Browsing by Subject "maaperätiede"

Eight active farms participated in the OSMO-project between years 2015 and 2018. Each farm had unique soil health related challenges. The aim of this work was to identify factors related to soil manganese concentration and mobility and develop tools and materials to help farmers better to understand manganese related soil health issues. Manganese cycling and mobility in soils was analysed through soil structure, electric conductivity (EC), SOM, pH and soil iron concentration. Soil manganese concentration was evaluated with three indicators: pH-corrected acid ammonium acetate + EDTA extractable manganese, acid ammonium acetate + EDTA extractable manganese and the amount of manganese available to plants based on the volume of soil available for root growth. Foliar fluorescence measurement to evaluate manganese deficiency in plant tissues is shortly discussed. Soil manganese concentrations and mobility in soil profiles varied because of soil chemical and biological properties but also because of farming practices and changes in physical soil properties. To improve manganese availability in arable farming, soil health analysis through multiple indicators together with consistent soil health improvement and crop rotation is recommended for all active farms. When using fluorescence measurements to evaluate the need for foliar manganese fertilisation, the use of control solution is necessary for reliable results. More research is needed on manganese efficient crops and crop rotation and its effects on manganese cycle and availability in soils. To improve scientific understanding on soil processes, more research is needed about soil redox-reactions, electric conductivity, pH and how the dynamic change in soil Eh-pH environment relates to soil health.

The ongoing growth and densification of urban areas is threatening biodiversity in cities. Previously continuous habitats are reduced and fragmented into smaller areas, which increases the edge effect and changes the qualities of the original habitat. Urban greenspaces are frequently used by people, and disturbances, such as trampling, and understorey management are increasing the similarity of habitat patches (i.e. homogenisation). In this study, I investigated the effects of small-scale homogeneity in forests produced by urbanisation on the distribution patterns and trait composition of carabid beetles. Sampling was done with pitfall traps during the summer of 2021 and altogether 21 study sites were selected in the City of Lahti, Finland. The study sites represented three different environments: 1) structurally complex (heterogenous) habitat in remnant spruce forests in the city, 2) structurally simple (homogenous) habitat in remnant spruce forests in the city, 3) structurally simple habitat under spruce trees in managed urban parks. In addition to the beetles, a set of environmental variables was collected to quantify the complexity of the three habitat types. As expected, habitat homogeneity affected carabid beetle species composition so that the proportion of generalist and open-habitat species was greater in homogenous sites, including homogenous forest remnants and highly homogenous urban parks, whereas the proportion of forest specialists was greater in heterogenous forests. Species richness was higher in the homogenous sites due to species-rich open-habitat genera in the carabid beetle family. Trait distribution at the community level showed clear differences between the three studied habitat types. As expected, the proportions of large and heavy species were higher in the forest habitats than in the parks, whereas homogenous habitats, especially highly homogenous park sites consisted of a higher proportion of flight capable species than heterogenous forests. At the species level, individual beetles were generally smaller in the parks, whereas the results between the two forest types varied and a clear difference between habitat specialists and generalists could not be detected. As cities grow, keeping the management of greenspaces moderate, selecting native vegetation, and preserving decaying woody material are ways to increase habitat heterogeneity, which according to this study, can support biodiversity and life of different organisms in urban areas.