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Santeri Alkio (1862–1930) was the ideological leader of the Finnish political party the Agrarian League (now the Centre Party of Finland), founded in 1906. He had a Christian ideology and believed that God created the world. However, God did not finish his creation; rather, the creation is an ongoing process and it is the duty of humankind to see it through. People have to become aware of their part in God’s plan of creation, so that they do not remain as mere creatures of instinct. Evoking self-awareness is the duty of the intelligentsia. A self-aware person aspires to evolve through self-education into a good person living in freedom guided by moral laws and to become a decent citizen. However, his view regarding religion was broad-minded. Conceptions of religion change as humankind learns more about them through scientific research. Alkio was critical of socialist, capitalist and liberal economic theories, because they do not consider that economic life consists of personal choices made by people in their everyday lives. He outlined his economics based on a self-sufficient and thrifty family of farmers. He saw Finland as a proletarian nation that had to learn to defend itself against exploitation by capitalist nations. In his view, the class conflicts at the start of the 20th century were a consequence of the inequality in the class society. The only way to rid of them was to raise the level of education of the people in the oppressed position. Through self-education, a person can become a decent citizen who does not pursue vested interest, but acts toward the common benefit. Alkio’s political views focused on a lifestyle based on smallholdings and cooperation, where the central value was called maahenki (“the spirit of the countryside”). To Alkio, maahenki referred to a totality of beliefs concerning the moral and spiritual primacy of an agrarian lifestyle based on the values of an independent yet cooperative farmer. As the ideological leader of the Agr, Tiivistelmä Santeri Alkio (1862–1930) oli vuonna 1906 perustetun Maalaisliiton (Suomen Keskusta) aatteellinen johtaja. Hänen maailmankatsomuksensa oli kristillinen, ja hän uskoi, että Jumala on luonut maailman. Jumala ei kuitenkaan luonut sitä valmiiksi kerralla, vaan luominen on jatkuva prosessi, jonka loppuun saattaminen on ihmiskunnan tehtävä. Ihmisen tulee herätä tiedostamaan osansa Jumalan luomissuunnitelmassa, jotta hän ei jää pelkäksi viettiolennoksi. Hänen herättämisensä itsetietoisuuteen on sivistyneistön velvollisuus. Itsetietoisuuteen herätetyn ihmisen tavoitteena on kehittyä itsekasvatuksen avulla siveelliselle laille alisteisessa vapaudessa eläväksi hyväksi ihmiseksi ja kunnon kansalaiseksi. Alkio suhtautui uskontoon kuitenkin epädogmaattisesti. Uskontoa koskevat käsitykset muuttuvat, kun ihmiskunta saa siitä tarkempaa tietoa tieteellisellä tutkimuksella. Alkio suhtautui kriittisesti sekä sosialistisiin, kapitalistisiin että liberalistisiin talousteorioihin, koska ne eivät ota huomioon sitä, että talouselämä muodostuu ihmisten arkielämässä tekemistä yksilöllisistä valinnoista. Omaa kansantaloustiedettään Alkio kehitteli omavaraisen ja säästäväisen talonpoikaisen perhe-talouden pohjalle. Hän luki Suomen köyhälistökansoihin, joiden oli opittava puolustautumaan kapitalistimaiden riistoa vastaan. 1900-luvun alun luokkaristiriidat olivat hänen mukaansa seurausta sääty-yhteiskunnassa vallinneesta eriarvoisuudesta. Niistä päästään eroon vain nostamalla alistetussa asemassa olevien ihmisten sivistystasoa. Itsekasvatuksella ihminen kehittyy kunnon kansalaiseksi, joka ei tavoittele omaa etuaan vaan toimii yhteisen edun mukaisesti. Alkion poliittista toimintaa hallitsi snellmanilaisesta kansallisuusaatteesta johdettu pienviljelykseen ja osuustoimintaan perustuva elämäntapa, jossa keskeistä oli ns. maahenki. Maalaisliiton aatteellisena johtajana hän kehitti maahengestä puolueen ideologian. Hänen tavoittelemansa tulevaisuuden yhteiskunnan peruselinkeino oli maatalou

Saplings of an ozone sensitive clone of birch (Betula pendulaRoth, KL-5-M) were well-watered or exposed to mild drought-stress combined with ambient or elevated (1.5×the ambient) ozone for 11 weeks in open-field conditions in central Finland. Stomatal response, visible injury, chlorophyll and nutrient content, and changes in cellular anatomy and plant growth were studied. Drought stress alone, in ambient ozone, reduced stomatal density and stomatal conductance. Drought stress and ozone effects were additive, reducing total leaf number, foliage area and starch formation in mesophyll cells. Drought stress and ozone effects were additive, increasing the N concentration in the leaves, the thickness of the upper epidermal cell wall, the number of pectinaceous projections of mesophyll cell walls, and the vacuolar tannin-like depositions and phenolic droplets, regarded as signs of activated stress defence mechanisms. The increase in specific foliage mass, cytoplasmic lipids (younger leaves), and a condensed appearance of the upper epidermal mucilaginous layer were caused by both drought and ozone, but were not additive. The results show that combined drought stress contributed to birch responses to 1.5×current ambient ozone concentrations, corresponding to critical-level ozone exposure. The only beneficial effect of drought stress was the slight reduction of visible leaf symptoms induced by ozone in autumnal leaves.Copyright 1998 Annals of Botany Company

Effects of elevated tropospheric ozone concentration on the CO2 exchange of peatland microcosms and the photosynthetic capacity of the dominating sedge, Eriophorum vaginatum, were studied in a four-year open-field experiment. The net ecosystem CO2 exchange and the dark respiration rate of the microcosms were measured with the closed chamber method. The CO2 assimilation rate and chlorophyll fluorescence (maximal photochemical efficiency of PSII, Fv/Fm) of E. vaginatum leaves were also measured. The gross photosynthesis rate of the microcosms was transiently decreased by ozone exposure during the first year. During the fourth year, the gross photosynthesis and dark respiration rate were both slightly increased by ozone exposure but this was due to the increased density of sedge leaves and no difference was found in Fv/Fm. In overall, chronic ozone exposure had only slight effect on the CO2 exchange of the peatland microcosms.

Boreal peatlands have significant emissions of non-methane biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). Climate warming is expected to affect these ecosystems both directly, with increasing temperature, and indirectly, through water table drawdown following increased evapotranspiration. We assessed the combined effect of warming and water table drawdown on the BVOC emissions from boreal peatland microcosms. We also assessed the treatment effects on the BVOC emissions from the peat soil after the 7-week long experiment. Emissions of isoprene, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, other reactive VOCs and other VOCs were sampled using a conventional chamber technique, collected on adsorbent and analyzed by GC–MS. Carbon emitted as BVOCs was less than 1% of the CO2 uptake and up to 3% of CH4 emission. Water table drawdown surpassed the direct warming effect and significantly decreased the emissions of all BVOC groups. Only isoprene emission was significantly increased by warming, parallel to the increased leaf number of the dominant sedge Eriophorum vaginatum. BVOC emissions from peat soil were higher under the control and warming treatments than water table drawdown, suggesting an increased activity of anaerobic microbial community. Our results suggest that boreal peatlands could have concomitant negative and positive radiative forcing effects on climate warming following the effect of water table drawdown. The observed decrease in CH4 emission causes a negative radiative forcing while the increase in CO2 emission and decrease in reactive BVOC emissions, which could reduce the cooling effect induced by the lower formation rate of secondary organic aerosols, both contribute to increased radiative forcing.

The effects of long-term ozone fumigation on two common peatland plant species, a sedge Eriophorum vaginatum L. and a moss Sphagnum papillosum Lindb., were studied applying peatland microcosms. The peat cores with intact vegetation were cored from an oligotrophic pine fen and partially embedded into the soil of an open-air experimental field for four growing seasons. The open-air ozone exposure field consists of eight circular plots of which four were fumigated with elevated ozone concentration (doubled ambient) and four were ambient controls. The results showed that E. vaginatum and S. papillosum can tolerate ozone better than expected. Elevated ozone concentration did not affect overall relative length growth of E. vaginatum or S. papillosum. The leaf cross-section area of E. vaginatum leaves was 8% bigger in the ozone treatment compared to that in the ambient control. Ultrastuctural variables did not show any significant treatment effect in E. vaginatum or in S. papillosum. Total chlorophyll (a + b) concentration tended to increase in early growing season under ozone exposure. During the first growing season, elevated ozone concentration decreased methanol-extractable, UV-absorbing compounds in E. vaginatum. The results suggest that E. vaginatum and S. papillosum are ozone tolerant plant species and are likely able to cope with expected increase in tropospheric ozone concentration

Udgivelsesdato: April 2005, We assessed the effects of ambient solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation on below-ground parameters in an arctic heath in north-eastern Greenland. We hypothesized that the current UV fluxes would reduce root biomass and mycorrhizal colonization and that these changes would lead to lower soil microbial biomass and altered microbial community composition. These hypotheses were tested on cored soil samples from a UV reduction experiment with three filter treatments (Mylar, 60% UV-B reduction; Lexan, up to 90% UV-B reduction+UV-A reduction; UV transparent Teflon, filter control) and an open control treatment in two study sites after 3 years' manipulation. Reduction of both UV-A and UV-B radiation caused over 30% increase in the root biomass of Vaccinium uliginosum, which was the dominant plant species. UV reduction had contrasting effects on ericoid mycorrhizal colonization of V. uliginosum roots in the two sites, while it had no clear effects on fungal (ergosterol) or microbial biomass (measured both with fumigation-extraction and quantitative lipid biomarker analysis) in soil. However, principal component analysis of lipid biomarkers (phospholipid and glycolipid fatty acid profiles) showed that microbial community composition was altered by UV reduction. Although the UV responses were slight considering the large dose difference between the treatments (from near-ambient to up to 90% UV-B reduction), we cannot rule out the possibility that the recovery of ozone layer would change the below-ground functioning of arctic ecosystems.