People

Interested in joining us? Contact Tuomas Aakala ([email protected]) for opportunities.

For full contact information, see the University of Eastern Finland website: https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/forest-disturbance-ecology/#people

Tuomas Aakala, Professor of Forest Disturbance Ecology hugging a kelo tree

Tuomas Aakala
Niko Kulha in a wintery forest

Niko Kulha
Johanna Toivonen next to an old pine tree

Johanna Toivonen
Aleksi Nirhamo in forest

Aleksi Nirhamo
Mariina Günther sitting on an old kelo log

Mariina “Tilla” Günther
Pemelyn Santos extracting an increment core from a tree

Pemelyn “Pem” Santos
Aleksi Knaappila leaning against an old pine

Aleksi Knaappila

Tuomas Aakala

I am a Professor of Forest Disturbance Ecology at the School of Forest Sciences, and a Guest Professor of Forest Conservation Biology at Mid-Sweden University. My research interests are broadly in forest disturbance dynamics, aiming to understand how forest structures develop naturally, and how humans have shaped forests over longer time scales. An important part of my research is the application of dendrochronological methods in studying these questions.

Links: Google Scholar, ORCID, UEF Connect

Niko Kulha

I work as a postdoctoral researcher in a Kone Foundation-funded project studying carbon accumulation in boreal forests and its links to disturbance history. My research focuses on synergies between biodiversity and carbon storage. I also collaboratively study the biogeography of Ixodidae ticks and am affiliated with the Conservation Biology Informatics research group at the Finnish Museum of Natural History. I hold a title of docent in Landscape Ecology.

Johanna Toivonen

I work as a researcher in the project Borealization of the Finnish Subarctic (BOREARC). I am a treeline ecologist interested in ecological and ecophysiological processes, and plant-environment interactions in a broad sense, at high elevation and high latitude treelines. I use research methods from traditional field ecology to ecophysiological measurements and dendrochronology aiming to understand these processes in space and time.

Aleksi Nirhamo

I am primarily interested in the links between forest dynamics and the community dynamics of forest-dwelling species, including the impacts of anthropogenic habitat modifications. I have mainly worked with epiphytic lichens. In my post-doc project, I am using tree ring data to gain insight on the temporal dynamics of epiphyte communities.

Mariina “Tilla” Günther

I work as a doctoral researcher in the Kelo project (www.kelokko.fi). We aim to uncover why long-lasting Deadwood forms, and I am tackling this question through studying the chemical composition of the Scots pine deadwood, combining ecology, spectroscopy and chemistry. I am also part of SNS network studying long‐term Deadwood Trends in Fennoscandia and a board member of Forest Biology group under The Finnish Society of Forest Science.

Pemelyn “Pem” Santos

I am a doctoral researcher in the Kelo project, where I study the growth history of Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) and investigate how and why some of them die standing and turn into persistent deadwood in Finnish boreal forests. By analysing tree rings, I explore the patterns of their formation, how long they remain standing after death, and the factors that influence these processes. 

Aleksi Knaappila

I work as a doctoral researcher studying boreal forest fires. Specifically, I focus on the factors affecting ignition, and on the variation of flammability across time and space. My research integrates official wildfire statistics, remote sensing data, and national vegetation inventories. I am also a geospatial data enthusiast.