Search

The long-term effects of fertilization on the needle nutrient concentrations, growth and financial performance of a Scots pine ( L.) stand was examined in a thick-peated drained peatland forest located in Central Finland. At the trial establishment in 1985, the trees were suffering from P and K deficiencies, but their N status was good. The fertilizer treatments were Control, PK (rock phosphate + potassium chloride), ApaBio (apatite phosphorus + biotite) and wood ash, applied both with and without N and replicated six times. All treatments containing phosphorus and potassium increased foliar P and K concentrations above the deficiency limits up to the end of the study period of 26 years. The effect of the fertilization on stand volume growth of Scots pine was strong and continued still at the end of the study period. The trees on ApaBio and PK plots grew nearly two-fold and those on Ash plots over two-fold compared with the control plots. In a thinning made at the end of the study period the total logging removal on fertilized plots was 1.5â2.2 times greater and included more saw logs than on the control plots. Ash fertilizer treatment outperformed other fertilizer treatments as well as the control. With a 5% discounted equivalent annual income (EAI) of Ash fertilizer treatment was statistically significantly (p=0.009) almost three times higher than that of control. As a conclusion, fertilization (either using PK fertilizers or Ash) in N-rich drained peatlands is a financially feasible method of management.Pinus sylvestris

A large proportion of drained spruce mire stands is currently approaching regeneration maturity in Finland. We studied the effect of cutting â small canopy openings (78, 177, and 314Â m) and small clear-cuts (0.25â0.37 ha) â with or without site preparation (scalping) on the establishment of natural Norway spruce seedlings in one experimental drained spruce mire stand in northern Finland. The cuttings were made in winter 2004â2005 and site preparation with scalping in early June 2005. The experimental design was composed of four blocks with altogether four clear-cuts and 33 canopy openings. The seedling establishment was surveyed annually (2006, 2008â2010) from five circular sample plots (one 10 m and four 5Â m plots in size) located within the canopy openings and from 18 circular 5 m sample plots systematically located in the scalped and untreated halves of the clear-cuts. Site preparation was found unnecessary, because it resulted in a clearly lower number of seedlings in the openings. A slight negative effect was also found in the clear-cuts. In the two years following the cuttings, the number of seedlings increased quickly in the canopy openings, but more gradually in the clear-cut areas. In 2010, on average 15 500 new seedlings were observed in the canopy openings and 6700 in the clear-cut areas, of which 5050 and 1200, respectively, were >0.1 m tall spruces. The proportion of birch increased in the last two years, being ca. 22% in the openings and 45% in the clear-cuts in 2010. The spatial distribution of seedlings was more uneven in the clear-cuts than in the openings, with 41% and 20% of survey plots empty, respectively.2222

A large proportion of drained spruce mire stands is currently approaching regeneration maturity in Finland. Traditional regeneration methods with effective site preparation and planting generally result in satisfactory seedling stands also in spruce mires. However, natural regeneration methods may be more appropriate in protecting watercourses and minimizing regeneration costs. We studied the survival of advance growth and establishment of new seedlings in small canopy openings that were cut at three different diameters in two experimental drained spruce mire stands in Northern Finland (Tervola and Oulu) in 2004. The number of seedlings was repeatedly surveyed from five small circular plots (one 10 m and four 5 m plots in size) located within the opening. Advance growth which survived the cutting and new seedlings were separated in the surveys. The density of advance growth was on average 9000Â ha after cutting, and it decreased by 30% during the five-year monitoring period (2006â2010) due to natural mortality. The number of new seedlings increased rapidly within the three years after cutting the openings. In 2010, 11 000â26 000 new seedlings ha in Tervola and 12 000â16 000Â ha in Oulu on average were observed. The size of the opening had no clear effect on the regeneration result. The proportion of birch of the new seedlings increased with time and opening size in Tervola. The results show that Norway spruce regenerates naturally in small canopy openings cut in mature drained spruce mire stands.22â1â1â1

An imbalanced nutrient status in Scots pine stands on drained mires is primarily a consequence of excess nitrogen (N) in relation to mineral nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). In this study, the variation of foliar N, P, and K concentrations relative to some site and environmental characteristics was examined. Foliar nutrient concentrations were determined on needle samples collected from mires representing different drainage ages, site types, geographical locations and annual weather conditions. In the overall data (n = 971 samples in 333 stands) the foliar N concentration varied between 6.7 and 24.2 mg g, the P concentration between 0.83 and 2.32 mg g, and the K concentration between 2.22 and 6.23 mg g. The original (pre-drainage) mire site type proved to be an important factor in explaining the nutrient status of the trees: on originally forested sites, the nutrient balance (N versus K; N versus P) was mostly adequate, whereas on sparsely forested and treeless sites, K deficiency was common. N deficiency was the most common in forested ânitrogen-poorâ sites, while P and K deficiencies were more common in originally treeless or sparsely forested ânitrogen richâ sites, where the nutrient imbalance was also the greatest. Over the whole data, 29% of the cases were diagnosed to be N-deficient, 51% P-deficient, and 25% K-deficient. The foliar N concentration increased with increasing temperature sum. The foliar K concentration decreased with increasing depth of the peat layer. On former treeless or sparsely forested sites, foliar K decreased slightly with increasing drainage age. In contrast, on thin-peated sites the foliar P concentration increased with increasing drainage age. The climate conditions (location), the original site type of the mire and peat thickness should be taken into account when planning silvicultural measures on mires drained for forestry.-1-1-1

Fertilization of drained peatland forests with wood ash and different commercial phosphorus fertilizers (calcium phosphates) generally give similar stand growth responses. However, it has been shown that use of calcium phosphate fertilizers generally lead to highly increased P release to recipient water courses. On the other hand, no corresponding release has been reported after ash fertilization. Soil samples from the surface peats from a nutrient poor and a fertile drained peatland site were collected before and 1â4 years after application of five different types of ash products. The changes over time in the different chemical forms of P in the substrate were studied. The results indicated that the reason for the low liability to leaching of ash fertilizers was that significant amounts of P are adsorbed by Al and Fe during weathering of the ash fertilizers. However, further studies are needed to clarify whether the adsorption of P occurs with the Al and Fe of the ash or the native Al and Fe compounds present in soil before ash fertilization.

Aim: The prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen rapidly worldwide, and the ongoing obesity pandemic is one of the most severe public health concerns in modern society. The average body mass index (BMI) of people living in Northern Norway has also steadily increased since the late 1970s. This study aimed to understand how individuals' health behavior is associated with the general health behavior of the people in their neighborhood. Methods: Using the population-based Tromsø Study, we examined the life course association between average leisure time physical activity at the neighborhood level and the BMI of individuals living in the same neighborhood. We used a longitudinal dataset following 25,604 individuals living in 33 neighborhoods and performed a linear mixed-effects analysis. Results: The results showed that participants living in neighborhoods whose residents were more physically active during their leisure time, were likely to have a significantly lower BMI (−0.9 kg/m², 95% CI −1.5 to −0.4). Also, individuals living in neighborhoods whose residents were doing mainly manual work, had significantly higher BMIs (0.7 kg/m², 95% CI 0.4−1.0). Conclusions: Our results showed a strong association between the average leisure time physical activity level of neighborhood residents and the higher BMI levels of residents of the same neighborhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aim to answer whether expected occupational gains motivated rural-urban and rural-rural migration in nineteenth-century Norway. Human capital theory indicates that the higher expected gains, the more prone an individual will be to migrate. We use a micro-level data set of over 42,000 rural sons linked to their fathers based on 1865 and 1900 Norwegian censuses and employ a switching endogenous regression model controlling for the endogeneity of migration decisions. Our main finding is that the effect of expected occupational gain on the probability of rural-urban migration differs according to the rural sons' destination and parental occupational status: the sons from low status families were migrating motivated by expected occupational advancement. Sons from families with higher occupational status were motivated by expected occupational gains only in the case of rural-urban migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fertilizers are applied in drained peatland forests to correct nutrient imbalances, but few models have been developed for predicting the stand growth response. We used 10-to 34-year-long stem growth increment data from 51 fertilization experiments involving ash, PK, and NPK treatments (doses of P, K, and N varying between 35 and 45, 60 and 80, and 80 and 90 kg * [ha.sup.-1], respectively) and controls to model the volume growth response of young Scots pine (Pinus sylvetris L.) stands to fertilization in drained peatland sites of middle and northern Finland. We used the linear mixed models method to express the stand-level growth response as a function of time (5-year periods), site type group, location, and the fertilization treatment (ash-PK combined and NPK). Different growth responses were obtained for nitrogen-rich sites with PK treatment and nitrogen-poor sites with NPK treatment. The PK fertilization in nitrogen-rich sites resulted in the largest volume growth response and longest temporal effect (1.0-2.0 [m.sup.3] * [ha.sup.-1] * [a.sup.1] higher mean growth for at least 35 years), with quicker and stronger effects in more southern conditions where average temperature sums were greater than 1000 degree-days (° C). NPK fertilization in nitrogen-poor sites gave a modest response (0.4-0.8 [m.sup.3] * [ha.sup.-1] * [a.sup.1] in 35 years). Resume: Des fertilisants sont appliques dans les tourbieres boisees qui ont ete drainees pour corriger les desequilibres entre les elements nutritifs mais peu de modeles ont ete developpes pour predire la reaction en croissance du peuplement. Nous avons utilise des donnees d'accroissement de la tige s'etalant sur 10-34 ans provenant de 51 essais de fertilisation qui comportaient des traitements avec des cendres, PK et NPK (doses de P, K et N variant respectivement de 35-45, 60-80 et 80-90 kg * [ha.sup.-1]) et des temoins pour modeliser la reaction en croissance en volume de jeunes peuplements de pin sylvestre (Pinus sylvestris L.) a la fertilisation dans des tourbiere drainees du centre et du nord de la Finlande. Nous avons utilise la methode des modeles lineaires mixtes pour exprimer la reaction en croissance a l'echelle du peuplement en fonction du temps (periodes de cinq ans), du groupe de types de station, de la localisation et du traitement de fertilisation (cendres et PK combines et NPK). Differentes reponses en croissance ont ete obtenues dans les stations riches en N pour le traitement avec PK et dans les stations pauvres en N pour le traitement avec NPK. La fertilisation avec PK dans les stations riches en N a engendre la plus forte reponse en croissance en volume et l'effet qui a dure le plus longtemps (croissance moyenne plus elevee de 1,0-2,0 [m.sup.3] * [ha.sup.-1] * [an.sup.1] pendant au moins 35 ans) et l'effet etait plus rapide et plus prononce dans des conditions plus meridionales ou les sommes de temperatures moyennes depassaient 1000 degres-jours (° C). La fertilisation avec NPK dans les stations pauvres en N a engendre une reponse modeste (0,4-0,8 [m.sup.3] * [ha.sup.-1] * [an.sup.1] sur 35 ans). [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction In Finland, one-fourth (5 million ha) of all productive forests grows on peatlands or paludified mineral soils that have been drained for forestry (Hokka et al. 2002). There is [...]

Max Weber claims in his well-known book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, that the emergence of capitalism had its roots in the Protestant work ethic. Becker and Woessmann's seminal 2009 paper finds that the more likely relationship between Protestantism and economic prosperity runs via literacy. They claim that Protestants unintendedly acquired literacy skills that functioned as human capital in the economic sphere by adhering Luther's call to learn to read the Bible on their own. In this paper, we investigate at individual level to what extent one by reading Holy scripts acquired functional literacy skills. By using unique individual-level data from nineteenth-century Protestant Norway, we are able to identify offsprings of families known to be intensive readers of religious texts. Our results indicate that the effect of religious reading on functional literacy was restricted: religious reading gave better skills to read easily understood texts, but did not give better skills to read more advanced texts. Our results give more nuances in our understanding of what role pre-modern Nordic religious reading played in economic progress in Lutheran Nordic countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Militaria Mediaevalia is the property of Historical Museum in Sanok and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)