Recovery of plant communities after ecological restoration of forestry-drained peatlands.

Ecological restoration is expected to reverse the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Due to the low number of well-replicated field studies, the extent to which restoration recovers plant communities, and the factors underlying possible shortcomings, are not well understood even in medium term. We compared the plant community composition of 38 sites comprising pristine, forestry-drained, and 5 or 10 years ago restored peatlands in southern Finland, with special interest in understanding spatial variation within studied sites, as well as the development of the numbers and the abundances of target species.

The Influence of Solar Power Plants on Microclimatic Conditions and the Biotic Community in Chilean Desert Environments.

The renewable energy sector is growing at a rapid pace in northern Chile and the solar energy potential is one of the best worldwide. Therefore, many types of solar power plant facilities are being built to take advantage of this renewable energy resource. Solar energy is considered a clean source of energy, but there are potential environmental effects of solar technology, such as landscape fragmentation, extinction of local biota, microclimate changes, among others.

Risk of local extinction of Odonata freshwater habitat generalists and specialists.

Understanding the risk of a local extinction in a single population relative to the habitat requirements of a species is important in both theoretical and applied ecology. Local extinction risk depends on several factors, such as habitat requirements, range size of species, and habitat quality. We studied the local extinctions among 31 dragonfly and damselfly species from 1930 to 1975 and from 1995 to 2003 in Central Finland.

Local extinction of dragonfly and damselfly populations in low- and high-quality habitat patches.

Understanding the risk of extinction of a single population is an important problem in both theoretical and applied ecology. Local extinction risk depends on several factors, including population size, demographic or environmental stochasticity, natural catastrophe, or the loss of genetic diversity. The probability of local extinction may also be higher in low-quality sink habitats than in high-quality source habitats.

Factors affecting the choice of cooking fuel, cooking place and respiratory health in the Accra metropolitan area, Ghana.

Indoor air pollution resulting from the combustion of solid fuels has been identified as a major health threat in the developing world. This study examines how the choice of cooking fuel, place of cooking and behavioural risk factors affect respiratory health infections in Accra, Ghana. About 65.

Environmental and health impacts of household solid waste handling and disposal practices in third world cities: the case of the Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana.

Inadequate provision of solid waste management facilities in Third World cities results in indiscriminate disposal and unsanitary environments, which threatens the health of urban residents. The study reported here examined household-level waste management and disposal practices in the Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana. The residents of Accra currently generate large amounts of solid waste, beyond the management capabilities of the existing waste management system.

Environment, wealth, inequality and the burden of disease in the Accra metropolitan area, Ghana.

The study examines environmental problems and adverse impacts on the health of urban households in the Accra metropolitan area, Ghana. Accra is faced with severe inadequacy of urban infrastructure in the face of rapid population growth in the metropolis. More than half of the city's population do not have access to solid waste collection services.

Testing the use of a land cover map for habitat ranking in boreal forests.

Habitat loss and modification is one of the major threats to biodiversity and the preservation of conservation values. We use the term ''conservation value'' to mean the benefit of nature or habitats for species. The importance of identifying and preserving conservation values has increased with the decline in biodiversity and the adoption of more stringent environmental legislation.

Impact of busy roads on breeding success in pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca.

The impact of dense traffic on the breeding success in pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) was studied using roadside nest-boxes. Nest site selection and breeding success of flycatchers were observed in relation to the distance from the road. The number of occupied territories was no higher closer to the road than it was deeper inside the forest.

Prey depletion by the foraging of the Eurasian treecreeper, Certhia familiaris, on tree-trunk arthropods.

We examined to what extent breeding insectivorous treecreepers, Certhia familiaris, affect the abundance and the mean size of their prey population on the surface of tree trunks. In order to determine foraging pressure on tree trunks, we observed the parent birds' foraging behaviour in marked squares (25×25 m) at a short (10 m) and long distance (90 m) from the nest, when the nestlings were near fledging. Immediately after fledging, we measured the remaining food abundance on a sample of tree trunks near to and far from the nest.

Deceptive pollination of Dactylorhiza incarnata: an experimental test of the magnet species hypothesis.

Floral deception, which mainly appears in highly evolved families such as Orchidaceae, was studied in Central Finland. In nectarless Dactylorhiza incarnata, the deceptive pollination system has been considered to function best in remote habitats such as marshes, where flowering plants attractive to pollinators are rare (remote habitats hypothesis). In contrast, the magnet-species theory predicts that a nectarless plant benefits from growing in the vicinity of nectarcontaining species.