Pursuing Otherness: Autoethnographic study on dark proximity tourism in Viitasaari

Throughout history, places related to death have lured visitors. Dark tourism is not a new phenomenon and academic interest towards death-related places is not novel either. Dark tourism, however, provides a vast area of research and opportunities for continuous discoveries. Utilizing local death-related Finnish folk belief tradition in dark tourism practices is a novel approach this study adopts. This autoethnographic study examines endeavor to practice dark proximity tourism through death-related myths and legends on the Old Church Island Cemetery in Viitasaari. The study aims to provide nuanced and intimate insights into pursuing Otherness in one’s proximate environment. Furthermore, the study aims to contribute to understanding small-scale non-commercialized lived dark proximity tourism experiences. The empirical data consists of fieldnotes reflectively describing and discussing the process of pursuing Otherness, as well as, the two lived dark proximity tourism experiences that took place during the research process. In the analysis part of the study, autoethnographic accounts written based on the field notes aim to describe the dark proximity tourism phenomenon in a fundamental and revealing manner. Alongside the autoethnographic accounts presented, particularly emotions, senses, feelings, embodiment, thoughts related to dark proximity tourism as well as expressions referring to one’s meaning-making process are analyzed in the light of hermeneutic phenomenology. The findings indicate that dark proximity tourism practices can be multifaceted and encompass various relations with death as well as offer tremendous emotional experiences. Through adopting a different mindset and attributing difference ideologically a cemetery in one’s proximate surroundings may turn into a place where Otherness can be experienced, and tourism practices implemented. Attributing differences ideologically may be a far-reaching process that establishes an emotional connection towards the place as well as shapes the place identity. Around us, dozens of unheard stories exist, and discovering them, may help us to see our familiar environment in a new light and as alluring for implementing tourism practices

Testing Projected Climate Change Conditions on the Endoconidiophora polonica/Norway spruce Pathosystem Shows Fungal Strain Specific Effects

Climate changes, exemplified by increased temperatures and CO2 concentration, pose a global threat to forest health. Of particular concern are pests and pathogens, with a warming climate altering their distributions and evolutionary capacity, while impairing the ability of some plants to respond to infections. Progress in understanding and mitigating such effects is currently hindered by a lack of empirical research. Norway spruce (Picea abies) is one of the most economically important tree species in northern Europe, and is considered highly vulnerable to changes in climate. It is commonly infected by the fungus Endoconidiophora polonica, and we hypothesized that damage caused to trees will increase under future climate change predictions. To test this hypothesis an in vivo greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of a changed growing environment on E. polonica infected Norway spruce seedlings, comparing ambient conditions to predicted temperatures and CO2 levels in Finland for the years 2030 and 2100. In total, 450 seedlings were randomized amongst the three treatments, with 25 seedlings from each allocated to inoculation with one of five different fungal strains or mock-inoculation. Seedlings were monitored throughout the thermal growing season for mortality, and lesion length and depth indices were measured at the experiment conclusion. Disease severity (mortality and lesions) was consistently greater in fungal-inoculated than mock-inoculated seedlings. However, substantial differences were observed among fungal strains in response to climate scenarios. For example, although overall seedling mortality was highest under the most distant (and severe) climate change expectations, of the two fungal strains with the highest mortality counts (referred to as F4 and F5), one produced greater mortality under the 2030 and 2100 scenarios than ambient conditions, whereas climate scenario had no effect on the other. This study contributes to a limited body of empirical research on the effects of projected climate changes on forestry pathosystems, and is the first to investigate interactions between Norway spruce and E. polonica. The results indicate the potential for future climate changes to alter the impact of forest pathogens with implications for productivity, while highlighting the need for a strain-specific level of understanding of the disease agents.Peer reviewe

Pathogens-The Hidden Face of Forest Invasions by Wood-Boring Insect Pests

Peer reviewe

Diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi in woodpecker nest cavities in southern Poland

Article 1126201

Kivikorien koneellinen valmistus ja asennus

Tässä työssä tutkitaan kivikorien koneellista valmistamista ja asentamista, ohjeistetaan uusia yrittäjiä työturvallisuuteen ja saavuttamaan asennettavien korien vaaditut laatuvaatimukset. Työn tarkoituksena oli tutkia, mitä pitää ottaa huomioon ennen kivikorityömaan aloittamista. Sen johdosta laadittiin työmaalle tarkistuslista omaluovutukseen. Työssä on myös valmis tarkistuslista, joka pitää olla hyväksytysti tehtynä ennen työmaan luovuttamista tilaajalle. Tässä työssä tutkittiin kivikorien asentamiseen liittyviä ongelmia, työturvallisuutta työmaalla ja laadun parantamiseen liittyviä tekijöitä työmaalla.In this study was explored gabions mechanical manufacturing and give instructions to the new entrepreneurs to work safety and to achieve of the installed gabions required quality requirements. The purpose of this work was to to establish what needs to be taken into account before the start of the gabion construction site, which was drawn up on the basis of a checklist for your own dispose. There is is also prepared checklist at work, that must be accepted before dispose the construction siteto the customer for. In this study was explored installing troubles of gabions, construction site safety, as well as improving the quality of the site

The pathogenicity of the blue stain fungus Ophiostoma clavatum in Scots pine seedlings

Peer reviewe

Antiviral Agents From Fungi: Diversity, Mechanisms and Potential Applications

201

Climate change alters disease severity in the Endoconidiophora polonica-Norway spruce pathosystem

Posteri201

Ophiostoma denticiliatum sp. nov. and other Ophiostoma species associated with the birch bark beetle in southern Norway

Ophiostomatoid fungi were isolated from Scolytus ratzeburgi infesting Betula pendula and B. pubescens in Norway. Fungi were identified based on morphology, DNA sequence comparison for two gene regions and phylogenetic analyses. The most abundant fungus was Ophiostoma karelicum, suggesting a specific relationship between the fungus, the vector insect and the host tree. Our results suggest that O. karelicum occurs across the geographic range of S. ratzeburgi and its close relatedness to the Dutch elm disease fungi suggests that it could be important if introduced into other parts of the world. Other fungi, only occasionally isolated from S. ratzeburgi, were identified as O. quercus and a novel taxon, described here as O. denticiliatum sp. nov

Ophiostoma spp. associated with pine- and spruce-infesting bark beetles in Finland and Russia

The timber and pulp industries of Finland rely heavily on importations from Russia as source of raw timber. These imports raise the risk of accidentally importing forest pests and pathogens, especially bark beetles and their associated fungi, into Finland. Although ophiostomatoid fungi have previously been reported from Finland and Russia, the risks of accidentally moving these fungi has prompted a first survey to compare the diversity of conifer-infesting bark beetles and associated fungi from boreal forests on both sides of the Finnish-Russian border. The aim of the present study was to identify and characterise Ophiostoma species isolated in association with 11 bark beetle species infesting Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies during this survey in the eastern parts of Finland and neighbouring Russia. Fungal isolates were grouped based on morphology and representatives of each morphological group were subjected to DNA sequence comparisons of the internal transcribed spaced region (ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2) and β-tubulin gene region. A total of 15 species of Ophiostoma were identified, including seven known species, five new species, and three species for which the identity remains uncertain. In the O. piceae-complex we identified O. canum, O. floccosum, O. karelicum and O. rachisporum sp. nov., and related to these, some isolates belonging to the European clade of O. minus in the O. minus-complex. Ophiostoma bicolor and O. fuscum sp. nov. were identified in the O. ips-complex, while O. ainoae, O. brunneo-ciliatum, O. tapionis sp. nov. and O. pallidulum sp. nov. were shown to group close to, but not in a strict monophyletic lineage with species of the O. ips-complex. Together with a single O. abietinum-like isolate, the only species that grouped close to the Sporothrix schenckii- O. stenoceras complex, was O. saponiodorum sp. nov