Peat&Trees - Peatland and Soil Ecology Research Group

Global change is posing multiple pressures to northern ecosystems by changing climate, human land use, urbanization and use of natural resources. These pressures change ecosystem properties and functioning with potential to feedbacks into climate, societies, and human well-being. Our research is focused on ecosystem adaptations to the changing conditions, their feedbacks and the relations between humans and ecosystems.

We are a multidisciplinary group doing both curiosity-driven research and solution-driven applied research. We aim to cross borders between scientific disciplines and strive to nurture academic progress and personal development in a supportive atmosphere.

Below we share our ongoing research projects, the field sites and laboratory equipment we often use as well as our partner organisations. Check our announcements for new job and thesis opportunities, news, and events. Do you have a research idea or want to collaborate? Feel free to contact us any time.

Our research themes include

• • Consequences of climate and land-use change for peatlands
    • Vegetation
    • microbial communities
    • carbon dynamics and greenhouse gas fluxes (CO2, CH4, BVOC)
  • Interactions between people and environment
  • People’s perception of urban forests in Finland
  • Human relationships with trees
  • Forest happiness index

Research projects

• WaterLANDS – Water-based solutions for carbon storage, people and wilderness (Waterlands – webpage) (2021-2026)
• BorPeat – Drying trend in boreal peatlands – impacts and mechanisms (2021-2026)
• Recent climate-induced changes in the species composition and functional traits of testate amoebae and plant communities of northern peatland
• “Forest happiness index” – understanding socio-cultural dimensions of urban forests in Finland

Past projects

• Trees Near Us – explores what makes some individual trees important to people. (Trees Near Us – project) (2019-2024)
• Reindeerpaths – The impacts of land-use and management on the carbon sequestration capacity of peatlands (Reindeerpaths – project) (2020-2024)
• ”Recovery of Sphagnum” – Project aims to develop a new, more efficient, method to restore peatlands drained for forestry. The goal is to strengthen the carbon reservoir of a peatland, recover the functional diversity and mitigate methane emissions caused by the restoration. (Recovery of Sphagnum – project) (2022-2024)

Field sites

The proximity of our reseach sites are located to Hyytiälä Research Station (University of Helsinki) enable close access to laboratory space, offering also accomodation possibilities.

Our key research sites are Lakkasuo and Siikaneva mires in Central Finland. In the Lakkasuo peatland, we run a long-term drainage experiment in collaboration with the University of Helsinki. The aim of the experiment is to simulate the effects of climate change on the plant and microbial communities, biomass production, and greenhouse gas fluxes in three sites, each representing a different nutrient-level. Lakkasuo is part of the ELTER, ANAEE and INTERACT networks. In Siikaneva fen (link to site camera SN1) and in Siikaneva bog (link to site camera SN2) we study the spatial and temporal variation in the vegetation and greenhouse gas fluxes of a pristine peatland in collaboration with the Universities of Helsinki and Potsdam. Siikaneva fen belongs to ICOS network.

Take a virtual Siikaneva mire tour here: Siikaneva virtual tour (thinglink.com)

The members of this group are also doing research in Lompolojänkkä fen in North-Western Lapland, and in Pöyrisjärvi wilderness area (Reindeerpaths-project). Finnish Meteorological Institute have a permanent greenhouse gas flux measurement site in Lompolojänkkä, and it is also part of ICOS Finland network, which makes it an ideal environment for studying the interactions between greenhouse gas fluxes and vegetation.

Labs and equipment

The school of Forest Sciences has excellent laboratory spaces with temperature regulating growth chambers and root laboratory. (the complete list in UEF Forest Science page)

Partners

Our group is part of the research community “Climate Forcing, Ecosystems and Health” (CLEHE) at UEF,  the Academy of Finland’s Flagship Programme “The Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center” (ACCC) and the European Union research infrastructure “Analysis and Experimentation on Ecosystems” (AnaEE).  We also contribute to data collection of the “Integrated carbon observation system” (ICOS) and the FLUXNET network.

We are closely collaborating with University of Helsinki, Finnish Meteorological Institute and Geological Survey of Finland.

Main Funders

• The Academy of Finland
• EU Horizon 2020
• Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
• Finnish Cultural Foundation
• The Kone Foundation
• Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation
• OLVI Foundation
• Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation