Chapter
8. Changing nature

8. Changing nature

Nature is dynamic – it has always been changing. Right now, however, ecosystems are changing more rapidly than ever before. Human activity is speeding up environmental change.

In the video we learn why change is so hard to see, and how scientists try to see it nevertheless.

The clip comes with subtitles in English. Just click play, select the gear icon on the lower right and select subtitles in English.

Read more about changing nature

  1. The summer that never came: a complete failure of reproduction in Greenland
    Original articleRead more in Finnish
    Schmidt, N. M., Reneerkens, J., Christensen, J. H., Olesen, M., & Roslin, T. 2019: An ecosystem-wide reproductive failure with more snow in the Arctic. PLoS Biology, 17(10), [e3000392]. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000392

  2. Assessment of threatened habitat types in Finland 2018
    Description of assessmentRed list of habitat types

Find out

Because we live in the midst of constant change, we are in some ways blind to that change. Often we need long-term data to see the change.

How has your local landscape changed?

The Corine data only shows change over the past twenty years. Longer term change can be seen in old aerial photographs. For Helsinki, they are available  here. Aerial photographs from the rest of Finland can be found in  Finna  using the search terms ilmakuva and the place name. Aerial photographs can also purchased from the  National Land Survey of Finland (in Finnish).

Project idea on changing nature

Check the status of your nearest threatened habitat

Some habitat types have been changing more severely than others, and today we assess the threat level of entire habitat types in the same way we assess species. How close to your school can you find a threatened habitat type? How is it doing?

Read about the threatened habitat types here and here.

Find a threatened habitat type near your school.

Information about seminatural grasslands and wooded pastures (”perinnebiotooppi”) can also be found from ELY centers, which are conducting a national inventory (in Finnish). Those of Etelä-Savo can already be found online (in Finnish).