Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica 13.5.2021 – 12.5.2022

Styrelsens verksamhetsberättelse förelagd vid årsmötet den 12 maj 2022 av Sällskapets ordförande, doc. Mikael von Numers

Carex mackenziei and C. canescens × mackenziei in the Åland Islands, SW Finland

The northern amphi-atlantic seashore sedge Carex mackenziei V. I. Krecz. was found by us in four localities in 2008–2011, two in Kökar and one in Brändö in the eastern archipelago and one in Sund on the mainland of Åland. The hybrid C. canescens L. × mackenziei (C. × pseudohelvola Kihlm.), which occurs regularly together with C. mackenziei, was found in Sund in 2010 and 2011. The general distribution of the two taxa is outlined. The previous finds of C. mackenziei and the hybrid in the Åland Islands during the 19th and 20th centuries are referred to. The future of Carex mackenziei and its hybrid in the Åland Islands is discussed

Indications of garfish Belone belone reproducing in Southern Finland

Juvenile of garfish Belone belone (Belonidae) were caught during two separate field courses held at the Archipelago Research Institute of University of Turku and at the Husö Biological Station of Åbo Akademi University respectively in 2019

Allium ursinum (Alliaceae) in Finland

Allium ursinum L. is a perennial bulbous herb of broad-leaved woods of Western and Central Europe. Of two subspecies subsp. ursinum is distributed in Western Europe including the Nordic countries. The general distribution of A. ursinum in the Nordic countries is outlined. The localities for A. ursinum in Finland are the northeasternmost in Europe. The rather few localities are concentrated to the Åland Islands (Al) and the archipelago of Regio Aboënsis (Ab). They are described in a chronological order of the first find in each municipality. Several localities with A. ursinum as a cultivated plant or as a garden escape are referred to. The habitat requirements for Allium ursinum are discussed. Although A. ursinum has a broad distribution with a clear tendency to occur as a weed, it is still a habitat specialist with a rather narrow range of ecological tolerance as it requires a mesic well-drained soil and drought as well as waterlogging seem to be unfavourable. A. ursinum is moderately calciphilic in the southwestern archipelago of Finland. Many of the accompanying species, 32.5 % of all species, are regarded as calciphilic. Allium ursinum has been used as a spice by man since ancient times. Many of its localities point towards a fairly strong hemerophilic tendency. Of the 53 localities in Finland described, 17–19 can be regarded as more or less natural, 30–32 as cultivated or otherwise introduced and 4 as uncertain, because of insufficient information. Therefore we regard A. ursinum as a moderately hemerophilic species. The dispersal of the seeds by autochory or by myrmecochory is discussed. A possibility for hydrochorous dispersal of seedling is referred to. A. ursinum is most probably going to be more common in the future due to introduction to gardens as both living plants and seeds are sold in garden shops. Further, the warming of the climate will be favourable for this in Finland southern species. As a strong competitor in the field layer, A. ursinum may become a problem in protected areas in the future

Island properties dominate species traits in determining plant colonizations in an archipelago system

The extrinsic determinants hypothesis emphasizes the essential role of environmental heterogeneity in species' colonization. Consequently, high resident species diversity can increase community susceptibility to colonizations because good habitats may support more species that are functionally similar to colonizers. On the other hand, colonization success is also likely to depend on species traits. We tested the relative importance of environmental characteristics and species traits in determining colonization success using census data of 587 vascular plant species collected about 70 yr apart from 471 islands in the archipelago of SW Finland. More specifically, we explored potential new colonization as a function of island properties (e.g. location, area, habitat diversity, number of resident species per unit area), species traits (e.g. plant height, life-form, dispersal vector, Ellenberg indicator values, association with human impact), and species' historical distributions (number of inhabited islands, nearest occurrence). Island properties and species' historical distributions were more effective than plant traits in explaining colonization outcomes. Contrary to the extrinsic determinants hypothesis, colonization success was neither associated with resident species diversity nor habitat diversity per se, although colonization was lowest on sparsely vegetated islands. Our findings lead us to propose that while plant traits related to dispersal and establishment may enhance colonization, predictions of plant colonizations primarily require understanding of habitat properties and species' historical distributions

Scots lovage, Ligusticum scoticum, is spreading in the Åland Islands, SW Finland

Scots lovage, Ligusticum scoticum L., was probably collected already in 1892 in the Åland Islands, but it was not reported from Åland until 1970. Since then, the species has been found in an increasing number of localities. Here we report about 25 new localities found 1992–2008. There seemto be two centres for the species, one in thewesternmost islands of Åland, between the mainland of Eckerö and the Signilskär archipelago, and the other in the northern islands of Föglö.Amore systematic investigation in the archipelagos of Åland could yield new localities

Itämeren hiekkarantojen ja dyynien hoito - Vård av Östersjöns sandstränder och dyner

Hiekkarannat ja dyynit ovat lajirikkaita elinympäristöjä. Niillä elää lukuisia joukko kovakuoriaisia, luteita, perhosia, hämähäkkieläimiä, kasveja ja lintuja. Monet lajeista ovat nykyisin uhanalaisia. Hiekkarantoja, dyynejä ja niillä eläviä eliöitä uhkaavat muiden muassa Itämeren rehevöityminen, joka näkyy rannoilla levän kertymisenä ja umpeenkasvuna. Myös rakentaminen ja virkistyskäytöstä johtuva kuluminen heikentävät hiekkarantojen lajien elinmahdollisuuksia. Vieraslaji kurtturuusu leviää myös kovaa vauhtia etenkin Suomenlahden rannikolla. Tässä oppaassa kerrotaan hiekkarantojen ja dyynien monimuotoisesta elämästä. Itämeren tilan parantaminen on ensisijaista rantojen eliölajiston hyvinvoinnin kannalta. Meren elpyminen on kuitenkin hidasta ja sitä odotellessa meistä jokainen voi auttaa rantojen erikoistunutta eliölajistoa pienilläkin teoilla

Testing the Potential for Predictive Modeling and Mapping and Extending Its Use as a Tool for Evaluating Management Scenarios and Economic Valuation in the Baltic Sea (PREHAB)

Peer reviewe

Refining predictions of metacommunity dynamics by modeling species non-independence

Abstract Predicting the dynamics of biotic communities is difficult because species? environmental responses are not independent, but covary due to shared or contrasting ecological strategies and the influence of species interactions. We used latent-variable joint species distribution models to analyse paired historical and contemporary inventories of 585 vascular plant species on 471 islands in the south-west Finnish archipelago. Larger, more heterogeneous islands were characterized by higher colonisation rates and lower extinction rates. Ecological and taxonomical species groups explained small but detectable proportions of variance in species? environmental responses. To assess the potential influence of species interactions on community dynamics, we estimated species associations as species-to-species residual correlations for historical occurrences, for colonisations, and for extinctions. Historical species associations could to some extent predict joint colonisation patterns, but the overall estimated influence of species associations on community dynamics was weak. These results illustrate the benefits of considering metacommunity dynamics within a joint framework, but also suggest that any influence of species interactions on community dynamics may be hard to detect from observational data.Peer reviewe

Biologian kenttäopetus yliopistoissa: yhteistyöllä uuteen nousuun

Kenttäkurssit ovat keskeinen osa biologian ja lähitieteiden opetusta yliopistoissa. Luonnossa tapahtuva opetus kehittää sekä ymmärrystä tieteenalan teoreettisista perusteista että ammatillisia käytännön taitoja. Kenttäkursseilla omat havainnot muodostuvat oppimisen perustaksi muiden oppimistapojen rinnalla. Vaikka kenttäopetuksen tarpeellisuudesta ollaan yksimielisiä, kenttäkursseja uhkaavat yliopistojen rahoituksen väheneminen ja tutkimusasemaverkoston karsiminen. Tässä kirjoituksessa pohdimme, kuinka uhkista huolimatta kenttäopetuksen määrää, laatua ja kustannustehokkuutta voidaan lisätä yliopistojen ja niiden tutkimusasemien välisellä yhteistyöllä.</p