Research groups that operate wholly or partly under the Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme.
The groups are presented in alphabetical order by the last name of the group leader.
Complex Landscapes is an interdisciplinary research group at Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme, focusing on urban / regional greening from different dimensions and perspectives. The researchers of Complex Landscapes explore how the fields of planning, organisations, and ecosystem-based perspectives present visions and pathways for the future of urban greening processes and practice.
Our interest in SUS is to detect, define, and address externalities associated with urban living and environments, focusing on ultimately improving human and planetary wellbeing. This requires systemic understanding on urban areas.
Algological Research Group is studying algae from versatile angles - we combine basic and applied research and try to understand how algae adapt to their environment and how this knowledge can be used when solving sustainability problems.
PAES focuses on understanding the ecological and climate related interlinkages with human activities in the present day and in the long-term historic past. The research perspective is from natural sciences and is enriched by interdisciplinary Post-docs and collaborations outside the core discipline.
Our research focuses on macrophyte species and functional diversity and ecosystem functioning, and focal organisms range from seagrasses and other aquatic plants to seaweeds and reeds.
Our research focuses on the functioning of lake ecosystems, especially on food web interactions and their implications on lake management, and on Our research focuses widely on the functioning of lake ecosystems and their implications on lake management. Addionally, coastal environments are included in the studies. Therefore, the diversity of study objectives is high, including fish assemblages, planktonic populations, littoral aspects, as well as physical-chemical regulatory processes.
We are a group of researchers working on topics related to climate change and urban environmental policy. The research done within the UEP group contributes to conceptual and theoretical development of adaptation and urban environmental policy. Additionally, our research concentrates on other environmental issues and beyond urban context. Most of our members affiliate with Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS).
The central research theme in ECRU is the development and application of empirical, geospatial, computational and modeling tools to detect global environmental changes and to analyse their ecological, environmental and societal impacts. ECRU's work is primarily focuses on northern environments.
The overall aim of the research programme is to produce high-level, ecological theory-based scientific knowledge on the influence of urban greenspaces on ecosystem services in urbanised settings.
The Fisheries and Environmental Management Group focuses on the interaction between ecosystems and human society. We identify the risks in the use of natural resources, carry out decision analysis between the renewable resources and biodiversity, and integrate the different sources of data and knowledge using Bayesian analysis.
Plankton is a basis of marine life, contributing nearly 50% to global primary production and playing a significant role in climate regulation due to carbon sequestration and formation of clouds. Yet, ongoing climate change strongly affects biodiversity and functioning of plankton communities by altering their metabolism and leading to geographical redistribution of species. The Plankton Biodiversity Lab focuses on interactions in plankton communities. We are interested in biodiversity patterns within and between trophic levels, species coexistence and predator-prey dynamics across multiple temporal scales.
The main goal of the Urban Biodiversity Lab is to untangle the patterns and mechanistic processes behind wildlife responses to urbanization. For this, we consider the three primary dimensions of urban systems – ecological, physical, and social – at different spatio-temporal scales. By generating first-class evidence-based knowledge through a diverse, inclusive, and collaborative approach (where networks of students at all academic levels and colleagues – both institutional and external – play central roles), we aim to support and direct local and regional stakeholders towards making evidence-grounded decisions that are in accordance with more biodiverse, livable, and resilient cities.
The benthic ecology team at TZS focuses on marine ecology, from basic science to more applied conservation and management issues. Research lines include disturbance ecology, spatial ecology, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, climate change, invasive species ecology and food-web interactions.
The Marine Ecosystems Research Group (MERG) combines researchers that conduct marine ecosystem research, from biodiversity and ecology to biogeochemistry, physics and ecosystem modelling. Common for this group is fundamental and applied research into the structure and function of the Baltic Sea ecosystem as a foundation for management and conservation. In addition to a strong research portfolio with an international dimension, the group has significant societal interaction, including providing advice to the management of the Baltic Sea.
In the Human-Nature Transformations Research Group we develop inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches for recognising diverse human-nature relationships and for promoting transformations toward a just, healthy and sustainable future.
The aim is to integrate biogeochemical & ecological research within and between “systems” in the Arctic through national and international collaborative research. This will be done by bringing wide-ranging research expertise together to form complimentary research together to help answer big questions such as: How will interconnected Arctic ecosystems change in the rapidly changing climate? Closely associated with this are the questions of how such changes will impact on society. Therefore, a strong goal for the group is that the research outputs will be pertinent for stakeholders and policy makers.