New field surveyors of field season 2019 are learning the drop video technique at Metsähallitus field boat. Photo by Sjef Heijnen, Metsähallitus. Biological field season at sea always starts around June. New people come to work, some of them for the first time. There are also interns who haven’t even finished their university or other … Continue reading Practice makes a professional
Category: How we do it
ZONATION – PLANNERS’ LITTLE HELPER
Zonation is a quantitative decision support tool for spatial conservation planning, developed for solving various problems around spatial management and resource allocation. Zonation was developed in CBIG – Conservation Biology Informatics Group in the department of Biosciences of the University of Helsinki. The team was led by the professor Atte Moilanen who is currently part … Continue reading ZONATION – PLANNERS’ LITTLE HELPER
Use of Earth Observation for monitoring of aquatic environment
The Sentinel satellites of the European Union’s Copernicus programme have brought the monitoring of aquatic environment to a new era. These satellites offer frequent overpasses, long term availability of images and good data quality, which enables building powerful new monitoring tools. Earth Observation (EO) satellites capture optical or microwave images of the Earth. The optical … Continue reading Use of Earth Observation for monitoring of aquatic environment
Modeling of potential habitats for Fourleaf mare’s tail
One of the aims of the project is combining the data from Sweden and Finland and seeing what we can glean from the full data. One thing you notice very quickly from a full dataset is an absence of a species from one country, when it is present in the other. Especially if it’s a … Continue reading Modeling of potential habitats for Fourleaf mare’s tail
Modelling biotopes
A modeler is the person, who dares to point out the places where certain type of seaweed grows even though the site had never been visited before. A modeler is the person who says where the field staff will be sent to find a rare species of beetle that lives in the sea. A modeler … Continue reading Modelling biotopes
How we do it: Organization
If you are familiar with any type of field work, or even other outdoor activities such as camping, you know that there are all types of gear and equipment needed. Not only do we need the appropriate clothing, but also different field computers, hard drives, cameras, GPS devices, safety gear, diving equipment, sampling gear, microscopes, … Continue reading How we do it: Organization
Data collation
We gather large amounts of data in SEAmBOTH. A very simple goal of the project is combining national datasets into a common one for the Bothnian Bay. Mostly the data is almost identical, and the process is straight forward, but sometimes it’s not really compatible, which means we must get creative. In the data itself, … Continue reading Data collation
Harmonizing definitions
One task that the SEAmBOTH project took part in solving was trying to harmonize the use of different Natura 2000 nature type descriptions between Finland and Sweden. Yes, there are official descriptions of the nature types from the EU. Yes, there are official translations and national adaptations to the special conditions of the Baltic Sea. But NO, even … Continue reading Harmonizing definitions
Estimating human pressures at the Bothnian Bay
The marine environment of the Baltic Sea is fragile and vulnerable due to its unique location and structure. 85 million people live on its catchment area and 15 million of them live within 10 km from the shoreline. Therefore this has an effect on the marine environment both below and above the sea surface. Even … Continue reading Estimating human pressures at the Bothnian Bay
How we do it: Intern edition
Hi everyone! My name is Susanna, and I was an intern in the SEAmBOTH team last summer in Oulu. I study geography at the University of Oulu and thought that it was time for me to get some work experience in my own field of expertise. Even though I have not studied biology that much, … Continue reading How we do it: Intern edition