Research group

Research group and students

Supervised doctoral students (including co-supervised students), 25 in total:

Petri Martikainen (PhD completed in 2000):

Effects of forest management on beetle diversity, with implications for species conservation and forest protection

Seppo Rouvinen (PhD completed in 2002):

Amount, diversity and spatio-temporal availability of dead wood in old forests in boreal Fennoscandia

Maarit Similä (PhD completed in 2002):

Patterns of beetle diversity in Fennoscandian boreal forests: Effects of forest age, naturalness and fertility, and co-variation with other forest-dwelling taxa

Atte Komonen (PhD completed in 2003; homepage):

Insects in wood-decaying fungi: ecology, diversity and response to forest management

Anneli Uotila (PhD completed in 2004):

Vegetation patterns in managed and semi-natural boreal forests in eastern Finland and Russian Karelia

Päivi Hokkanen (PhD completed in 2006):

Vegetation patterns of boreal herb-rich forests in the Koli region, eastern Finland: classification, environmental factors and conservation aspects

Esko Hyvärinen (PhD completed in 2006):

Green-tree retention and controlled burning in restoration and conservation of beetle diversity in boreal forests

Satu Löfman (PhD completed in 2006):

Changes in forest landscape structure in southern Finland in the late 1900’s

Tero Heinonen (PhD completed in 2007):

Developing spatial optimization in forest planning

Kaisa Junninen (PhD completed in 2007):

Conservation of polypore diversity in managed forests of boreal Fennoscandia

Kaisa Raitio (PhD completed in 2008): 

"You can't please everyone" - conflict management practises, frames and institutions in Finnish state forests

Mikko Vehmas (PhD completed in 2011):

Airborne laser scanning based identification and interpretation on ecologically important old-growth forest habitats in natural conservation areas

Timo Pakkala (PhD completed in 2012):

Spatial ecology of breeding birds in forest landscapes: an indicator species approach

Tuomo Takala (PhD completed in 2015):

Bryophytes in Semi-natural Rural Biotopes

Ville Vuorio (PhD completed in 2016):

Conservation biology of the great crested newt in managed boreal forests in Finland

Aino Hämäläinen (PhD completed in 2016):

Retention forestry and intensified biomass harvest: epiphytic lichen assemblages under opposing ecological effects in pine-dominated boreal forests

Osmo Heikkala (PhD completed in 2016):

Emulation of natural disturbances and the maintenance of biodiversity in managed boreal forests: the effects of prescribed fire and retention forestry on insect assemblages.

Parvathy Venugopal (PhD completed in 2016):

Effects of climate, wood quality and fungal diversity on coarse wood decomposition of Scots pine

Panu Kunttu (PhD completed in 2016):

Dead-wood-associated aphyllophoroid fungi: perspectives on the diversity, ecology and conservation biology of species and their habitats

Hannes Pasanen (PhD completed in 2017):

Ecological effects of disturbance-based restoration in boreal forests 

Mihails Cugunovs (PhD completed in 2018):

Impacts of fire in active and passive restorations on boreal forest soils and vegetation

Mai Suominen (PhD completed in 2018): 

Harvested and burned forests as habitats for polypore fungi

Antonio Rodriguez (PhD completed in 2018): 

Promoting biodiversity and ecosystem services in managed boreal forests through disturbance-mediated functional heterogeneity

Kauko Salo (PhD completed in 2019): 

The structure of macrofungal assemblages in boreal forests, with particular reference to the effect of fire on Basidiomycota and Ascomycota

Alwin Hardenbol (PhD completed in 2020): 

Dynamics of biodiversity-rich deciduous trees and microhabitats in boreal forestsa

Doctoral students supervised currently: 

Karoliina Hämäläinen:

Key forest elements for biodiversity conservation: long-term perspectives on the role, maintenance and management of deciduous trees and associated biota

Aleksi Nirhamo:
Epiphytic lichens in managed and protected forests

Gargi Tariyal:

Fire-vegetation interactions in the Fennoscandian boreal forests (co-supervisor)

Mariina Günther:

Ecology meets wood material science: drivers of kelo wood formation in forest ecosystems (co-supervisor)

Pemelyn Santos:

Dynamics of kelo trees in boreal forest landscapes (co-supervisor)

Supervised MSc students (most of the MSc theses are written in Finnish), 64 in total:

Tero Kiskonen (MSc thesis, 1997): 

Group behaviour and outbreak propensity of the sawflies

Christopher J. Green (MSc thesis, 1998): 

Management of the Capercaillie lek sites with landscape ecological forest planning

Anne Väänänen (MSc thesis, 1998): 

The effect of isolation on breeding birds on protected forest areas

Brian Kleinhenz (MSc thesis, 1999): 

Assessing the accuracy with which the LAI-2000 plant canopy analyzer detects changes in leaf area index in Norway Spruce stands

Laura Melkinen (MSc thesis, 1999): 

Spider communities in semi-natural and managed forests

Tero Laakso (MSc thesis 1999): 

Legal regulation of the forest biodiversity protection in Finland and Sweden: a comparative study

Nicola Whitworth (MSc thesis 1999): 

Arthropod communities in natural and man-made forest edges

Alison Riggs (MSc thesis 1999): 

Ant communities in naturally and artificially isolated forest fragments

Jane Stevens (MSc thesis 1999): 

Edge effects on the pollination of the bilberry in natural and artificial forest edges

Anne Lehtonen (MSc thesis, 2000): 

Assessment of naturalness by forest history and stumps

Riitta Jalkanen (MSc thesis, 2000):

Plant communities in small lush forests

Alexander Kopf (MSc thesis, 2001): 

The impact of beaver on forest ecosystems in the Koli National Park

Cristobal Delgado Matas (MSc thesis, 2001): 

The effect of slash-and-burn cultivation on soil properties

Jukka Behm (MSc thesis, 2001): 

Soil seed-bank composition in areas with varying fire history

Terhi Kaipainen (MSc thesis, 2001): 

Past fire frequencies in mature forest stands in eastern Finland

Veera Tähtö (MSc thesis, 2001): 

The effect of fire on growth dynamics of the Scots pine

Elli Haapamäki (MSc thesis, 2001):

Needle dynamics of a Scots pine stand in North Karelia between 1960-1995

Arto Vilén (MSc thesis, 2002): 

Mortality factors of aspen trees in protected areas

Jarkko Laamanen (MSc thesis, 2001): 

Mosaic patterns of fire intensity in pine-dominated forests

Katja Sidoroff (MSc thesis, 2002): 

Fire as a mortality factor in boreal forest trees

Tiia Yrjölä (MSc thesis, 2002):

The effects of forest fires on soil enchytraeid assemblages

Jaana Turunen (MSc thesis, 2002): 

Tree recruitment and the intensity of forest fires

Mervi Hakulinen (MSc thesis, 2002): 

Short-term impacts of forest fire on ground vegetation

Johanna Vääräsmäki (MSc thesis, 2003): 

Anthropogenic influence on urban forest park vegetation in southern Finland

Rauli Perkiö (MSc thesis, 2003): 

Fire history and aspen populations in protected old growth forests

Katri Kulkki (MSc thesis, 2004): 

Landscape-level analysis of protected areas in eastern Finland

Tommi Kinnunen (MSc thesis, 2004):

The effects of fire on fungal infections of pine saplings

Kaisa Törmänen (MSc thesis, 2003):

The effects of fire on the occurrence of pine weevil damage

Osmo Heikkala (MSc thesis, 2003):

Short-term effects of fire and retention trees on carabid beetles in boreal forests

Toni Nevalainen (MSc thesis, 2003):

The effects of timber harvesting on birds of prey

Jaana Heikkala (MSc thesis, 2003):

Polypore fungi assemblages in state-owned mature forests in eastern Finland

Heidi Hyvönen (MSc thesis, 2004):

Size structure of aspen populations in the Koli National Park

Marika Salomäki (MSc thesis, 2005):

Dynamics of retention trees in clear-cut areas in Isojoki, Ostrobothnian area

Tuomo Reinikainen (MSc thesis, 2006):

Large mammalian herbivores and early forest succession after fire and clear-cutting

Eevi Nieminen (MSc thesis, 2006):

Long-term future dynamics of coarse woody debris in Koli National Park

Nina Kivistö (MSc thesis, 2006):

Habitat characteristics important for Capercaillie during the post-fledging period

Salme Närhi (MSc thesis, 2007):

Effects of tornado on soil characteristics and Pinus sylvestris stand in Jouhteninen tornado damage area in North-Carelia

Niko Ilola (MSc thesis, 2008):

Death span of the kelo: how long do dry Scots pine snags stay standing after their death?

Roni Väisänen (MSc thesis, 2008):

Economical effects of maintaining the Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) lekking habitats in a managed boreal fores region in northern Finland

Noora Lankinen (MSc thesis, 2008):

The effect of forest fires and green-tree retention on bark beetles and their associated species

Sanna Kujala (MSc thesis, 2009):

The occurrence of the Siberian flying squirrel (Pteromys volans) in various forest stand structures in the Koli National Park

Mari Sikkilä (MSc thesis, 2009):

Biogeography of polypores living in the Finnish pine forests: ecological specialisation as the explanation of the abundance-distribution relationship

Tuomo Takala (MSc thesis, 2010):

Effects of grazing on bryophytes in mesic semi-natural grassland

Riikka Lähteenmäki (MSc thesis, 2010):

The effect of moose (Alces alces L.) browsing on the regeneration of aspen (Populus tremula L.) in the Koli National Park

Mikko Heikura (MSc thesis, 2010):

Ecological restoration of peatland and forest ecosystems: short-term effectsto vegetation and natural tree regeneration in Koli National Park, Eastern Finland

Alain Joseph (MSc thesis, 2010):

The contribution of retention trees to patterns and dynamics of coarse woody debris in pine-dominated boreal forests

Aino Hämäläinen (MSc thesis, 2010):

Effects of fire and timber harvest on small mammal communities

Ari Tanskanen (MSc thesis 2011):

Moose (Alce alces L.) home range size and habitat selection in summer and winter in the Province of Kainuu

Arto Saari (MSc thesis 2011):

Home range size and movements of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Finland

Jutta Sorsa (MSc thesis 2011):

Short-term effects of severe storm on early successional patterns in a pine-dominated forest: seedling recruitment of deciduous trees and herbivore damages

Virve Rehu (MSc thesis 2012):

Canopy gaps and controlled burning in restoring tree stand structures of protected areas: effects on tree regeneration

Hannes Pasanen (MSc thesis 2013):

Restoring dead wood in degraded forest ecosystems − the effects of restoration on the amount and quality of dead wood and on the polypore fungi assemblages

Nicola A K Bakker (MSc thesis 2014):

How do alternative forest management systems impact natural tree regeneration in the European northern boreal forest?

Sabrina Van de Velde (MSc thesis 2015:

The role of prescribed fire and harvest intensity on Cerambycidae beetle diversity in managed Scots pine forests

Ida Sara-aho (MSc thesis 2015):

Tree stand and soil of the spruce dominated forest after 100 years from end of slash-and-burn cultivation

Laura Pekkola (MSc thesis 2016):

Long-term effects of small-scale spatial variations in fire severity on bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) growth in the boreal forests of eastern Finland

Olli Piiparinen (MSc thesis 2016):

Grouse brood habitats: Feasibility of Finnish wildlife triangle census data in the landscape and compartment level forest planning

Elisa Väistö (MSc thesis 2018):

The structure of vegetation in natural and anthropogenic forest edges 

Malla Pulkkinen (MSc thesis 2019):

Population and community changes of polypore living on European aspen in protected areas of North Karelia in 10 years

Lauri Helenius (MSc thesis 2021):

Laser scanning to identify retention trees left in logging area

Heidi Keinonen (MSc thesis 2021):

The effects of charred wood debris on soil’s decomposition of organic matter after prescribed burning

Marita Kivioja (MSc thesis 2022):

Conservation status and natural state of small bodies of water in tree stand habitats of North Karelia’s groundwater areas

Sara Silvennoinen (MSc thesis 2022):
Dead wood structure 30 years after wildfire in Kitsi Forest area, in North Karelia, eastern Finland

Veera Karhu (MSs thesis 2023):
The effects of forest restoration by fire on polypores three decades after the fire