Current news at the Department of Biological and Environmental Science

Using Finland as a case study, Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä investigated whether the most valuable forests in terms of biodiversity conservation are still being harvested or if they are under efficient protection.

Researchers in the Department of Biological and Environmental Science have studied the biodegradability of biodegradable plastics in lakes and the Baltic Sea as part of the PlastLIFE project.

Xiaoxuan Hu examined how sensitive various aquatic species were to enhanced sulfate concentrations and conducted a multi-species modeling to derive predicted no effect concentrations for sulfate in boreal freshwater and in the coastal Baltic Sea brackish.

Soil Dwellers exhibition at Villa Elfvik Nature House in Espoo (2.10.–26.11.2025) explores forest soil ecosystems and organisms through visual storytelling sparking curiosity about our interactions with nature.

The new professors of practice Saara Vauramo and Kaisa Mustajärvi will strengthen the social impact of the Department of Biological and Environmental Science, and the JYU.Wisdom community in the fields of environmental science and planetary well-being.

An international research team led by the University of Göttingen (Germany) and University of Jyväskylä (Finland) investigated how the Triad forest management framework can support biodiversity conservation in European beech forests.

Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä, in collaboration with international research groups, have now developed a new statistical method that enables the analysis of data sets comprising millions of species.

Hennariikka Mäenpää's doctoral dissertation results show that tardigrade communities are not uniform across peatlands. They vary particularly with peatland type, but management history, microtopography, and moss species also play important roles.

Professor Jouni Taskinen is a walking database of freshwater pearl mussel research and will be answering the audience’s questions at the Science for All -event on September 16..

University Teacher Tuomo Äkkinen at the University of Jyväskylä is the new director of the Central Finland LUMA Centre. One goal is to get all departments of the faculty more involved in science education to achieve a unified approach.

This year, the University launched a new research profiling area that seeks more comprehensive approaches to foster older people’s functional capacity and recovery from illnesses.

For the first time, Mikko Mäkinen experimentally examined in his doctoral dissertation examined the sulfate tolerance of Finnish fish species and produced essential and highly timely background information for water protection needs.