State of the environment as a determinant of life quality: a local scale approach

Traditionally nature plays a significant role for people worldwide. Thousands of years ago our ancestors made their life-related decisions by accounting for the environmental situation. They relied on natural phenomena, divinized and defied them. Due to the high dependence on the resources provided by the surrounding environment, people were vulnerable, and changes in environmental conditions motivated them towards migration processes and search for ways of communication. In the 21st century this link to the local environment is not so clear for many people and the role of nature for well-being appears to be disappearing in the shadow of traditional socio-economic factors affecting life quality. However, in circumstances of the global environmental crisis caused by climate change, local nature becomes an important indicator of stress with impact on society. At the same time, the role of local nature for well-being of community is not well known. In this thesis, I studied the impact of the local environment on people’s well-being reflected by the sea surface water quality for inhabitants of a coastal community. These environmental conditions were measured objectively with professional scientific equipment and subjectively by surveying people, who made general assessments of their local environmental conditions. First, I investigated if and how accurately respondents’ perception of water quality corresponds with objective measures, and if socio-demographic status can affect people’s evaluations. My findings suggest that the accuracy of assessing water quality is high and potentially adequate for considering their use in policymaking. Over 70% of people assessed the state of water quality in the right direction and almost 60% were correct in their estimates. At the same time, socio-demographic status had an effect on perceptions but did not markedly improve their reliability. Next, I tested the effect of the local environmental conditions (objectively measured and perceived) on the well-being of individuals in combination with traditional socio-economic factors. I found that the objectively measured state of the environment has a less pronounced impact on life quality, but that the way people perceive their surrounding environmental (water) quality plays a significant role for well-being (life quality). This finding highlights the psychological effect of how the local environment is perceived. Moreover, the strength of this positive relationship between life quality and water quality is conditional on income level, such that people with income issues are more dissatisfied with their life regardless of the quality of surrounding environmental. In my third chapter, I found that local nature can buffer the adverse impacts of global stress on the life quality of individuals. My investigation of the changes in life quality before and during the COVID-19 pandemic indicated that there is a significant role of good environmental conditions for mitigation of the personal impacts of the pandemic. I found that the pandemic had a negative impact on well-being, especially for people who lived in areas with poor coastal water quality. Additionally, I found that the pandemic changed the people-nature relationship toward environmentally-friendly behavior. Lastly, I studied if property prices are influenced by local environmental conditions and whether environmental aspects generate economic benefits through a positive effect on property prices, presented by price perception extracted from real estate listings. My findings indicate that people responsible for the price perception value, property owners and real estate agents, do take into consideration the water quality conditions in their evaluation, and that good water quality corresponds with higher property prices in advertisements. The results of this thesis highlight the significant role of the local environment for life quality of community members. Based on the results, I conclude that local environmental conditions can be buffer to stress impacts, which is important in light of the negative effects of the climate change crisis that small communities are exposed to. This thesis suggests that local councils should involve residents in decision-making and thereby promote environmental democracy

Losing your home : temporal changes in forest landscape structure due to timber harvest accelerate Northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) nest stand losses

In Finland, forests are both one of the main national economic resources and the main source of biodiversity. Lack of detailed empirical evidence of how forestry affects biodiversity limits the development of sustainable forest management. Previous studies have found that the Northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) is a keystone species in mature coniferous boreal forests, and that its presence is associated with high local biodiversity. To understand how timber harvest affect goshawk nest-stand constancy and nest occupancy, we analyzed changes in nine landscape classes in two buffer zones (100 m, 250 m) around goshawk nests in Western Finland during 2005-2013. Patterns of nest occupancy and nest stand loss during 2005-2013 was compared with corresponding data from 1999-2005 to investigate possible long-term changes in the same. We found a positive connection between the proportion of mature spruce forest and nest occupancy. Nest stand constancy was at a lower level during 2005-2013 than during 1999-2005. This was mainly because of forest loss due to cutting of nest stands. Given that the loss of goshawk nest stands has accelerated and because timber harvest in the area was found to be specifically targeted towards forest types favoured by goshawks, forestry may have an even larger negative effect on biodiversity locally than previously thought given that goshawk nest stands are associated with high biodiversity. To render the Finnish forestry ecologically sustainable, we propose that protection of goshawk nest stands should be an integrated part of standard forestry practices in the future.Peer reviewe

Striving with Global Stress on a Local Level: Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Changed the Relationship between People and Nature?

The COVID-19 pandemic had harsh consequences on human health and society across the globe. In addition to health effects, the pandemic also influenced people's values, concerns, and ethics due to lockdowns and general limitations in societal activities. In this study, we examined changes in the relationship between people and nature caused by COVID-associated stress, as well as its consequences on life quality, by comparing questionnaire-based survey data before and during the pandemic. We found that the pandemic had positive effects on individual respondents' relationships with nature. Respondents who were more affected by the pandemic rated their life quality lower than those who were less affected. In accordance, the pandemic had a negative effect on people's life quality, especially for people living in areas where the environment (coastal water quality) was in poor condition. Our results support the prediction that environmental quality may buffer against global stress and improve societal wellbeing

Female breeding dispersal to higher quality habitats in a philopatric top predator

Philopatry and monogamy are conventionally viewed as strategies for improving fitness. Many philopatric and monogamous species have, however, been shown to perform breeding dispersal-an exchange of territory (and often also partner) between two breeding seasons. The adaptiveness of breeding dispersal remains controversial, as data remain scarce and sporadic. For the Northern Goshawk, a typically highly philopatric and monogamous forest raptor, pairs breeding in barren forest landscapes produce fewer fledglings than pairs breeding in more productive landscapes. Using data on Finnish breeding female Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) during 1999-2016, we tested the hypotheses that: (1) breeding dispersal is more likely at barren territories, (2) dispersing females move to less barren territories, and (3) breeding dispersal improves the survival of young. About 29% of the female Goshawks in our study performed breeding dispersal, which contrasts to philopatry and suggest that site and partner fidelities show large variation within the species' breeding range. We found no evidence that territorial landscape barrenness (proxy on habitat quality) affects the probability of breeding dispersal. However, females that dispersed upgraded to less barren territories. Nevertheless, there were no subsequent effects of breeding dispersal on reproductive performance, suggesting no obvious difference in the capability of rearing young at either site. Although dispersal events were directed to less barren habitats, we suggest that female dispersal is not driven by the pursue for more prospersous habitats, rather that those females are forced to move, for whatever reason. In addition to other observed reasons such as female-female competition for mates and loss of the original mate, intense logging of mature forests lowering local food availability and restricting nest site availability were likely a partial cause of increased breeding dispersal.Peer reviewe

Does Water Quality Matter for Life Quality? A Study of the Impact of Water Quality on Well-being in a Coastal Community

Most studies of life quality are concentrated on a country-level scale, while local differences within a country or area are less studied. Thus, the effect of the environment on life quality on a local scale remains understudied and is often represented by one generalized common factor. In this study, we investigated the effect of an objectively measured environmental quality variable and subjective reflections of this (perceptions of environmental quality) in relation to life quality in a coastal community. Hence, we tested the effect of objective and subjective water quality measures using a model, accounting for other traditional variables (e.g., income and health) that predict life quality variations. Our findings indicate that perceptions of the environment are strongly associated with life quality, whereas objectively measured environmental quality is associated with life quality to a lesser extent. Thus, our results suggest that the impact of the environment on life quality is mediated via the way the environment is perceived (psychological effects) and less by the actual conditions of the environment

How accurate is citizen science? Evaluating public assessments of coastal water quality

Citizen science is changing society's contribution to research projects worldwide. Non-experts are no longer just spectators, they are active participants and supporters of scientific work. Using citizen science, that is, data collected by laypeople, the opportunities to collect large-scale data on the environment are increasing. Such community-based and citizen scientific approaches can provide useful tools as local people can be trained to accurately take measurements that can be used in scientific studies. However, little is known about how well volunteer-based non-standard subjective assessments of the environment based on prior experience only and no training compare with scientifically measured estimates of that environment. In this paper, we tested how well measures of coastal water quality assessed by local inhabitants corresponds with objective water quality data collected using scientific instruments. Our results showed that over 70% of the respondents assessed water quality in the right direction and almost 60% were correct in their estimates. We found that socio-demographic factors affect the assessments, but do not markedly improve reliability. We conclude that simple questionnaires can be used to assess general coastal water quality.</p

Female breeding dispersal to higher quality habitats in a philopatric top predator

Philopatry and monogamy are conventionally viewed as strategies for improving fitness. Many philopatric and monogamous species have, however, been shown to perform breeding dispersal-an exchange of territory (and often also partner) between two breeding seasons. The adaptiveness of breeding dispersal remains controversial, as data remain scarce and sporadic. For the Northern Goshawk, a typically highly philopatric and monogamous forest raptor, pairs breeding in barren forest landscapes produce fewer fledglings than pairs breeding in more productive landscapes. Using data on Finnish breeding female Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) during 1999-2016, we tested the hypotheses that: (1) breeding dispersal is more likely at barren territories, (2) dispersing females move to less barren territories, and (3) breeding dispersal improves the survival of young. About 29% of the female Goshawks in our study performed breeding dispersal, which contrasts to philopatry and suggest that site and partner fidelities show large variation within the species' breeding range. We found no evidence that territorial landscape barrenness (proxy on habitat quality) affects the probability of breeding dispersal. However, females that dispersed upgraded to less barren territories. Nevertheless, there were no subsequent effects of breeding dispersal on reproductive performance, suggesting no obvious difference in the capability of rearing young at either site. Although dispersal events were directed to less barren habitats, we suggest that female dispersal is not driven by the pursue for more prospersous habitats, rather that those females are forced to move, for whatever reason. In addition to other observed reasons such as female-female competition for mates and loss of the original mate, intense logging of mature forests lowering local food availability and restricting nest site availability were likely a partial cause of increased breeding dispersal.</p

Changes in landscape configuration and occupancy of northern goshawk and Ural owl territories

Landscape fragmentation is one of the processes strongly related to human activities. During this process, an area is divided into smaller pieces and usually, these pieces have different predestination. As a result, natural areas lose their connections, which are vital for animals and plants. Finland is mainly covered with forest that is also affected by landscape fragmentation. Thus, forest species are under threat and biodiversity can be reduced to a critical level. Monitoring of the biodiversity is usually a complicated and long process, but for facilitating research indicator species are often used. Examples of these are the northern goshawk and Ural owl. In this research, the relationship between this species occupancy and landscape configuration in Suupohja area was investigated and tested. A strong connection was found between Northern goshawk occupancy and the mature spruce forest. Furthermore, a connection between decreasing species population and increasing amount of low-stocking forest was observed. Changes in the protected areas in Suupohja were also studied for the period 2009- 2013. As a result, a decrease in human activities and an increase in the amount of mature forest due to natural growth were found, which confirms the security of this area and its name of protected areas