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In Finland, free-ranging Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) population has grown from 30 to 40 individuals to 2800 individuals since the species became partly protected in 1962. Changes in host population size are known to have an impact on host-parasite dynamics, and the Eurasian lynx population in Finland provides a unique opportunity for studying the potential effects of dramatic population increase and expansion of a solitary apex predator on their parasite prevalence and abundance. Toxocara cati is a zoonotic gastrointestinal parasite infecting domestic cats and wild felids worldwide. We studied T. cati infection prevalence and worm burden in 2756 Eurasian lynx individuals from Finland, covering the years 1999–2015. Toxocara cati worms that had been collected from intestinal contents were identified based on morphology. We performed regression analyses to investigate possible associations of age, sex, and host population density with T. cati infection. We found T. cati from 2324 (84.3%, 95% confidence interval 82.9–86.0) of the examined lynx. Each year, the infection prevalence was higher than 75% and not density dependent. The parasites were strongly aggregated, with older individuals harboring fewer T. cati than younger ones did. Old females aged 9–15 years had higher T. cati abundance than males of the same age group. Our results indicate that T. cati was a common and abundant parasite of Eurasian lynx throughout the study period, regardless of the changing population size and density.

Forest characteristics vary largely at the regional level and in smaller geographic areas in Finland. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions is related to changes in biomass and the soil type (e.g. upland soils vs. peatlands). In this paper, estimating and explaining spatial patterns of tree biomass change across Finland was the main interest. We analysed biomass changes on different soil and site types between the years 2009 and 2015 using the Finnish multi-source national forest inventory (MS-NFI) raster layers. MS-NFI method is based on combining information from satellite imagery, digital maps and national forest inventory (NFI) field data. Automatic segmentation was used to create silvicultural management and treatment units. An average biomass estimate of the segmented MS-NFI (MS–NFI–seg) map was 73.9 tons ha−1 compared to the national forest inventory estimate of 76.5 tons ha−1 in 2015. Forest soil type had a similar effect on average biomass in MS–NFI–seg and NFI data. Despite good regional and country-level results, segmentation narrowed the biomass distributions. Hence, biomass changes on segments can be considered only approximate values; also, those small differences in average biomass may accumulate when map layers from more than one time point are compared. A kappa of 0.44 was achieved for precision when comparing undisturbed and disturbed forest stands in the segmented Global Forest Change data (GFC-seg) and MS–NFI–seg map. Compared to NFI, 69% and 62% of disturbed areas were detected by GFC-seg and MS–NFI–seg, respectively. Spatially accurate map data of biomass changes on forest land improve the ability to suggest optimal management alternatives for any patch of land, e.g. in terms of climate change mitigation.