Aino Hämäläinen

My research focuses on conservation of biodiversity in boreal forests. I am interested in studying which factors affect the diversity of forest-dwelling species, on both local and landscape scales, with the aim to find ways to maintain species diversity in managed forest landscapes. My research has focused especially on forest-dwelling lichens, but I have also studied other species groups and more general indicators of forest biodiversity, such as structural diversity. 

My current research project examines the use of airborne environmental DNA for surveying and monitoring lichens. The project has two aims: first, to develop reliable survey methods using airborne eDNA; and secondly, to utilize a historical archive of eDNA samples to examine the effects of climate change on the lichen communities in norther Sweden.

In another ongoing project, I examine the importance of landscape structure for forest-dwelling lichens, by assessing whether the habitat amount and fragmentation in the surrounding landscape affects lichen species richness in different forest habitats. In addition, I have previously studied how different forest management methods, such as retention forestry or prescribed burning, benefit forest-dwelling species.

2016 Doctor of Science (Agriculture and Forestry), School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu

In my doctoral thesis I examined how retention forestry, prescribed burning and biofuel harvest affected epiphytic lichens. In addition, I studied the mortality and dynamics of retention trees after harvest, in order to assess which kind of habitats they can provide for forest-dwelling species.

2011 MSc (Agriculture and Forestry), School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland

2010 BSc (Agriculture and Forestry), School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland

See Google Scholar for a full list of publications.

Hämäläinen, A., Fahrig, L. 2024. Time-lag effects of habitat loss, but not fragmentation, on deadwood-dwelling lichens. Landscape Ecology 39, 111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01910-3

Hämäläinen, A., Runnel, K., Ranius, T., Strengbom, J. 2024. Diversity of forest structures important for biodiversity is determined by the combined effects of productivity, stand age, and management. Ambio 53, 718–729. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01971-9

Hämäläinen, A., Fahrig, L., Strengbom, J., Ranius, T. 2023. Effective management for deadwood-dependent lichen diversity requires landscape-scale habitat protection. Journal of Applied Ecology 60: 1597-1606. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14429

Hämäläinen, A., Runnel, K., Mikusinski, G., Himelbrant, D., Fenton, N, Lõhmus, P. 2023. Living trees and biodiversity. In: Girona, M, Morin, H., Gauthier, S., Bergeron, Y. (Eds.). 2023. Boreal forests in the face of climate change - Sustainable management. Advances in Global Change Research, 74, Springer-Nature, Cham: Springer. ISBN 978-3-031-15987-9. 

Hämäläinen, A., Strengbom, J., Ranius, T. 2020. Low-productivity boreal forests have high conservation value for lichens. J Appl Ecol. 57: 43– 54. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13509

Hämäläinen, A., Strengbom, J., Ranius, T. 2018. Conservation value of low-productive forests measured as the amount and diversity of dead wood and saproxylic beetles. Ecol. Appl. 28(4), 1011–1019. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1705