Timo Kumpula

University of Eastern Finland | UEF · Department of Geographical and Historical Studies

Up-to-date knowledge of key ecological features that maintain boreal forest biodiversity is essential part of sustainable forest management and conservation measures. However, there is only a limited amount of spatial data available, as the detection of ecologically significant elements using remote sensing is challenging due to their low frequency...

Snow cover has an important role in permafrost processes and dynamics, creating cooling and warming systems, impacting the aggradation and degradation of frozen soil. Despite theoretical, experimental, and remote sensing-based research, comprehensive understanding of small-scaled snow distribution at palsas remains limited. This study compares two...

Drained lake basins (DLBs) are dominant features in lowland permafrost landscapes of the Arctic. Here, we present a novel approach describing and quantifying the succession progression of recently drained basins using a land cover unit retrieval scheme developed specifically for the Arctic tundra biome. The complementarity between land cover units...

Maximum seasonal thaw depth, referred to as active layer thickness (ALT), is one of the key parameters used to monitor permafrost conditions. ALT maps based on interpolation of point measurements or derived from coarse or moderate spatial resolution satellite data often hide small‐scale spatial variations in thaw depth resulting from differences in...

Deadwood and decaying wood are the most important components for the biodiversity of boreal forests, and around a quarter of all flora and fauna in Finnish forests depend on them, with third of these species being red-listed. However, there is a severe lack of stand-level deadwood data in Finland, as the operational inventories either focus on the...

Peatlands have suffered significant degradation globally due to human impacts, which has increased the need to monitor the condition and changes in peatland ecosystems. With remote sensing , point-based in-situ observations can be upscaled to larger areas but there is a need to develop scalable monitoring methods. We predicted wet flark area extent...

Permafrost-agroecosystems include all cultivation and pastoral activities in areas underlain by permafrost. These systems support local livelihoods and food production and are rarely considered in global agricultural studies but may become more relevant as climate change is increasing opportunities for food production in high latitude and mountaino...

Drained Lake Basins (DLBs) are dominant features in lowland permafrost landscapes of the Arctic. Here we present a novel approach describing and quantifying the succession progression of recently drained basins using a landcover unit retrieval scheme developed specifically for the Arctic tundra biome. The added value compared to commonly used Norma...

Plant biomass is a fundamental ecosystem attribute that is sensitive to rapid climatic changes occurring in the Arctic. Nevertheless, measuring plant biomass in the Arctic is logistically challenging and resource intensive. Lack of accessible field data hinders efforts to understand the amount, composition, distribution, and changes in plant biomas...

Detailed information on seasonal snow cover and depth is essential to the understanding of snow processes, to operational forecasting, and as input for hydrological models. Recent advances in uncrewed or unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and structure from motion (SfM) techniques have enabled low-cost monitoring of spatial snow depth distribution in...

Snow conditions in the Northern Hemisphere are rapidly changing, and information on snow depth is critical for decision-making and other societal needs. Uncrewed or unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) can offer data resolutions of a few centimeters at a catchment-scale and thus provide a low-cost solution to bridge the gap between sparse manual probin...

To test the effect of reindeer husbandry on soil carbon storage of seasonally frozen ground, we analysed soil and vegetation properties in peatlands and mixed pine and mountain birch forests. We analysed sites with no grazing and contrasting intensities of grazing, and associated trampling, in Northern Finland. With a pilot study approach, we optim...

Permafrost-agroecosystems are highly heterogenous socio-ecological systems that include animal husbandry practices (such as reindeer and yak herding) and crop cultivation in areas that contain permafrost. These systems affect food security, culture and livelihoods and are particularly sensitive to permafrost degradation processes, surface stability...

Detailed spatial data are an essential part of land use planning and decision-making. Their spatial resolution sets limitations to their use, as coarse datasets are not suitable for detecting small-scale phenomena. In this study, we explored the effects of spatial resolution on the ecological outcome of a conservation prioritization process in Zona...

Herbivores can exert a controlling effect on the reproduction and growth of shrubs, thereby counteracting the climate-driven encroachment of shrubs in the Arctic and the potential consequences. This control is particularly evident in the case of abundant herbivores, such as reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus), whose grazing patterns are affected...

Palsas and peat plateaus are expected to disappear from many regions, including Finnish Lapland. However, detailed long-term monitoring data of the degradation process on palsas are scarce. Here, we present the results of the aerial photography time series analysis (1959–2021), annual real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS and active layer monitoring (2007...

Plant communities of mires can be linked to important ecological processes, such as carbon storage and gas fluxes. As indicators of ecosystem dynamics, knowledge about their distribution and condition can support ecosystem assessment. Mapping mire vegetation enables monitoring at ecosystem-scale, which can be done with UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle...

Knowledge in the magnitude and historical trends in land use and land cover (LULC) is needed to understand the changing status of the key elements of the landscape and to better target management efforts. However, this information is not easily available before the start of satellite campaign missions. Scanned historical maps are a valuable but und...

Detailed information on seasonal snow cover and depth is essential to the understanding of snow processes, operational forecasting, and as input for hydrological models. Recent advances in unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and structure from motion (SfM) techniques have enabled low-cost monitoring of spatial snow depth distribution in resolutions up...

Snow conditions in the northern hemisphere are rapidly changing, and information on snow depth is critical for decision-making and other societal needs. Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) can offer data resolutions of a few centimeters at a catchment-scale, and thus provide a low-cost solution to bridge the gap between sparse manual probing and low-r...

Palsas and peat plateaus are expected to disappear from many regions, including Finnish Lapland. However, detailed long-term monitoring data of the degradation process on palsas are scarce. Here, we present the results of the aerial photography time series analysis (1960–2021) and annual RTK-GNSS and active layer monitoring (2007–2021) at two palsa...

Coastal wetlands are considered important stores of blue carbon, containing some of the largest stores of pedologic and biotic carbon per unit area on the planet. These ecosystems are however highly sensitive to Climate Change and changes in the management practices. It is of utmost importance to address relevant ecosystem scales in order to fully...

Spatial variation in plant chemical defence towards herbivores can help us understand variation in herbivore top–down control of shrubs in the Arctic and possibly also shrub responses to global warming. Less defended, non‐resinous shrubs could be more influenced by herbivores than more defended, resinous shrubs. However, sparse field measurements l...

Although generally given little attention in vegetation studies, ground-dwelling (terricolous) lichens are major contributors to overall carbon and nitrogen cycling, albedo, biodiversity and biomass in many high-latitude ecosystems. Changes in biomass of mat-forming pale lichens have the potential to affect vegetation, fauna, climate and human acti...

Northern aapa mire complexes are characterized by patterned fens with flarks (wet fen surfaces) and bog zone margins with Sphagnum moss cover. Evidence exists of a recent increase in Sphagnum over fens that can alter ecosystem functions. Contrast between flarks and Sphagnum moss cover may enable remote sensing of these changes with satellite proxie...

Peatland restoration aims to achieve pristine water pathway conditions to recover dispersed wetness, water quality, biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Restoration monitoring needs new methods for understanding the spatial effects of restoration in peatlands. We introduce an approach using high-resolution data produced with an unmanned aircraft...

Tulevaisuus on huomisen tosiasia, porotaloudessakin. Siihen kannattaa varautua. Ihmiset myös muokkaavat tulevaisuutta toiminnallaan. Tulevalta odotetaan hyvinvointia, niin ettei uusien sukupolvien mahdollisuuksia kuitenkaan kuluteta loppuun.

Subarctic ecohydrological processes are changing rapidly, but detailed and integrated ecohydrological investigations are not as widespread as necessary. We introduce an integrated research catchment site (Pallas) for atmosphere, ecosystems, and ecohydrology studies in subarctic conditions in Finland that can be used for a new set of comparative cat...

Current remote sensing methods can provide detailed tree species classification in boreal forests. However, classification studies have so far focused on the dominant tree species, with few studies on less frequent but ecologically important species. We aimed to separate European aspen (Populus tremula L.), a biodiversity-supporting tree species, f...

Northern mires (fens and bogs) have significant climate feedbacks and contribute to biodiversity, providing habitats to specialized biota. Many studies have found drying and degradation of bogs in response to climate change, while northern fens have received less attention. Rich fens are particularly important to biodiversity, but subject to global...

European aspen (Populus tremula L.) is a keystone species for biodiversity of boreal forests. Large-diameter aspens maintain the diversity of hundreds of species, many of which are threatened in Fennoscandia. Due to a low economic value and relatively sparse and scattered occurrence of aspen in boreal forests, there is a lack of information of the...

During the last two decades, forest monitoring and inventory systems have moved from field surveys to remote sensing-based methods. These methods tend to focus on economically significant components of forests, thus leaving out many factors vital for forest biodiversity, such as the occurrence of species with low economical but high ecological valu...

The challenges posed by climate change and biodiversity loss are deeply interconnected. Successful co-managing of these tangled drivers requires innovative methods that can prioritize and target management actions against multiple criteria, while also enabling cost-effective land use planning and impact scenario assessment. This paper synthesises t...

Rapid climate change in Arctic regions is linked to the expansion of woody taxa (shrubification), and an increase in biomass as tundra becomes greener. Reindeer and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are considered able to suppress vegetative greening through grazing and trampling. Quantifying reindeer use of different land cover types can help us underst...

Changes in vegetation productivity based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) have been reported from Arctic regions. Most studies use very coarse spatial resolution remote sensing data that cannot isolate landscape level factors. For example, on Yamal Peninsula in West Siberia enhanced willow growth has been linked to widespread landsl...

Arctic warming can influence tundra ecosystem function with consequences for climate feedbacks, wildlife and human communities. Yet ecological change across the Arctic tundra biome remains poorly quantified due to field measurement limitations and reliance on coarse-resolution satellite data. Here, we assess decadal changes in Arctic tundra greenne...

Beavers (Castor sp.) are ecosystem engineers that cause significant changes to their physical environment and alter the availability of resources to other species. We studied flood dynamics created by American beaver (C. canadensis K.) in a southern boreal landscape in Finland in 1970–2018. We present for the first time, to our knowledge, a tempora...

Comprehensive knowledge on the issues contributing to mining conflicts is crucial in balancing between the exploitation of mineral deposits and local claims. We explore recent mining conflicts in the European Union using information derived from the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice to improve the understanding of the potential impacts of the i...

Sustainable forest management increasingly highlights the maintenance of biological diversity and requires up-to-date information on the occurrence and distribution of key ecological features in forest environments. European aspen (Populus tremula L.) is one key feature in boreal forests contributing significantly to the biological diversity of bor...

This study develops and applies a logistic route-optimizing model of the collection of bale wrap waste from farms in North Karelia, Finland. To assess cost-efficiency the model analyzed three collection scenarios for one- and three-year collection intervals by full trailer combination truck and annually by lorry. According to our study the cheapest...

European aspen (Populus tremula L.) is a keystone species in boreal forests that are dominated by coniferous tree species. Both living and dead aspen trees contribute significantly to the species diversity of forest landscapes. Thus, spatial and temporal continuity of aspen is a prerequisite for the long-term persistence of viable populations of nu...

The quantification of vegetation height for the circumpolar Arctic tundra biome is of interest for a wide range of applications, including biomass and habitat studies as well as permafrost modelling in the context of climate change. To date, only indices from multispectral data have been used in these environments to address biomass and vegetation...

Observations taken over the last few decades indicate that dramatic changes are occurring in the Arctic‐Boreal Zone (ABZ), which are having significant impacts on ABZ inhabitants, infrastructure, flora and fauna, and economies. While suitable for detecting overall change, the current capability is inadequate for systematic monitoring and for improv...

Within northern peatlands, landscape elements such as vegetation and topography are spatially heterogenic from ultra‐high (centimeter level) to coarse scale. In addition to within‐site spatial heterogeneity, there is evident between‐site heterogeneity, but there is a lack of studies assessing whether different combinations of remotely sensed featur...

Half of the Finnish peatland area is drained for forestry. The remaining undrained peatlands are not all pristine, because surrounding drainage may disturb their hydrology. This concerns especially aapa mires, which are dependent on hydrological connections to their upper catchments. We investigated the amount and sizes of Finnish undrained peatlan...