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  • Vuori, Maria (Helsingin yliopistoHelsingfors universitetUniversity of Helsinki, 2009)
    Accessibility is a crucial factor for interaction between areas in economic, cultural, political and environmental terms. Therefore, information concerning accessibility is relevant for informed decision making, planning and research. The Loreto region in the Peruvian Amazonia provides an interesting scene for an accessibility study. Loreto is sparsely populated and because there are few roads in the region, in practice all movement and transportation happens along the river network. Due to the proximity of the Andes, river dynamics are strong and annual changes in water level combined with these dynamic processes constantly reshape accessibility patterns of the region. Selling non-timber forest products (NTFP) and agricultural products (AP) in regional centres is an important income source for local rain forest dwellers. Thus, accessibility to the centres is crucial for the livelihood of local population. In this thesis I studied how accessible the regional centre Iquitos is from other parts of Loreto. In addition, I studied the regional NTFP/AP trade patterns and compared them with patterns of accessibility. Based on GPS-measurements, using GIS, I created a time-distance surface covering Loreto. This surface describes the time-distance to Iquitos, along the river network. Based on interview material, I assessed annual changes to accessibility patterns in the region. The most common regional NTFP/AP were classified according to the amount of time they can be preserved, and based on the accessibility surface, I modelled a catchment area for each of these product classes. According to my results, navigation speeds vary considerably in different parts of the river network, depending on river types, vessels, flow direction and season. Navigating downstream is, generally, faster than upstream navigation. Thus, Iquitos is better accessible from areas situated south and south west of the city, like along the rivers Ucayali and Marañon. Differences in accessibility between different seasons are also substantial: during the dry season navigation is slower due to lower water levels and emerging sand bars. Regularly operating boats follow routes only along certain rivers and close to Iquitos transport facilities are more abundant than in more distant areas. Most of the products present in Iquitos market places are agricultural products, and the share of NTFP is significantly smaller. Most of the products were classified in product class 2, and the catchment area for these products is rather small. Many products also belonged to class 5, and the catchment area for these products reaches up to the edges of my study area, following the patterns of the river network. The accessibility model created in this study predicts travel times relatively well, although in some cases the modelled time-distances are substantially shorter than observed time-distances. This is partly caused by the fact that real-life navigation routes are more complicated than the modelled routes. Rain forest dwellers having easier access to Iquitos have more opportunities in terms of the products they decide to market. Thus, they can better take advantage of other factors affecting the market potential of different products. In all, understanding spatial variation in accessibility is important. In the Amazonian context it is difficult to combine the accessibility-related needs of the local dwellers with conservation purposes and the future challenge lies in finding solution that satisfy both of these needs.
  • Lehtonen, Pyry (2021)
    Geographical accessibility to sports facilities plays an important role when choosing a sports facility. The aim of my thesis is to examine geographical accessibility for sports facilities in Helsinki and Jyväskylä. The data of my study consists of the facilities of three different types of sports in Helsinki, Jyväskylä. The chosen types of facilities are ball parks, disc golf courses and fitness centers. I also use demographic data that cover the age groups of 7-12, 20-24 and 60-64. Mapple Analytics Ltd has produced geographical accessibility data covering whole of Finland which I also use as my data. In my thesis I analyzed geographical accessibility of sports facilities and compare the results to demographic data. Both the geographical accessibility data and demographic data is in 250 x 250 m grid level. the methods I used were Local Moran’s I and Bivariate Local Moran’s I. I applied the methods so that I combined the travel-time data and demographic data. The travel-times are from Mapple Insights API. The travel modes I have used are cycling and driving because people travel to sports facilities mostly by driving or by active methods, especially cycling. The travel-times to ball parks and fitness centers are overall good in both study regions. The good geographical accessibility is caused by that the service pattern is so dense for ball parks and fitness centers. The service pattern covers almost all of the inhabited area in both study regions. However, for some postal areas seem to have not so good geographical accessibility to ball parks. In some areas in Helsinki the geographical accessibility to disc golf course can be considered to be somewhat bad. For the chosen age groups only 20-24-year-olds have unsatisfactory travel-times to disc golf course either by cycling or driving. Other age groups do not show a similar pattern because of the different service pattern of ball parks and fitness centers. Demographic variables do not explain the travel times in this context. It is important to see which postal areas have good or bad geographical accessibility to sports facilities. This helps the future planning of sports facilities. In the future it is also possible to apply non spatial methods to the data I have collected or a similar dataset. It would also be possible to which demographic variable best explains travel-times. Because of Mapple Insighs API data is in 250 x 250 m grid level many applications can be developed using the data.
  • Lindholm, Tanja (2015)
    Suomesta tavataan kaksi majavalajia: alkuperäinen euroopanmajava (Castor fiber) ja vieraslaji amerikanmajava (Castor canadensis). Euroopanmajava metsästettiin sukupuuttoon 1800–luvulla ja viimeinen euroopanmajava ammuttiin tiettävästi Sallan Eniönjoesta vuonna 1868. Vuonna 1935 aloitettiin majavien uudelleenistutukset 17 Norjasta tuodulla euroopanmajavalla. Vuonna 1937 Suomen majavakantaa vahvistettiin seitsemällä Amerikasta tuodulla amerikanmajavalla. Tahallisesta vieraslajin tuomisesta ei kuitenkaan ollut kyse, vaan vasta vuonna 1973 todettiin Castor-suvun koostuvan kahdesta eri lajista. Alueilla, joille istutettiin molempia lajeja, on jäljellä ainoastaan amerikanmajava. Syyt ovat edelleen epäselviä. Molempien lajien kannat ovat edelleen keskittyneet alkuperäisten istutusalueiden läheisyyteen, ja amerikanmajavakanta on muutamia poikkeuksia lukuun ottamatta saanut kasvaa ilman euroopanmajavan kilpailun vaikutusta. Jos lajien elinympäristövaatimukset ovat samat, eivät lajit voi esiintyä rinnakkain. Näin ollen on tärkeää tuntea molempien lajien elinympäristön käyttö mahdollisemman tarkkaan aluekohtaisesti ja ennakoida, johtaako majavalajien kohtaaminen kahden lajin rauhaisaan yhteiseloon vai mahdollisesti euroopanmajavan häviämiseen läntisestä Suomesta. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli vertailla lajien elinympäristön vaatimuksia ja sitä kautta tuoda lisätietoa euroopanmajavan suojeluun. Tutkimusalueeksi valikoitui keskinen Pirkanmaan alue, missä lajien välinen etäisyys on ainoastaan 11 kilometriä linnuntietä. Aineisto koostuu vuoden 2013 Luonnonvarakeskuksen koordinoimista valtakunnallisten majavalaskentojen pesätiedoista sekä erilaisista paikkatietoaineistoista. Elinympäristönkäytön mallin muuttujat on tuotettu CORINE Land Cover 2012 (CLC2012), vuoden 2011 Valtakunnallisen Metsien Inventoinnin (VMI) ja Maanmittauslaitoksen maastotietokannan digitaalisiin paikkatietoaineistojen avulla. Alueelle luotiin 60 satunnaispistettä, jotka kuvaavat tarjolla olevaa elinympäristöä. Lajien elinympäristöjen käyttöä analysoitiin kahden logistisen regressioanalyysimallin avulla, joista ensimmäisessä tarkastellaan ydinaluetta (50m) ja toisessa elinpiiriä (1km). Analyyseissä verrattiin lajeja keskenään sekä satunnaispisteisiin. Ennen regressioanalyysejä tarkasteltiin muuttujien kolineaarisuutta Variance Inflation Factor:in (VIF) avulla, jonka jälkeen tarkasteltiin aineiston yhteensopivuuttaa mallin kanssa Akaiken informaatiokriteerin (AIC) avulla. Pienin AIC ilmaisee parhaan mallin korkeimman selitysasteen ja mallin yksinkertaisuuden (parsimonisuuden) kompromissina. Ydinalueella ei havaittu merkitseviä eroja elinympäristön vaatimuksissa lajien välillä. Majavien elinympäristönkäyttö ei kuitenkaan ollut satunnaista. Kuusen tilavuudella oli positiivinen vaikutus euroopanmajavan esiintymiseen ja lehtipuiden tilavuudella oli positiivinen vaikutus amerikanmajavan esiintymiseen verrattuna tarjolla olevaan ympäristöön. Elinpiirianalyyseissä lajien välillä havaittiin merkitseviä eroja, joissa euroopanmajava esiintyi alueilla, missä kuusen tilavuus ja sekametsän osuus oli suurempi verrattuna amerikanmajavan elinpiiriin. Kasvavalla kuusen tilavuudella, sekametsän osuudella sekä vesistöjen määrällä oli positiivinen vaikutus euroopanmajavan esiintymiseen ja rakennetuilla alueilla negatiivinen vaikutus euroopanmajavan esiintymiseen verrattaessa tarjolla olevaan ympäristöön. Amerikanmajavan elinympäristön käyttö ei poikennut satunnaisesta. Tulokset saattavat heijastaa rantavyöhykkeen metsäsukkession eri vaiheita, mutta on huomattava, että lajien välillä oli merkittäviä eroja. Elinympäristön muuttujat selittivät huomattavasti enemmän euroopanmajavan esiintymistä alueella verrattuna amerikanmajavaan. Toisin sanoen euroopanmajavan elinympäristön vaatimukset ovat spesifimmät/tarkemmat/ominaisemmat. Tulosten avulla on mahdollista ennustaa niin amerikanmajavan leviämistä alueella kuin hyödyntää tietoja euroopanmajavalle tärkeiden elinympäristöjen suojelussa.
  • Gonzaga Roa, Amaia (2023)
    Deforestation is the main threat to biodiversity, ecological integrity and socio-ecological resilience of the of the Amazon biome, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and home to at least 2 million people. A complex network of diverse protection strategies exists across the Amazon as key component of the global strategy to halt biodiversity loss. Biosphere reserves are a part of this network that aims to create spaces to learn how human communities can develop sustainably, while the protecting the environment, by implementing a zonation system with different degrees of protection We consider that it is necessary to produce relevant efficiency assessments on area-based conservation strategies in this region, and to understand how different protection strategies affect conservation outcomes. We used state-of-the-art matching methods to create a counterfactual deforestation avoidance measure of seven Biosphere reserves the western Amazon: Yasuní, Podocarpus-El Cóndor, Sumaco, Manu, BIOAY, Pilón Lajas and Beni. We obtained diverse efficiency results, some of the studied reserves avoiding large quantities of deforestation to reserves that were attracting deforestation. We found that more strictly protected zones were subjected to significatively lower relative pressure levels and did not have higher deforestation avoidance values. Representativity of the matched treatment area was also lower for these zones, meaning that the matching analysis was more difficult to perform in these areas. These research findings add to growing evidence about the important role of biosphere reserves in buffering against deforestation in one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots.
  • Gonzaga Roa, Amaia (2023)
    Deforestation is the main threat to biodiversity, ecological integrity and socio-ecological resilience of the of the Amazon biome, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and home to at least 2 million people. A complex network of diverse protection strategies exists across the Amazon as key component of the global strategy to halt biodiversity loss. Biosphere reserves are a part of this network that aims to create spaces to learn how human communities can develop sustainably, while the protecting the environment, by implementing a zonation system with different degrees of protection We consider that it is necessary to produce relevant efficiency assessments on area-based conservation strategies in this region, and to understand how different protection strategies affect conservation outcomes. We used state-of-the-art matching methods to create a counterfactual deforestation avoidance measure of seven Biosphere reserves the western Amazon: Yasuní, Podocarpus-El Cóndor, Sumaco, Manu, BIOAY, Pilón Lajas and Beni. We obtained diverse efficiency results, some of the studied reserves avoiding large quantities of deforestation to reserves that were attracting deforestation. We found that more strictly protected zones were subjected to significatively lower relative pressure levels and did not have higher deforestation avoidance values. Representativity of the matched treatment area was also lower for these zones, meaning that the matching analysis was more difficult to perform in these areas. These research findings add to growing evidence about the important role of biosphere reserves in buffering against deforestation in one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots.
  • Tolvanen, Pinja (2022)
    The role of geographic thinking is essential in tackling topical challenges such as climate crisis, biodiversity loss and sustainable production of food. One powerful tool that helps to model and analyze these complex geographic phenomena is geographic information systems (GIS). Using GIS as part of geography high school education has many benefits when it is applied intentionally. However, many teachers still struggle to implement GIS in long-term classroom use even if they have gotten previous GIS training and have access to internet-based GIS, easy-access data and easier to use software. There is still a need for further research on how teachers can be supported in GIS education on a practical level. This thesis research aims to find solutions to this need. The research is conducted as design-based research that consists of problem analyses and a cyclic development process where a design solution, a GIS learning activity, is created. Problem analyses showed that combining new and existing knowledge, using multimodal learning environments, and supporting motivation and development of metacognitive skills are important to take into consideration in designing the learning activity. They also examined features that lead to successful GIS teacher training. Conducted interviews revealed that the biggest challenges with GIS education relate to scarcity of time, insufficient technical skills, and training that does not provide practical value. Teachers wished for very practical level support that is efficient timewise and offers them learning materials that are ready for easy classroom use. Based on these findings, a GIS learning activity was designed to answer the common challenges. The practical was tested consecutively by two geography teachers from a collaborative high school. Feedback revealed that the first teacher faced some challenges relating to time management during the lesson but found the activity useful. The second teacher tested the activity after some modifications had been made and the testing was overall successful. Both teachers expressed interest in using the material and the GIS software again in the future. The findings suggest that providing teachers this research-based GIS learning material has potential to support them in GIS education and to remove many common challenges. Some advantages of the practical were offering teachers a web-based GIS with simple user interface, preprocessed data already included in the service and a ready practical that can be completed in one lesson. The theme also supported the national core curriculum which is very valuable in creating new GIS materials for educational use. This study showed that relevant and inquiry-based GIS activities are still needed in high school geography education. It also serves as the first opening for new LUMA Taita -project that promotes international science education collaboration and brings research into schools in an inspiring way.
  • Leppämäki, Tatu (2022)
    Ever more data is available and shared through the internet. The big data masses often have a spatial dimension and can take many forms, one of which are digital texts, such as articles or social media posts. The geospatial links in these texts are made through place names, also called toponyms, but traditional GIS methods are unable to deal with the fuzzy linguistic information. This creates the need to transform the linguistic location information to an explicit coordinate form. Several geoparsers have been developed to recognize and locate toponyms in free-form texts: the task of these systems is to be a reliable source of location information. Geoparsers have been applied to topics ranging from disaster management to literary studies. Major language of study in geoparser research has been English and geoparsers tend to be language-specific, which threatens to leave the experiences provided by studying and expressed in smaller languages unexplored. This thesis seeks to answer three research questions related to geoparsing: What are the most advanced geoparsing methods? What linguistic and geographical features complicate this multi-faceted problem? And how to evaluate the reliability and usability of geoparsers? The major contributions of this work are an open-source geoparser for Finnish texts, Finger, and two test datasets, or corpora, for testing Finnish geoparsers. One of the datasets consists of tweets and the other of news articles. All of these resources, including the relevant code for acquiring the test data and evaluating the geoparser, are shared openly. Geoparsing can be divided into two sub-tasks: recognizing toponyms amid text flows and resolving them to the correct coordinate location. Both tasks have seen a recent turn to deep learning methods and models, where the input texts are encoded as, for example, word embeddings. Geoparsers are evaluated against gold standard datasets where toponyms and their coordinates are marked. Performance is measured on equivalence and distance-based metrics for toponym recognition and resolution respectively. Finger uses a toponym recognition classifier built on a Finnish BERT model and a simple gazetteer query to resolve the toponyms to coordinate points. The program outputs structured geodata, with input texts and the recognized toponyms and coordinate locations. While the datasets represent different text types in terms of formality and topics, there is little difference in performance when evaluating Finger against them. The overall performance is comparable to the performance of geoparsers of English texts. Error analysis reveals multiple error sources, caused either by the inherent ambiguousness of the studied language and the geographical world or are caused by the processing itself, for example by the lemmatizer. Finger can be improved in multiple ways, such as refining how it analyzes texts and creating more comprehensive evaluation datasets. Similarly, the geoparsing task should move towards more complex linguistic and geographical descriptions than just toponyms and coordinate points. Finger is not, in its current state, a ready source of geodata. However, the system has potential to be the first step for geoparsers for Finnish and it can be a steppingstone for future applied research.
  • Perola, Eero (2023)
    Driving speeds regardless of vehicle type are a part of almost everyone’s daily lives. The subject has been widely studied and many algorithms for determining optimal routes exist. A novel data source for this type of research is GPS-collected Floating Car Data. As positioning enabled devices have become increasingly abundant, the collection of huge amounts of data with locations, speeds and directions has become vastly more common. In this master’s thesis, I examine a type of Big Data -set of car speeds within the Helsinki area through three different viewpoints. First, I examine the driving patterns described by the distribution of data on different kinds of roads and time periods. Second, I focus on one variable, intersection density, and determine the effect it has on the change in speed and whether it is possible to conduct statistical analysis for the data. Last, I analyze the steps needed to take in order to fully utilize the variables of the data within the road network system. The results indicate that while there are clear differences in changing speed within road classes, the differences are not as clearly described by road class as they are by speed limit. Also, time of day has a clear effect where times of congestion are distinguishable. While among all road classes the mean driven speed is below the speed limit, on larger roads the mode is above the speed limit. I prove that it is possible to find numerous variables that depict speed change through novel Floating Car Data. Focusing on intersection density, the result is that at highest, within the Helsinki area, intersection density represents around eight per cent of change in speed compared to speed limit. As a final result, a method to viably use linear Floating Car Data to research intersection density and its effects is developed. As a mediate step and a side result, a workflow of modifying road network layers into segments between intersections is produced.
  • Junttila, Samuli (2014)
    The effect of forest health and structure to the relative surface temperature captured by airborne thermal imagery was investigated in Norway Spruce-dominated stands in Southern Finland. Canopy surface temperature has long been recognized useful in monitoring vegetation water status. Recent studies have shown also its potential in monitoring vegetation health. Airborne thermal imagery, Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and field measurements were acquired from the area of interest (AOI). The relative surface temperature correlated most negatively with the logarithm of stem volume, Lorey’s height and logarithm of basal area at resolution of 254m2 (9-m radius). In other words, taller and older stands had colder surface temperatures. In addition, LiDAR metrics, such as height percentiles and canopy cover percentage, were compared with surface temperature. Standard deviation of canopy height model, height features (H90, CHM_max) and canopy cover percentage were most strongly negatively correlated with the surface temperature. On average, higher surface temperatures were detected in defoliated canopies indicating that thermal images may provide some additional information for classifying forests health status. However, the surface temperature of defoliated plots varied considerably. It was also found that surface temperature differences between canopy and ground responses were higher in defoliated plots. Based on the results, forest health and structure affect to the surface temperature captured by airborne thermal imagery and these effects should be taken into account when developing forest health mapping applications using thermal imagery.
  • Junttila, Samuli (2014)
    The effect of forest health and structure to the relative surface temperature captured by airborne thermal imagery was investigated in Norway Spruce-dominated stands in Southern Finland. Canopy surface temperature has long been recognized useful in monitoring vegetation water status. Recent studies have shown also its potential in monitoring vegetation health. Airborne thermal imagery, Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and field measurements were acquired from the area of interest (AOI). The relative surface temperature correlated most negatively with the logarithm of stem volume, Lorey’s height and logarithm of basal area at resolution of 254m2 (9-m radius). In other words, taller and older stands had colder surface temperatures. In addition, LiDAR metrics, such as height percentiles and canopy cover percentage, were compared with surface temperature. Standard deviation of canopy height model, height features (H90, CHM_max) and canopy cover percentage were most strongly negatively correlated with the surface temperature. On average, higher surface temperatures were detected in defoliated canopies indicating that thermal images may provide some additional information for classifying forests health status. However, the surface temperature of defoliated plots varied considerably. It was also found that surface temperature differences between canopy and ground responses were higher in defoliated plots. Based on the results, forest health and structure affect to the surface temperature captured by airborne thermal imagery and these effects should be taken into account when developing forest health mapping applications using thermal imagery.
  • Piela, Emma (2022)
    Organized sports for children provide important health benefits continuing also later in life and are highly segregated based on gender. Having opportunities of organized physical activities within reasonable travel times has been shown to have an effect in participation of sports. In this thesis few of the most popular sports for each gender; dance, horse riding, floorball and football were chosen and the service level of the facilities providing organized sport activities in the age group of 7- to 12-year-olds were analysed in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Special interest lied in how equally these services can be reached with different travel modes in reasonable travel times also in relation to spatial socioeconomic differences. As the research on the topic has been inconsistent and sparse, this thesis contributes to the research field with comprehensive outlook on equality considerations and a seldomly used perspective of children’s sports facility accessibility focused on provided services. The methods used included identifying locations used by children in the chosen sports, analysing travel times to these locations with the Helsinki Region Travel Time Matrix and comparing the resulting spatial accessibility conditions to a sum index of disadvantage calculated from a population grid database. This comparison was done through a Student’s t-test and testing of local bivariate relationships. Generally, the results indicated quite similar spatial patterns and good spatial accessibility conditions in floorball, football and dance when it comes to travel times to closest facilities. The horse riding facilities were located in more remote areas and were significantly fewer which resulted in longer travel times. Overall, most children reached their closest floorball, football or dance facilities within 15 minutes of biking, public transport or car travel times. Biking travel times were found to be shorter than public transportation travel times while private car provided the shortest travel times. The t-test revealed many statistically significant relationships indicating difference in travel times in the most and least disadvantaged quintile areas of the sum index of disadvantage. In these results, travel times especially in football were found to be shorter in more disadvantaged areas. This was the direction of the findings also in floorball and dance. Horse riding travel times were longer in most disadvantaged areas. The bivariate relationship tools revealed variation in the local relationships between the travel times and the sum index. In conclusion, due to travel times being of reasonable length considerable inequalities in the spatial accessibility conditions were not found, although horse riding facilities indicated some inequalities.
  • Keränen, Fanny (2021)
    This study aimed to identify conservation landscapes with potential to be mutually beneficial for people and African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) in South Africa through spatial conservation planning analyses that integrate ecological and socioeconomic data. The research questions were: (i) what are the most ecologically suitable areas for the reintroduction of elephants, and (ii) which of these areas provide the best opportunities for also sustaining socioeconomic development of local people. The first question was answered with an ecological model that predicts habitat suitability for elephants, developed by a combination of literature review, expert opinion, and GIS-based methods. The second question was answered by combining the ecological model with socioeconomic criteria in Zonation spatial conservation planning software. The results show that the central part of South Africa holds most potential for elephant conservation as it has the largest uniform area of high-quality habitat, while the area also meets the socioeconomic criteria. The priority areas for the conservation of elephants were classified into top priority classes of 1%, 2%, 5%, 10% and 20%. The identified areas hold an unrealized opportunity in the wildlife and ecotourism sectors, and the reintroduction of elephants to those areas could provide the foundation for long-term economic activity of local communities e.g. in the form of elephant-based ecotourism, while contributing to the conservation of elephants. Conserving just the top 5% priority areas would grow South African protected area estate by approximately three million hectares and increase the current elephant range by approximately 75%. Ideally, the results of this study could be used to inform the on-going decision-making process on where to allocate resources for elephant conservation in South Africa.
  • Keränen, Fanny (2021)
    This study aimed to identify conservation landscapes with potential to be mutually beneficial for people and African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) in South Africa through spatial conservation planning analyses that integrate ecological and socioeconomic data. The research questions were: (i) what are the most ecologically suitable areas for the reintroduction of elephants, and (ii) which of these areas provide the best opportunities for also sustaining socioeconomic development of local people. The first question was answered with an ecological model that predicts habitat suitability for elephants, developed by a combination of literature review, expert opinion, and GIS-based methods. The second question was answered by combining the ecological model with socioeconomic criteria in Zonation spatial conservation planning software. The results show that the central part of South Africa holds most potential for elephant conservation as it has the largest uniform area of high-quality habitat, while the area also meets the socioeconomic criteria. The priority areas for the conservation of elephants were classified into top priority classes of 1%, 2%, 5%, 10% and 20%. The identified areas hold an unrealized opportunity in the wildlife and ecotourism sectors, and the reintroduction of elephants to those areas could provide the foundation for long-term economic activity of local communities e.g. in the form of elephant-based ecotourism, while contributing to the conservation of elephants. Conserving just the top 5% priority areas would grow South African protected area estate by approximately three million hectares and increase the current elephant range by approximately 75%. Ideally, the results of this study could be used to inform the on-going decision-making process on where to allocate resources for elephant conservation in South Africa.
  • Järvenpää, Jani (2016)
    Norway spruce (Picea abies) is nowadays generally planted on mounted sites in Finland. When compared to other cultivation methods, it has been noticed that mounding has significantly improved seedlings development and growth. However, inverting is still one of the mounding methods, which has been little examined nor height development models created in Finland. In this study the aim was to generate height development models for Norway spruce in 5-17-years old inverted sites. Two models were created both stand and tree levels. The effect of the model’s predictor variables to the height development was analyzed. Height model at stand level was also compared with the other Norway spruce height models in Finland. The study material consisted of 49 inverted Norway spruce plantations in southern Finland. Total number of sample plots were 853. With the sample plot data, available GIS-data (National Land Survey of Finland and Meteorological Institute) was also used to improve height models accuracy. GIS-data was utilized specially in the tree level model. Whole data was analyzed in SPSS-software where height models were fitted by using Generalized linear models -procedure. Both of the final height models included only significant height predictors. In the both models seedlings age, site type (Cajander 1949) and growing season’s precipitation sum were correlated positively with Norway spruce height. Broad-leaved trees height competition was also noticed to reduce height development in the both models. At the stand level model (RMSE 17 %) seedlings height development was also increased in coarse-grained soils. At the tree level model (RMSE 32,2 %) digital elevation model (DEM) derived topographic variables were correlated well with Norway spruce height. Hillside aspect decreased height development in Southwest, West and Northwest sides of the hill, where afternoon sun typically occur. Seedlings height was also poorer on topographic lowlands like lower slopes and depressions. In the tree level, height development was also decreased according to amount of competitive trees, frost damages, paludification and elevation. The inverting done a year preceding planting increased height development in the tree level model, when compared to the inverting done at the same year with planting. Model comparison at stand level demonstrate that seedlings height development was significantly better on inverted sites than on harrowed or scalpered sites. Interesting found was also that height development on inverted sites was almost identical to the mounted sites height development in the Motti-stand level simulator (Natural Resources Institute Finland). Stand level comparison indicated that Norway spruce growth and development is promising in the inverted sites and it stands comparison to the other mounding methods also. This study also proved that it is possible to utilize GIS-data (National Land Survey of Finland and Meteorological Institute) in trees height modeling.
  • Järvenpää, Jani (2016)
    Kuusi (Picea abies) uudistetaan nykyisin pääasiassa mätästäen muokatuille uudistusaloille. Mätästysmenetelmien on havaittu parantavan kuusen kasvua ja kehitystä muihin maanmuokkausmenetelmiin verrattuna. Kääntömätästyksen vaikutusta taimien varhaiskehitykseen on kuitenkin tutkittu vielä vähän eikä kääntömätästetyille kohteille ole aiemmin luotu omia pituuskehitystä kuvaavia malleja. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tehdä pituusmallit kuvaamaan istutuskuusen pituuskehitystä 5-17-vuotiailla kääntömätästyskohteilla. Mallit laadittiin sekä metsikkö- että puutasolle. Mallien selittävien muuttujien vaikutusta kuusen pituuskehitykseen tutkittiin ja samalla pyrittiin arvioimaan kääntömätästyksen soveltuvuutta erilaisille uudistusaloille. Luotua metsikkötason keskipituusmallia vertailtiin myös jo olemassa oleviin kuusen pituusmalleihin. Tutkimusta varten kerättiin yhteensä 49:ltä kääntömätästetyltä kuviolta koeala-aineisto (n=853). Kääntömätästetytkohteet sijaitsivat Pirkanmaalla sekä Keski-Suomessa. Kerätyn koeala-aineiston rinnalla käytettiin myös paikkatietoaineistoja (Maanmittauslaitoksen korkeusmalli sekä Ilmatieteen laitoksen sade- ja lämpösummadata) selittämään kuusen pituuskehitystä. Paikkatietoaineistoja hyödynnettiin erityisesti puutason pituusmallissa. Aineisto analysoitiin SPSS-ohjelmistolla, jossa pituusmallit sovitettiin Generalized linear models -proseduuria käyttäen. Lopulliset mallit sisälsivät vain merkitseviä pituutta selittäviä muuttujia. Molemmissa malleissa taimien ikä, kasvupaikkatyyppi sekä kasvukauden aikainen sadesumma korreloivat positiivisesti pituuskehityksen kanssa. Malleissa pituuskehitystä puolestaan hidasti lehtipuiden pituuskilpailu. Metsikkötason keskipituusmallissa (RMSE 17 %) taimien pituuskehitys parani myös maalajin karkeuden lisääntyessä. Puutason pituusmallissa (RMSE 32,2 %) korkeusmallista johdetut maaston topografiaa kuvaavat muuttujat selittivät hyvin pituuskehitystä. Rinteen ilmansuunta hidasti pituuskehitystä ilta-aurinkoisilla lounas-, länsi- ja luoderinteillä. Samoin pituuskehitys oli hitaampaa maaston topografisen aseman alavissa kohdissa kuten notkoissa ja alarinteissä. Puutason mallissa pituuskehitystä hidastivat lisäksi kilpailevien puulajien lukumäärä, hallatuhot, soistuneisuus sekä korkeus merenpinnasta. Maanmuokkaus istutusta edeltävänä vuonna puolestaan paransi pituuskehitystä puutason mallissa. Keskipituusmallia verrattaessa havaittiin, että kääntömätästettyjen kohteiden keskipituuskehitys oli paljon parempaa kuin muokkaamattomilla tai pintamuokatuilla (äestys/laikutus) kohteilla. Mielenkiintoinen havainto oli myös, että kääntömätästettyjen kohteiden keskipituuskehitys vastasi lähes täydellisesti nykyistä Motti-ohjelman (Luonnonvarakeskus) mätästettyjen kohteiden pituuskehitystä. Tutkimustulosten perusteella kuusen taimet kehittyvät kääntömätästyskohteilla hyvin ja niiden kasvu kestää vertailun myös muihin mätästysmenetelmiin. Tutkimuksen perusteella Maanmittauslaitoksen sekä Ilmatieteen laitoksen paikkatietoaineistoja voidaan hyvin hyödyntää myös puiden pituuskehityksen mallinnuksessa.
  • Rinne, Jooel (2022)
    Internet has altered the wildlife trade as it is now easy to trade animals on different online platforms. In the reptile pet trade, distinct appearance and rarity of the species are sought after attributes. Reptiles with small ranges are especially threatened by the pet trade. The Lesser Antilles are home to nearly hundred endemic lizard and snake species which are facing many threats from climate change to habitat loss. In addition, some of them are subject to international pet trade the scale of which is still not assessed properly. In this thesis I have mapped the online pet trade in endemic reptile species of the Lesser Antilles. To do this, I built an automated data collection and processing tool consisting of Python scripts. I used the tool to scrape 366 951 reptile trade advertisements from 90 distinct websites and to filter and extract information on Lesser Antillean reptiles from the collected data. The results show that most of the Lesser Antillean reptile species traded online have not yet been fully assessed for their conservation status by the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Overall, 9,2% off the reptiles on online sales advertisements and 21,4% of the species sold online are assessed as Threatened (i.e., at highest risk of extinction). Only 24,8% of advertisements selling Lesser Antillean reptiles online concern species that are evaluated as not Threatened by the IUCN Red List of Species. Germany was found to be the centre of trade of Lesser Antillean reptile species as the number of trade advertisements and distinct species sold was the highest there. United States was the second biggest trader of all species and the biggest trader of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) listed species. These results show that it is of foremost importance to evaluate the conservation status of all species that are currently traded to fully assess the threat that the pet trade possesses to reptile species. It will also be important to assess the sustainability of the reptile trade, especially in Germany and the United States. The tool used to collect and process the data in this thesis can be modified to assess the pet trade of any species on publicly accessible online platforms
  • Massinen, Samuli (2019)
    The Greater Region of Luxembourg is the largest cross-border labor market in the European Union with the greatest number of cross-border workers in the area. European integration, the Schengen Area, and socio-economical divergences have been the main factors facilitating human cross-border movements in the area and thus the birth and expansion of the borderland community. Despite the freedom of movement, country borders have not been erased and socio-economic divergences have not been levelled. In addition, the spatial extent of the daily movements is not well known. Thus, it is important to study cross-border dynamics and try to separate daily movements from infrequent mobility patterns. Thus far, cross-border mobility studies have mainly leaned on national registers and census data. These datasets have mostly been too scarce in trying to understand the complexities of cross-border mobility. Many studies have only focused on aggregate-level movement patterns, and the viewpoint of individuals has been missing. Hence, there has been a growing need for individual-level data to be applied in cross-border mobility research. In this study, a person-based approach is employed using geotagged Twitter Big Data to study spatio-temporal cross-border mobility patterns in the Greater Region of Luxembourg. The aim is to examine how to implement social media in cross-border research as well as how to separate daily cross-border movers from infrequent border crossers and consequently move beyond aggregate-level inspections. Being one of the first studies of its kind, a heuristic programmatic approach is utilized. To the writer’s knowledge, social media data sources have not been applied previously to distinguish different cross-border mobility types. All developed scripts in this study are openly available on Digital Geography Lab’s GitHub -pages (https://github.com/DigitalGeographyLab/cross-border-mobilitytwitter) to promote open science and to introduce new quantitative method tools for cross-border mobility research. The results show that social media can be implemented in cross-border mobility research, and social media Big Data can provide a relatively good proxy for daily cross-border mobility of people on a regional level. Aggregate-level cross-border mobility patterns and activity location densities correspond closely with previous studies, and outcomes from temporal variation inspections indicate a valid cross-border mover type identification; Twitter users classified as daily cross-border movers seem to be more mobile on weekdays whereas infrequent border crossers on weekends. Daily cross-border mobility patterns also provided new information about the spatial extent of the movements. In addition, heuristic approach resulted in high accuracy in home detection; the “unique weeks” algorithm introduced in this study produced an accuracy of 88.6 % with respect to the ground truth. Although the results are promising on a regional level, they should be considered in relation to population densities and Twitter use activity; attributes that both vary spatio-temporally and thus can cause bias. Further studies and method development are also needed to draw global conclusions about cross-border mobility; other geographical areas and study settings could result in varied outcomes. In addition, some solutions with data and methods should be considered with a critical stance due to scarcity of valid references. Yet, this study has identified that the coverage of geotagged Twitter data is dependent on data acquisition processes and that Twitter can provide valuable information for cross-border mobility research. In future studies, multi-level data acquisition processes are recommended jointly with person-based approach combining spatio-temporal and content analysis methodologies.
  • Nielsen, Jessica (2024)
    As a part of global biodiversity loss, pollinating species are declining rapidly. This decline is driven by the loss, degradation and fragmentation of semi-natural grasslands and meadows, primary habitats of pollinating species. Therefore, ensuring connectivity between habitats becomes crucial. As urbanization is putting pressure on green spaces, planners need tools to find areas where conservation efforts are most critical. In this thesis, I aim to 1) model the connectivity network of pollinator habitats in the city of Tampere and 2) evaluate the usability of my analysis for urban planning purposes. Using Least Cost Path (LCP) analysis, I modelled ecological connectivity for pollinating insects in the Tampere region. Connectivity in this context means how easily pollinating insects can move between different areas. I examined two distinct groups of pollinators in my analysis: butterflies (Family: Lepidoptera) and bumblebees (genus: Bombus). Relying on land cover data and green infrastructure maintenance class data, I first identified suitable habitats for my model taxa. Then I created a map layer indicating how resistant different areas were to pollinator movement, based on expert opinions. Using the habitat patches as starting and ending points of movement and the resistance layer to bring more realism to the non-habitat matrix of my model, two fixed distances that pollinators are known to travel were utilized – 200 m and 500 m, respectively. Then, to evaluate the usability of the LCP analysis for planning purposes I conducted a SWOT analysis together with city experts. Results show a shortage of pollinator habitats in Tampere’s city center. This lack of pollinator habitats has led to a division of the connectivity network into two parts: a western and an eastern network. Road verges and areas under power lines appear to play a connecting role for both butterflies and bumblebees, linking larger habitat patches together. The most significant limitations to my analysis include an administrative approach to habitat definition, generalist model taxa and the use of relative data values, i.e., expert opinion. While my results have limitations and should be considered together with other material, they provide valuable insights into identifying important meadows and forested areas for pollinators and addressing connectivity gaps.
  • Todorovic, Sara (2020)
    Fires in residential buildings can lead to significant personal injury and property damage, especially in cities. Fire incidence has been found to have a strong connection with the characteristics of neighbourhoods and their inhabitants, such as with socioeconomic status and the features of households and buildings. However, the influencing factors are complex and often interconnected, which has made it difficult to make accurate predictions. Risk modelling and spatial data analysis provide effective and practical means of studying the phenomenon, especially from the point of view of accident prevention and preparedness. To date, knowledge of the spatial risk factors affecting residential fire incidence is yet limited in Helsinki. Thus, this study has sought to bring new empirical evidence on the matter. This study analysed residential fires in Helsinki from 2014 to 2018 at a 250 x 250 m grid level. The spatial dependence of fires was investigated by observing statistically significant clusters of fires. In this study, a risk model was created that sought to identify the underlying structural, socioeconomic, and household characteristics of neighbourhoods that affect the likelihood of residential fire incidence. The methods used were linear regression and the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), which takes spatial heterogeneity into account. The results showed that residential fires are spatially clustered in Helsinki. A significant large concentration of fires was found in the inner-city area and smaller concentrations in eastern Helsinki. The results indicate that the structural features of the neighbourhoods, socioeconomic status, and household circumstances have an impact on the likelihood of residential fire incidence by both increasing and decreasing the risk of fire. At the neighbourhood level, statistically significant explanatory variables that increased fire risk were population density, low education, unemployment, occupancy rate of dwellings, and home ownership. A negative relationship with fire risk was found with residential building density, age of the buildings, high education, as well as home ownership. Overall, in the study area, these eight variables explained about half of the variance of residential fire incidence. In a comparison between the models, the explanatory power of the GWR was better than linear regression, and it was also able to identify significant local variations in the effects of explanatory variables on fire risk. A comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing residential fire risk at local levels is important for rescue services, especially in terms of planning response readiness and efficient allocation of resources. In the future, more precise models should be developed in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of fire risk and the factors affecting it. Particular attention should be paid to the use of more precise and diverse data and methods in modelling, as well as to the temporal dimension and the consequences of fires.
  • Laaksonen, Iivari (2022)
    Multi-local living is a complex social phenomenon that is tightly connected to human mobility. In previous research, the phenomenon has been mainly researched with official statistics that fail to capture the dynamic nature of people’s mobilities and dwelling. This thesis approaches multi-locality in Finland and in the county South Savo from the perspective of second homes with novel data sources like mobile phone data and electricity consumption data. These spatially and temporally accurate big data sources can be used to ensure sufficient coverage of population and geographic area. I approach multi-local living by analyzing the spatiotemporal changes in people’s presence with mobile phone data, and by examining how the changes relate to second homes in different areas separately for workdays and weekends. This is examined both for the whole country and by comparing different counties. In the thesis, mobile phone data is utilized as the ground truth to assess the performance of household occupancy detection methods for electricity consumption, and to examine how electricity consumption data captures the spatiotemporal dynamics of second home users in South Savo. The results indicate that people are generally more mobile during the summer, and the seasonal growth in people’s presence correlates strongly with second homes. This shows a prominent seasonal effect for multi-local living in Finland. Additionally, it is shown that the results vary spatially as there is variation in the results both between counties and within South Savo. The best performing second home occupancy detection method is revealed by correlation analyses between mobile phone data and electricity consumption data. Moreover, it is shown that electricity data correlates better with mobile phone data during the summer, and that the data captures the monthly dynamics of second home users well. This further highlights the seasonal effect of multi-local living. The thesis provides valuable insight into how the seasonal variation of population in different areas is connected to multi-local living in Finland. Furthermore, it is shown that novel data sources can capture the changes in people’s presence at multiple spatial levels with high temporal accuracy, and that they can be utilized to study multi-local living.