recent case studies and examples from water-abundant Fennoscandia, we consider whether it is an appropriate tool for evaluating the water use of forestry and forest-based products. We show that aggregating catchment level water consumption over a product life cycle does not consider fresh water as a renewable resource and is inconsistent with the principles of the hydrologic cycle. Currently, the WF assumes that all evapotranspiration (ET) from forests is a human appropriation of water although ET from managed forests in Fennoscandia is indistinguishable from that of unmanaged forests. We suggest that ET should not be included in the water footprint of rain-fed forestry and forestbased products. Tools for sustainable water management should always contextualize water use and water impacts with local water availability and environmental sensitivity.
Fine roots (&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;2 mm) are very dynamic and play a key rol... more Fine roots (&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;2 mm) are very dynamic and play a key role in forest ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling and accumulation. We reviewed root biomass data of three main European tree species European beech, (Fagus sylvatica L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) and Scots ...
Significant amounts of organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are accumulated in soil in boreal fore... more Significant amounts of organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are accumulated in soil in boreal forests. However, increased concern has been shown regarding the negative impacts of forestry operations on both the C sequestration and N stocks in soil. Changes in the C and N stocks in woody debris, forest floor and mineral soil (0–20 cm) were studied in Eastern Finland for 10 years after stem-only clear-cutting followed by soil harrowing. Samples were taken from the uncut forest and from the different microsites formed by the harrowing (ridges, furrows and undisturbed areas). Carbon and N from logging residues were not incorporated into the forest floor or mineral soil stocks to any great extent. After 5 years the C stock above the mineral soil was smaller (< 20%) in the treated area than in the uncut forest and after 10 years it was < 50% smaller. The corresponding N stock was marginally larger (< 5%) after 5 years, but smaller (< 20%) after 10 years. In the mineral soil the...
In boreal areas where forestry extends to drained peatlands, erosion and sediment transport from ... more In boreal areas where forestry extends to drained peatlands, erosion and sediment transport from ditch networks are among the most harmful effects of forestry. To explore and quantify the initial bank erosion processes at their source area, topography of a 3.8-metre-long section of a newly cleaned ditch bank was measured at different times with a pin meter. The risk of erosion in the ditch bank was increased by generating elevated water table conditions using artificial irrigation. Erosion and soil deposition were estimated by calculating the changes in the bank topography between the sequential measurements. The total erosion was 41 kg m(-1) within the studied stretch. The eroded material was deposited at the bottom of the ditch and exposed to transportation only later during greater discharge events. The pin meter was found to be a workable device for detecting the erosion-induced changes (1-15 cm) in the ditch dimensions.
Red wood ant (Formica rufa group) mounds release high amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). As red woo... more Red wood ant (Formica rufa group) mounds release high amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). As red wood ants and other invertebrates living in mounds are poikilothermal organisms, their metabolism and therefore CO 2 emissions are affected by changes in temperature. Thus, seasonal or diurnal changes in air temperature could affect CO2 emissions from mounds. We found that seasonal mound CO2 emissions and air temperature were correlated, both peaking in mid-summer. In contrast, diurnal CO2 emissions and air temperature were inversely correlated, as we observed highest C fluxes during the night when air temperature was lowest. This CO2 emission pattern can likely be explained by higher metabolic rates of ants resulting from their clustering, and increased numbers of ants in the mound when outside air temperature drops at night. Changes in microbial decomposition of mound organic matter or thermal convection of warm CO 2-rich mound air to the colder surface at night likely do not play a major...
The wood ants are very important for boreal forest ecosystems. They substantially affect soil pro... more The wood ants are very important for boreal forest ecosystems. They substantially affect soil properties, both in their nests and in the nest surroundings. In this study we focused especially on changes in soil pH and activity of microorganisms. Samples were taken from eight ant nests in each of the two types of forest, both in eastern Finland. Samples were taken at four sampling locations, i. e., from the bottom of the nest, the top, the rim and the control (> 3m from each nest). Soil respiration, pH, water content and organic matter content were measured. Soil respiration was higher in ant nests, although there was lower moisture. This could be explained by the import of easily available substances in prey and honeydew into the nest. pH values were higher in ant nests. This is most probably caused by enhanced contents of basic cations that are usually found in ant nests. Differences in organic matter content were found between individual nest sampling locations, which could be ...
Clear-cutting has been observed to generally increase leaching and element exports to adjacent wa... more Clear-cutting has been observed to generally increase leaching and element exports to adjacent watercourses. Most studies on the effects of clear-cutting on nutrient export in north European boreal forests have been short-term and were carried out in the 1970s and 1980s when forestry practices were different from those of today. Nowadays clear-cut areas are smaller, soil preparation methods are lighter (less soil disturbance), and buffer zones are left along watercourses. Several hundred thousand hectares of forests are clear-cut and soils are scarified before regeneration operations in Fennoscandia, but little is known of the long-term impacts of the current methods on the surface water quality. We studied the long-term (14 years) effects of clear-cutting and site preparation on runoff (mm) and the export of total nitrogen (total N), total organic nitrogen (TON), ammonium (NH4-N), nitrate (NO3-N), total phosphorus (total P), phosphate (PO4-P), total organic carbon (TOC) and suspend...
To clarify the association of the occurrence and density of ant mounds (Formica rufa group and ot... more To clarify the association of the occurrence and density of ant mounds (Formica rufa group and other mound-building ants) with forest habitat attributes, such as stand structure and successional stage, we reanalyzed the data of the third Finnish National Forest Inventory from 1951-1953. Mound occurrence (presence vs. absence) on the sample plots was highest in medium-rich and medium-dense spruce- and
lappalainen, m., Kukkonen, J. v. K., Piirainen, s, sarjala, t., setälä, h., Koivusalo, h., Finér,... more lappalainen, m., Kukkonen, J. v. K., Piirainen, s, sarjala, t., setälä, h., Koivusalo, h., Finér, l. & laurén, a. 2013: nitrogen release in decomposition of boreal mor and peat as affected by enchytraeid worms. Boreal Env. Res. 18: 00–00. Mor, slightly decomposed peat and highly decomposed peat, two soil types of each, were incubated for 154 days in the laboratory at +15 °C with and without enchytraeid worms, which functionally are the most influential faunal group in boreal forests. We quantified the release rates of organic and inorganic nitrogen (N) in dissolved and extractable forms from decomposing organic matter and explored the effects of enchytraeid worms on the release rates. About 80% of the dissolved N was released in the form of NH 4 + -N, except in mor without worms and in slightly decomposed peat with and without worms, where the net release from soil solution was in the form of dissolved organic N (DON). The majority of DON was in the high molecular weight fraction. I...
Peatlands have been drained for forestry extensively in Finland since 1950's, but nowadays th... more Peatlands have been drained for forestry extensively in Finland since 1950's, but nowadays the drainage is shifted from the initial ditching to the ditch network maintenance, which refers to the cleaning of existing ditches and to the digging of complementary ditches in the drained areas. Ditch maintenance operations lead to sediment load that is considered to be among the most harmful environmental effects of forestry. Excess sediment loads cause adverse effects to the receiving waters and their ecosystems in terms of increased turbidity, which reduces primary production, and siltation, which ruins the spawning grounds of fish. To understand the underlying mechanisms behind the sediment load at the source areas, a field experiment was conducted for studying the bank erosion of a newly cleaned ditch. That was done on a shallow peated area with fine textured mineral subsoil (sandy loam) since such areas are assessed to have the greatest risk for sediment load generation. Bank ero...
Finer, L. & Nieminen, M. 1997. Dry mass and the amounts of nutrients in understorey vegetation be... more Finer, L. & Nieminen, M. 1997. Dry mass and the amounts of nutrients in understorey vegetation before and after fertilization on a drained pine bog. Silva Fennica 31(4): 391-400.
The Science of the total environment, Jan 15, 2009
Temporal trends in stream water total organic carbon (TOC) concentration and export were studied ... more Temporal trends in stream water total organic carbon (TOC) concentration and export were studied in 8 forested headwater catchments situated in eastern Finland. The Seasonal Kendall test was conducted to identify the trends and a mixed model regression analysis was used to describe how catchment characteristics and hydrometeorological variables (e.g. precipitation, air and stream water temperatures, and atmospheric deposition) related to the variation in the concentration and export of stream water TOC. The 8 catchments varied in size from 29 to 494 ha and in the proportion of peatland they contained, from 8 to 70%. Runoff and TOC concentration were monitored for 15-29 years (1979-2006). Trends and variation in TOC levels were analysed from annual and seasonal time series. Mean annual TOC concentration increased significantly in seven of the eight catchments. The trends were the strongest in spring and most apparent during the last decade of the study period. The slopes of the trend...
Finér, L. 2006. Responses of silver birch saplings to low soil temperature. Silva Fennica 40(3): ... more Finér, L. 2006. Responses of silver birch saplings to low soil temperature. Silva Fennica 40(3): 429-442.
Finér, L. 2006. Relationship between biomass and percentage cover in understorey vegetation of bo... more Finér, L. 2006. Relationship between biomass and percentage cover in understorey vegetation of boreal coniferous forests. Silva Fennica 40(2): 231-245.
Large-scale forestry operations, like clear-cutting, may impair surface water quality if not done... more Large-scale forestry operations, like clear-cutting, may impair surface water quality if not done with environmental considerations in mind. Catchment and country level estimates of nutrient loads from forestry are generally based on specific export values, i.e., changes in annual exports due to the implemented forestry operations expressed in kg ha(-1). We introduce here a specific concentration approach as a method to estimate the impact of clear-cutting on nutrient concentrations and export in headwater streams. This new method is potentially a more dynamic and flexible tool to estimate nutrient loads caused by forestry, because variation in annual runoff can be taken into account in load assessments. We combined water quality data from eight boreal headwater catchment pairs located in Finland and Sweden, where the effect of clear-cutting on stream water quality has been studied experimentally. Statistically significant specific concentration values could be produced for total nitrogen, nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate. The significant increases in the concentrations of these nutrients occurred between 2 and 6 years after clear-cutting. Significant specific concentration values could not be produced for total phosphorus and total organic carbon with the whole dataset, although in some single studies significant increases in their concentrations after clear-cutting were observed. The presented method enables taking into account variation in runoff, temporal dynamics of effects, and the proportional size of the treated area in load calculations. The number of existing studies considering large site-specific variation in responses to clear-cutting is small, and therefore further empirical studies are needed to improve predictive capabilities of the specific concentration values.
Root (diameter = 10 mm) biomass and production was studied in three Scots pine stands growing on ... more Root (diameter = 10 mm) biomass and production was studied in three Scots pine stands growing on drained peatland sites of different fertility in southern Finland with the sequential coring method during three growing seasons. Both the living and dead root biomasses increased with a decrease in the fertility of the sites. Mean three-year annual Scots pine root production on
Forest management practices such as clearcutting, site preparation, ditching, and ditch network m... more Forest management practices such as clearcutting, site preparation, ditching, and ditch network maintenance increase nitrogen (N) load to streams. In environmentally sustainable forestry, water protection actions are required to decrease the nutrient loading. These include e.g. use of uncut buffer zones between a clear-cut area and a waterbody, sedimentation ponds in the ditch network and overland flow fields. In practical forestry, there is an increasing need for developing design criteria for effective protective actions. Clearly, the efficiency of a protective construction depends on a complex interaction between the catchment, the treatment area, atmosphere, vegetation, microbes and soil.
A new, controlled, environment facility for growing trees was built at Joensuu, Finland, between ... more A new, controlled, environment facility for growing trees was built at Joensuu, Finland, between 1996 and 1998. It consists of four large rooms called dasotrons, with four large root pots in each. Each room is a separate unit, with independent control of air and soil temperature, air humidity and light. The environmental variables can be controlled to simulate conditions ranging from tropical to boreal. The controller set-points can be programmed locally or through a central control system running on a PC. The floor area ...
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