Pertti Ranta

We analyze EU biodiversity policy as a way of building a coherent Europe, using the contextual conservation problems of an endangered species of violet Viola uliginosa as a proxy for scalar practices. The material consists of an extensive review of the literature on the existence, ecology and conservation of the species on both sides of the EU eastern border as well as biological field data gathered where it occurs in Finland. The case study shows that the scalar practices exercised in conservation create two geopolitical spaces over Europe through which the EU defines its geo-power over member and non-member states. The case also brings out the importance of human-non-human constellations in the geopolitics of nature emerging from field inventories, data gathering, site management and genetic analyses with separate violet populations. Altogether, the paper emphasizes the crucial role of practices and political processes in understanding the influence of scales in biodiversity policy.

The geographical characteristics of a total of 1839 forest fragments surrounded by sugar cane fields were studied in the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest region of the northeastern state of Pernambuco. The size and shape of the fragments as well as inter-fragment distances and the effects of varying edge width were examined using a geographical information system. The analyses show that

Luontotiedon keruu kattavasti ja systemaattisesti tuottaa laajoja paikkatietoaineistoja suunnittelun ja päätöksenteon tueksi. Tällaiset tietoaineistot tarjoavat mahdollisuuden kaupunkiluontoa kuvaavan tiedon vuorovaikutteiseen prosessointiin. Siihen voi osallistua monia tahoja, jos tietokannasta tehdään havainnollisia visualisointeja. Voidaanko näin löytää nykyistä laajempi perusta ekologisesti kestävän kaupungin suunnittelulle? Tämä selviää vain kokeilemalla. Pelkkä ekologisen tiedon siirto ei kuitenkaan riitä. Paikallisten toimintamahdollisuuksien esiin saamiseksi tarvitaan rajatyötä eri tietämysalueiden sekä tiedon ja politiikan välillä.

The geographical characteristics of a total of 1839 forest fragments surrounded by sugar cane fields were studied in the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest region of the northeastern state of Pernambuco. The size and shape of the fragments as well as inter-fragment distances and the effects of varying edge width were examined using a geographical information system. The analyses show that the fragments are relatively small and close to each other. Approximately 48% of the rain forest fragments are <10 hectares, while only about 7% are >100 hectares. Forest fragments are close to each other, as fragments located 50m or less apart formed groups that included ca. 50% of the total forest area. At 350m inter-fragment distance, 98% of the rain forest area was included in groups of fragments. Due to the small size and irregular shape of the fragments, the total area of edge zone exceeds that of the interior habitat when the edge width is ca. 60m. At an edge width of 300m ca. 94% of the t...

The aim of this study was to analyse the spatial distribution of vascular plants along a 21-kilometre rural–urban–rural transect in the city of Tampere, Finland. The study emphasised the distribution of native and non-native species, both in absolute numbers and proportionally. The observed differences are explained by the share of forest land, the number of detached houses, distance from the city centre, and human population. Non-natives showed the highest values in suburban areas. Still, the difference in number of non-natives between suburban and central areas was quite small. In the city of Tampere, there are not continuous large areas devoid of vegetation. The number of native species remained high until the urban core and natives dominated in the rural-type areas of the city. However, there was not a great difference in the number of native species between rural and suburban areas. In the suburban areas, the detached houses and block-of-flats have little effect on the general ...

Abstract: The occurrence of vascular plants was surveyed on 207 islands (size range 0.01–390.2 ha, number of plant species 1–449) offshore from the city of Helsinki in the Baltic Sea to examine the conservation value of these islands. We calculated a rarity score for each species (1/ ...

ABSTRACT The study area is an urban forest remnant in the city of Tampere (Finland). The presence of vascular plant species were surveyed in 1980 and again in 2000 within the 5 × 5 m grid cells covering the whole forest. The forest fragment has been influenced by three types of urban pressure: general ecological conditions (such as eutrophication due to increase of nitrogen), edge effect and local human disturbance. A general and spatially even eutrophication was reflected in the frequencies of C- and S-strategists as a shift towards to the C-point in the CSR triangle. The total number of native species (83 in 1980, 89 in 2000), typical Vaccinium type (VT)-forest species (32 in 1980, 31 in 2000) and aliens (57 in 1980, 68 in 2000) did change, but only to a moderate extent. The number of typical VT-forest species and native species were more common in central parts of the fragment. In terms of the number of species, the forest has been relatively resistant to date to major changes. However, the average number of native plant species per grid cell increased from 13.7 to 14.4, the average number of aliens increased from 2.0 to 4.2 and the average number of typical VT-forest species decreased from 5.5 to 5.0. Natives were spatially concentrated in the centre in 1980, but in 2000 they were more evenly distributed. The edge has offered habitats for new species, but the typical VT-forest species of the original sub-xeric forest are slowly diminishing.