Finland’s forest genetic resources, use and conservation

Three fourths of the land area of Finland is covered by forests. The forest area, 22.8 million hectares, has remained almost unchanged over the last 50 years, whereas the volume of growing stock has increased by more than 40% since 1971, being now 2 473 million m3. In the same time, the area of protected forests has tripled. The vision of the updated National Forest Strategy 2025 is: Sustainable forest management is a source of growing welfare. The vision highlights the diverse welfare derived from forests as well as the fact that forests provide solutions to people´s and society´s needs. The forest sector is the cornerstone in the development of a sustainable and circular bioeconomy in Finland. The use of genetically improved material in forest regeneration has already significantly contributed to the increase of the annual increment of the growing stock in Finland for all three major tree species and will continue to do so also in the near future. The strategy acknowledges the importance of both the use and conservation of forest genetic resources to guarantee the genetic diversity, vitality and adaptability of tree species, in changing climatic conditions. Finland’s National Genetic Resources Programme for Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (2018) brings together for the first time the gene conservation of plants and animals. For forest trees it lays out the need for conservation and defines the primary conservation methods (in situ or ex situ) for a total of 14 tree species, continuing the strategy that was already chosen in the previous national programme on forest genetic resources. Thus, conservation covers almost all financially or ecologically important tree species in Finland. The total number of gene reserve forests in Finland in 2020 is 44, covering an area of 7 218 ha. Ex situ –collections include 9 species for which material was collected from altogether 314 natural populations. Forest genetic resources in Finland are used in a sustainable way. Around one fifth of forest regeneration is natural and four fifth artificial through planting or direct sowing. There is increasing interest in alternative forest management practises, such as continuous-cover forestry and there is a need to study the effect of this on the genetic variability. Finland has a long-term tree improvement programme for the six most important tree species. The breeding programme is managed by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) as a fully state-financed public service. Breeding goals for all species include volume production, timber quality and adaptedness to various sites and climates. Around 60‒70% of the seed for reforestation is produced in seed orchards. Cold hardiness is an important trait in the harsh climate of Finland and the application of optimal deployment areas for both non-improved and improved origins of forest reproductive material is considered highly important. For the users of forest reproductive material there are new tools to assist in making the right choice of regeneration material but there is still a need to promote the use of these tools and to expand their usability to a wider selection of species. For monitoring the success and for adapting the decision support tools as well as the regulations, it is extremely important to set up a geo-referenced system that keeps records on the origin of the regeneration material that has been used at a given location. Because the distribution areas of forest tree species go beyond political borders, international cooperation on forest genetic resources is crucial. Finland is actively participating in several important networks on the field of conservation and use of forest genetic resources, especially within the FAO and EUFORGEN. Regional cooperation is highly important in the sustainable management of forest genetic resources and cooperation brings sustainable multilateral benefits. The most urgent needs for development of the conservation programme are the characterisation of the conserved material and the subsequent evaluation of the conservation network. Genetic information of all individual conservation units should be generated in a systematic way and this information needs to be made available for all stakeholders. Ideally the methods and descriptors would be harmonized at regional level to enable further development of the existing pan-European network and development of widely applicable genetic monitoring programme. At national, regional and global level there are various processes that require reporting on forest genetic resources for monitoring and development purposes. To make these parallel processes coherent and cost-effective it is essential that all reporting is organised in a transparent way, with open and accessible data records

Implementation of 0.23 T magnetic resonance scanner to perioperative imaging in neurosurgery

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to implement a unique low-field open magnetic resonance scanner for perioperative imaging in neurosurgery. A paradigm was created for joint intraoperative/interventional MRI, including premises, surgical practice and an operational model. The feasibility of the paradigm was tested in clinical work. The joint use of the facilities between the Departments of Neurosurgery and Diagnostic Radiology was found to enhance the economic rationale and provide for perioperative imaging. It was also found to be organizationally viable in the long run. Intraoperative MRI was implemented and studied in connection with neuronavigation and other intraoperative instruments, tools and imaging modalities. The unique shut down possibility of the magnet enabled staged operating-imaging practice, use of non-MRI-compatible instruments and devices, multimodal imaging with navigation, and avoidance of safety risks associated with operating in magnetic fringe fields. Two dynamic contrast enhanced MR imaging sequences, which used undersampled projection reconstruction, were implemented in the low-field scanner. The applicability of these imaging sequences to follow contrast enhancement of meningiomas was studied in laboratory experiments and in two patient cases. The laboratory experiments showed a nearly linear response in signal intensity to the concentration of gadopentetate dimeglumine in purified water up to 1.25 mM. The patient cases showed results consistent with an earlier study performed at high-field strength. The potential of low-field MRI study including dynamic contrast enhanced imaging to predict surgical and histopathologic characteristics of meningiomas was studied in a series of 21 patients. Dynamic contrast enhanced imaging could be used to evaluate microvessel densities of meningiomas. Surgical bleeding, blood loss during operation, progesterone receptor expression and collagen content were statistically best correlated to the relative intensity of meningioma on FLAIR images. Tissue hardness correlated best with relative intensity on T2-weighted images

Bäck inventering i Ijo älv flodområde under år 1998-2003

Alueelliset ympäristöjulkaisut 403Iijoen valuma-alueella inventoitiin 257 metsäpuroa vuosina 1998-2003. Inventoinneilla kerättiin tietoa purojen luonnontilaisuudesta ja sitä muuttaneista tekijöistä sekä laadittiin tarvittaessa alustavat kunnostusehdotukset. Inventoinneissa kerättyjä tietoja voidaan käyttää purojen kunnostussuunnittelun pohjana. Inventointien tuloksena todettiin, että täysin luonnontilaisia puroja ei ollut juuri lainkaan: vain 2 % tutkituista puroista. Lähes kaikissa puroissa oli kuitenkin sekä luonnontilaisia että muutettuja purojaksoja, ja kaikkiaan 22 % purojaksoista arvioitiin luonnontilaisiksi. Eniten purojen luonnontilaa olivat muuttaneet metsäojat ja niistä puroihin kulkeutunut kiintoaine eli hiekka tai muta. Muita yleisiä luonnontilaa muuttaneita tekijöitä olivat rantametsien hakkuut ja purouomien perkaukset. Yleisimpiä ehdotettuja kunnostustoimenpiteitä olivat suisteet, vesiensuojelurakenteiden kunnostaminen ja kiveämiset. Tutkituista puroista vain 17 %:lla ei havaittu kunnostustarvetta ja erittäin suuressa kunnostustarpeessa oli jopa 39 % tutkituista puroista. Jokaisesta inventoidusta purosta koottiin perustiedot taulukoihin ja kirjoitettiin lyhyt yleiskuvaus. Käytettyä inventointimenetelmää tulisi testata tieteellisesti, koska ei tiedetä, kuinka hyvin menetelmällä saadaan esille todelliset biologiset haitat ja purojen biodiversiteetti