Mercury exposure in ringed seals (Pusa hispida saimensis) in Lake Saimaa, Finland, and the placenta as a possible non-invasive biomonitoring tool.

The Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis) is a subspecies of ringed seal, landlocked in Lake Saimaa, Finland. The small population of less than 500 seals is facing many human-induced threats, including chemical contaminants. Mercury, in particular, has previously been suggested to be one of the chemicals affecting the viability of this endangered population.

N-fertilization and disturbance exert long-lasting complex legacies on subarctic ecosystems.

Subarctic ecosystems are subjected to increasing nitrogen (N) enrichment and disturbances that induce particularly strong effects on plant communities when occurring in combination. There is little experimental evidence on the longevity of these effects. We applied N-fertilization (40 kg urea-N ha year for 4 years) and disturbance (removal of vegetation and organic soil layer on one occasion) in two plant communities in a subarctic forest-tundra ecotone in northern Finland.

Enhancing multifunctionality in European boreal forests: The potential role of Triad landscape functional zoning.

Land-use policies aim at enhancing the sustainable use of natural resources. The Triad approach has been suggested to balance the social, ecological, and economic demands of forested landscapes. The core idea is to enhance multifunctionality at the landscape level by allocating landscape zones with specific management priorities, i.

Birds of three worlds: moult migration to high Arctic expands a boreal-temperate flyway to a third biome.

Background: Knowledge on migration patterns and flyways is a key for understanding the dynamics of migratory populations and evolution of migratory behaviour. Bird migration is usually considered to be movements between breeding and wintering areas, while less attention has been paid to other long-distance movements such as moult migration.

Methods: We use high-resolution satellite-tracking data from 58 taiga bean geese Anser fabalis fabalis from the years 2019-2020, to study their moult migration during breeding season.

The Effect of Processing of Hempseed on Protein Recovery and Emulsification Properties.

The effect of carbohydrate-hydrolysing enzyme blend with or without supercritical CO (SFE) defatting on pretreat hempseed meal, hempseeds, peeled hempseeds, hempseed protein powder, and germinated hempseeds was determined. The raw materials and recovered fractions from the treatments were subjected to gel electrophoresis, and their emulsion capacity, activity, and stability as well as colour (CIE ∗∗∗ values) were determined. The highest protein contents, 65% (/ dm), were detected in soluble fractions prepared from germinated, defatted hempseeds followed by soluble fractions of peeled, defatted hempseed, 55% (/ dm).

Consumer Perceptions of Precision Livestock Farming-A Qualitative Study in Three European Countries.

Scholars in the fields of animal science and technology have investigated how precision livestock farming (PLF) can contribute to the quality and efficiency of animal husbandry and to the health and welfare of farm animals. Although the results of such studies provide promising avenues for the development of PLF technologies and their potential for the application in animal husbandry, the perspectives of consumers with regard to PLF technologies have yet to be the subject of much investigation. To address this research gap, the current study explores consumer perceptions of PLF technologies within the pork and dairy value chains.

Building up an ecologically sustainable and socially desirable post-COVID-19 future.

COVID-19 crisis has emphasized how poorly prepared humanity is to cope with global disasters. However, this crisis also offers a unique opportunity to move towards a more sustainable and equitable future. Here, we identify the underlying environmental, social, and economic chronic causes of the COVID-19 crisis.

Bayesian Networks in Environmental Risk Assessment: A Review.

Human activities both depend upon and have consequences on the environment. Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is a process of estimating the probability and consequences of the adverse effects of human activities and other stressors on the environment. Bayesian networks (BNs) can synthesize different types of knowledge and explicitly account for the probabilities of different scenarios, therefore offering a useful tool for ERA.

Spruce Galactoglucomannan-Stabilized Emulsions Enhance Bioaccessibility of Bioactive Compounds.

The increasing public awareness of health and sustainability has prompted the development of functional foods rich in health-promoting ingredients. Processing technologies and sustainable multifunctional ingredients are needed for structuring these formulations. Spruce galactoglucomannan (GGM), the main hemicelluloses in softwood cell walls, are an abundantly available, emerging sustainable food hydrocolloid that have the ability to efficiently emulsify and stabilize oil-in-water emulsions.

Food waste case study and monitoring developing in Finnish food services.

For enhancing food waste weighing measurements we established a platform (Restaurant Forum RF) for different kinds of food service businesses. Our aim was to explore food waste data, but also to develop a monitoring system by increasing our knowledge about the relevant processes and possible internal barriers. We studied food waste generation and origin in the outlets and how to avoid overproduction of food and buffet line waste.

Assessing the impacts of seabed mineral extraction in the deep sea and coastal marine environments: Current methods and recommendations for environmental risk assessment.

Mineral extraction from the seabed has experienced a recent surge of interest from both the mining industry and marine scientists. While improved methods of geological investigation have enabled the mapping of new seafloor mineral reserves, the ecological impacts of mining in both the deep sea and the shallow seabed are poorly known. This paper presents a synthesis of the empirical evidence from experimental seabed mining and parallel industries to infer the effects of seabed mineral extraction on marine ecosystems, focusing on polymetallic nodules and ferromanganese concretions.

Complementarity effects on tree growth are contingent on tree size and climatic conditions across Europe.

Neglecting tree size and stand structure dynamics might bias the interpretation of the diversity-productivity relationship in forests. Here we show evidence that complementarity is contingent on tree size across large-scale climatic gradients in Europe. We compiled growth data of the 14 most dominant tree species in 32,628 permanent plots covering boreal, temperate and Mediterranean forest biomes.

Hantavirus seropositivity in rodents in relation to habitat heterogeneity in human-shaped landscapes of Southeast Asia.

To establish how the conversion of natural habitats for agricultural purposes may impact the distribution of hantaviruses in Southeast Asia, we tested how habitat structure affects hantavirus infection prevalence of common murine rodents that inhabit human-dominated landscapes in this region. For this, we used geo-referenced data of rodents analysed for hantavirus infection and land cover maps produced for the seven study sites in Thailand, Cambodia and Lao PDR where they were collected. Rodents were tested by serological methods that detect several hantaviruses, including pathogenic ones.

Does boldness explain vulnerability to angling in Eurasian perch ?

Consistent individual differences (CIDs) in behavior are of interest to both basic and applied research, because any selection acting on them could induce evolution of animal behavior. It has been suggested that CIDs in the behavior of fish might explain individual differences in vulnerability to fishing. If so, fishing could impose selection on fish behavior.

Serological survey in the Finnish human population implies human-to-human transmission of Ljungan virus or antigenically related viruses.

Ljungan virus (LV) is a picornavirus related to human parechoviruses (HPeV). The virus has been found in bank voles (Myodes glareolus) and several other rodent species, and suggested to have zoonotic potential. Thus far, seroepidemiological data on LV infections in humans are scarce.

Impact of Elicitation on Antioxidant and Potential Antihypertensive Properties of Lentil Sprouts.

The aim of this study was to investigate the application of elicitors (500 μM ascorbic acid, 50 μM folic acid, 5 mM glutamic acid and 50 ppm chitosan in 5 mM glutamic acid) during lentil germination up to 8 days as a strategy to increase germination rate and to enhance the accumulation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and phenolic compounds. The effect of elicitation on the protein profile and antioxidant and angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activities of sprouted lentils was also evaluated. The application of elicitors did not negatively affect the germination yield of lentils and no significant changes on the protein pattern of lentils germinated in the presence of elicitors were observed.