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Expanding and managing current habitat and species protection measures is at the heart of the European biodiversity strategy. A structured approach is needed to gain insights into such issues is systematic conservation planning, which uses techniques from decision theory to identify places and actions that contribute most effectively to policy objectives given a set of constraints. Yet culturally and historically determined European landscapes make the implementation of any conservation plans challenging, requiring an analysis of synergies and trade-offs before implementation. In this work, we review the scientific literature for evidence of previous conservation planning approaches, highlighting recent advances and success stories. We find that the conceptual characteristics of European conservation planning studies likely reduced their potential in contributing to better-informed decisions. We outline pathways towards improving the uptake of decision theory and multi-criteria conservation planning at various scales, particularly highlighting the need for (a) open data and intuitive tools, (b) the integration of biodiversity-focused conservation planning with multiple objectives, (c) accounting of dynamic ecological processes and functions, and (d) better facilitation of entry-points and co-design practices of conservation planning scenarios with stakeholders. By adopting and improving these practices, European conservation planning might become more actionable and adaptable towards implementable policy outcomes.

Halting the alarming rate of species extinction, driven primarily by habitat destruction, motivated the international community to adopt the Global Biodiversity Framework (2022) and its targets aimed at reversing habitat and species loss. Because of urgency and resource constraints, a key challenge is meeting targets effectively and efficiently. Here we conduct a global prioritization linking 70,492 unique population maps and life history characteristics for 861 threatened terrestrial mammal species. Incorporating individual population data to identify priority areas for conservation nearly doubled the likely long-term persistence of species for the same amount of land compared with a typical approach based on species distributions alone. We map and rank global mammal persistence priority areas and assess how well the current protected area (PA) system captures these important regions. Our results offer a clearer, quantifiable link between conservation actions and global extinction risk than previously possible at a global scale.

Literature review of European conservation planning studies The data table uploaded here contains reviewed literature as part of the manuscript "An assessment of the state of conservation planning in Europe” by Jung et al. that is currently in Review. In this work we reviewed all available scientific literature broadly dealing with conservation planning in various facets and across realms (terrestrial, freshwater, marine). The database provided here thus provides a comprehensive starting point of all scientific conservation planning studies conducted in Europe up until mid 2023. The dataset is derived from a Scopus literature query conducted on the 23th of September 2022, which resulted in an initial 1459 studies which were further refined and supplemented by evidence known to the authors. --- # Description of table columns: "ID" = Numeric Identifier of the study "Extent" = Scale the study was conducted, from local, regional, national to European wide "Region" = The broad region with regards to European country "Locality" = Additional detail on the locality of the study if easily available "Realm" = Which realm does the study cover (e.g. Terrestrial, Marine, ...) "Ecosystem.specificity" = Was the study conducted only for specific ecosystems (e.g. Forests)? "Period" = Over which period was the study conducted (Present only, future conditions, both) "Planning.purpose" = What was the purpose of the study? "Policy.relevance" = Specific policy directives or legal documents referred to in the study introduction. "Method" = Which method was used for the planning purpose (i.e., Zonation, Marxan, ...) "Biodiversity.type; = What type of Biodiversity data was included in the study? "Number.of.features" = How many number of features? "Multiple.objectives.or.constraints" = Did the study somehow account for multiple objectives or constraints? "Connectivity" = Was connectivity somehow considered and if so, how? "Costs" = Were socio-economic costs somehow considered? "Stakeholder.i

Halting the alarming rate of species extinction, driven primarily by habitat destruction, motivated the international community to adopt (2022) the Global Biodiversity Framework and it’s 23 targets aimed at reversing habitat and species loss. Due to urgency and resource constraints, a key challenge is meeting targets effectively and efficiently. Here we conduct a global prioritization linking 70,492 unique population maps and life history characteristics for 861 threatened terrestrial mammal species. Incorporating individual population data boosted viability for 84% more populations compared to using a more typical approach that uses species distributions alone, nearly doubling the security of long-term species persistence. We map and rank global mammal persistence priority areas and assess how well the current protected areas (PA) system captures these important regions. Our results will provide conservation actors a more direct and quantifiable linkage between conservation action and extinction risk than has previously been possible at a global scale.

The use of indicator species in forest conservation and management planning can facilitate enhanced preservation of biodiversity from the negative effects of forestry and other uses of land. However, this requires detailed and spatially comprehensive knowledge of the habitat preferences and distributions of selected focal indicator species. Unfortunately, due to limited resources for field surveys, only a small proportion of the occurrences of focal species is usually known. This shortcoming can be circumvented by using modeling techniques to predict the spatial distribution of suitable sites for the target species. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) and other remote sensing (RS) techniques have the potential to provide useful environmental data covering systematically large areas for these purposes. Here, we focused on six bird of prey and woodpecker species known to be good indicators of boreal forest biodiversity values. We used known nest sites of the six indicator species based on nestling ringing records. Thus, the most suitable nesting sites of these species provide important information for biodiversity-friendly forest management and conservation planning. We developed fine-grained, that is, 96 × 96 m grid cell resolution, predictive maps across the whole of Finland of the suitable nesting habitats based on ALS and other RS data and spatial information on the distribution of important forest stands for the six studied biodiversity indicator bird species based on nesting-habitat suitability modeling, that is, the MaxEnt model. Habitat preferences of the study species, as determined by MaxEnt, were in line with the previous knowledge of species-habitat relations. The proportion of suitable habitats of these species in protected areas (PAs) was considerable, but our analysis also revealed many potentially high-quality forest stands outside PAs. However, many of these sites are increasingly threatened by logging because of increased pressures for using forests for bi

Spatial (conservation) prioritization integrates data on the distributions of biodiversity, costs and threats. It produces spatial priority maps that can support ecologically well‐informed land use planning in general, including applications in environmental impact avoidance outside protected areas. Here we describe novel methods that significantly increase the utility of spatial priority ranking in large analyses and with interactive planning. Methodologically, we describe a novel algorithm for implementing spatial priority ranking, novel alternatives for balancing between biodiversity features, fast tiled FFT transforms for connectivity calculations based on dispersal kernels, and a novel analysis output, the flexibility map. Marking by N the number of landscape elements with data, the new prioritization algorithm has time scaling of less than Nlog2N instead of the N2 of its predecessor. We illustrate feasible computation times with data up to billions of elements in size, implying capacity for global analysis at a resolution higher than 0.25 km2, or close to 1‐ha resolution for a continent. The algorithmic improvements described here bring about improved capacity to implement decision support for real‐world spatial conservation planning problems. The methods described here will be at the technical core of forthcoming software releases.

Several methods of measuring biodiversity in development‐offset trades exist. However, there is little consensus on which biodiversity metrics should be used for quantifying development impacts and assigning offsets. We simulated development impacts in a virtual landscape and offset these impacts using six biodiversity metrics: vegetation area, vegetation condition, habitat suitability, species abundance, metapopulation connectivity and rarity‐weighted richness. We tested long‐term impacts of metric choice during offsetting by combining simulated landscapes with population viability analyses. No net loss or net gains in habitat were achieved using all metrics except vegetation area and condition. Limited habitat and like‐for‐like requirements resulted in offsets exhausting available habitat in each vegetation class before offset requirements were met when using vegetation‐based metrics. We also found that impact avoidance was an important driver in how much compensation offsets could deliver. When impacts avoided high‐suitability habitats, all six metrics achieved no net loss or net gains for most species. However, when core habitats were developed, none of the metrics were able to consistently prevent population declines. Synthesis and application. When impacts on high‐quality habitat were avoided, and assuming the protection and restoration benefits can occur in practice, vegetation‐based metrics may produce offsets which deliver gains in species abundance equivalent to species‐specific metrics. However, species‐specific metrics outperformed vegetation‐based metrics when core habitats were lost. Applying avoidance measures as a first step to minimise biodiversity impacts during development will significantly improve offset outcomes for species and result in greater long‐term population benefits delivered through offsetting.

Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly used in conservation and land-use planning as inputs to describe biodiversity patterns. These models can be built in different ways, and decisions about data preparation, selection of predictor variables, model fitting, and evaluation all alter the resulting predictions. Commonly, the true distribution of species is unknown and independent data to verify which SDM variant to choose are lacking. Such model uncertainty is of concern to planners. We analyzed how 11 routine decisions about model complexity, predictors, bias treatment, and setting thresholds for predicted values altered conservation priority patterns across 25 species. Models were created with MaxEnt and run through Zonation to determine the priority rank of sites. Although all SDM variants performed well (area under the curve >0.7), they produced spatially different predictions for species and different conservation priority solutions. Priorities were most strongly altered by decisions to not address bias or to apply binary thresholds to predicted values; on average 40% and 35%, respectively, of all grid cells received an opposite priority ranking. Forcing high model complexity altered conservation solutions less than forcing simplicity (14% and 24% of cells with opposite rank values, respectively). Use of fewer species records to build models or choosing alternative bias treatments had intermediate effects (25% and 23%, respectively). Depending on modeling choices, priority areas overlapped as little as 10-20% with the baseline solution, affecting top and bottom priorities differently. Our results demonstrate the extent of model-based uncertainty and quantify the relative impacts of SDM building decisions. When it is uncertain what the best SDM approach and conservation plan is, solving uncertainty or considering alterative options is most important for those decisions that change plans the most.

Developers are often required by law to offset environmental impacts through targeted conservation actions. Most offset policies specify metrics for calculating offset requirements, usually by assessing vegetation condition. Despite widespread use, there is little evidence to support the effectiveness of vegetation-based metrics for ensuring biodiversity persistence. We compared long-term impacts of biodiversity offsetting based on area only; vegetation condition only; area × habitat suitability; and condition × habitat suitability in development and restoration simulations for the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. We simulated development and subsequent offsetting through restoration within a virtual landscape, linking simulations to population viability models for 3 species. Habitat gains did not ensure species persistence. No net loss was achieved when performance of offsetting was assessed in terms of amount of habitat restored, but not when outcomes were assessed in terms of persistence. Maintenance of persistence occurred more often when impacts were avoided, giving further support to better enforce the avoidance stage of the mitigation hierarchy. When development affected areas of high habitat quality for species, persistence could not be guaranteed. Therefore, species must be more explicitly accounted for in offsets, rather than just vegetation or habitat alone. Declines due to a failure to account directly for species population dynamics and connectivity overshadowed the benefits delivered by producing large areas of high-quality habitat. Our modeling framework showed that the benefits delivered by offsets are species specific and that simple vegetation-based metrics can give misguided impressions on how well biodiversity offsets achieve no net loss.

Tiivistelmä. Tämä kasvatustieteen pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää, minkälaisia johtamisrakenteita yläkouluissa käytetään sekä minkälaisia käsityksiä rehtoreilla ja opettajilla on jaetusta johtamisesta yläkoulussa. Tehty tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena fenomenografisella menetelmällä, joka korostaa kollektiivisten kokemusten ja käsitysten merkityksiä. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin puolistrukturoidulla sähköisellä kyselyllä, johon osallistui neljä yläkoulua eri puolilta Pohjois-Pohjanmaata. Aineiston keräämisessä käytettiin lumipallo-otantaa, jossa koulujen rehtorit ohjasivat kouluissa kyselyn vapaaehtoisille tutkimukseen osallistuneille. Kyselyyn osallistui kaksi rehtoria ja kahdeksan opettajaa. Tutkimuksen perusteella selvisi, että tutkimukseen osallistuneiden yläkoulujen johtaminen perustui Suomessa yleisesti käytössä olevaan johtamisrakenteeseen, joka koostuu rehtorista, apulais- ja vararehtorista sekä opettajien keskuudesta valitusta koulun johtoryhmästä. Kouluissa tehtäviä, vastuuta ja valtaa jaetaan myös työryhmille. Tehtäviä delegoidaan myös yksittäisille henkilöille. Koulujen toiminta perustuu demokratiaan, jota toteutetaan eri tehtävissä ja päätöksenteossa. Johtamisrakenteissa korostuu rehtorin merkitys. Rehtorien ja opettajien käsityksissä jaetusta johtamisesta korostui tutkimustuloksissa koulun tehtävien uudelleen jakautuminen, päätöksenteko, luottamus, demokratia, suunnitelmallinen tiedottaminen, innovatiivisuus sekä työhyvinvointi. Jaetun johtamisen nähtiin keventävän yksilöiden työkuormaa sekä lisäävän työn mielekkyyttä ja sitoutumista. Tuloksissa koettiin tärkeäksi, että jokaisella on mahdollisuus osallistua ja vaikuttaa päätöksentekoprosesseihin, varsinkin, jos päätökset koskettavat itseä. Jaettu johtaminen vaatii toteutuakseen resursseja, aikaa, ja huojennuksia opetusvelvollisuudesta.

Biodiversity offsetting is a tool to balance ecological damage caused by human activity with new benefits created elsewhere. Offsetting is implemented by protecting, restoring or managing sufficiently large areas of habitat. While there are concerns about the true feasibility of offsetting, they are becoming a common policy tool world‐wide. Operationally uncomplicated, quantitative approaches to spatial analysis of offsets are rare and their use is often restricted by the availability of suitable spatial data. We describe a practical method for offsets that builds upon two layers of relatively easily sourced spatial data, a balanced spatial priority ranking and a weighted range size rarity map. Together with (a) spatial information about impact and offset areas, and (b) extra parameters for the effectiveness of avoided loss and the amount of leakage expected, we can evaluate whether the proposed offset exchange represents a credible no net loss or net positive impact with an upward trade. The priority ranking and range size rarity maps can be produced in various ways, most notably using existing conservation planning tools. Here we used the standard outputs of the Zonation spatial prioritization software. We illustrate the method and associated visualization in the context of offsetting of boreal forests in Finland, where forests experience high and increasing pressures from forestry and bioenergy sectors. The example is timely as there is political demand for the uptake of biodiversity offset policies in Finland, and boreal forests are the most common biotope. The methods described here are applicable to biomes around the world. The described tools are made available as r scripts that utilize standard Zonation outputs, thus providing direct linkage to any past or future Zonation applications. As a limitation, the present methods only apply to avoided loss offsets.

Approaches to assess the impacts of landscape disturbance scenarios on species range from metrics based on patterns of occurrence or habitat to comprehensive models that explicitly include ecological processes. The choice of metrics and models affects how impacts are interpreted and conservation decisions. We explored the impacts of 3 realistic disturbance scenarios on 4 species with different ecological and taxonomic traits. We used progressively more complex models and metrics to evaluate relative impact and rank of scenarios on the species. Models ranged from species distribution models that relied on implicit assumptions about environmental factors and species presence to highly parameterized spatially explicit population models that explicitly included ecological processes and stochasticity. Metrics performed consistently in ranking different scenarios in order of severity primarily when variation in impact was driven by habitat amount. However, they differed in rank for cases where dispersal dynamics were critical in influencing metapopulation persistence. Impacts of scenarios on species with low dispersal ability were better characterized using models that explicitly captured these processes. Metapopulation capacity provided rank orders that most consistently correlated with those from highly parameterized and data-rich models and incorporated information about dispersal with little additional computational and data cost. Our results highlight the importance of explicitly considering species' ecology, spatial configuration of habitat, and disturbance when choosing indicators of species persistence. We suggest using hybrid approaches that are a mixture of simple and complex models to improve multispecies assessments.

Island biogeography theory posits that species richness increases with island size and decreases with isolation. This logic underpins much conservation policy and regulation, with preference given to conserving large, highly connected areas, and relative ambivalence shown toward protecting small, isolated habitat patches. We undertook a global synthesis of the relationship between the conservation value of habitat patches and their size and isolation, based on 31 systematic conservation planning studies across four continents. We found that small, isolated patches are inordinately important for biodiversity conservation. Our results provide a powerful argument for redressing the neglect of small, isolated habitat patches, for urgently prioritizing their restoration, and for avoiding simplistic application of island biogeography theory in conservation decisions.

Species' movements affect their response to environmental change but movement knowledge is often highly uncertain. We now have well-established methods to integrate movement knowledge into conservation practice but still lack a framework to deal with uncertainty in movement knowledge for environmental decisions. We provide a framework that distinguishes two dimensions of species' movement that are heavily influenced by uncertainty: knowledge about movement and relevance of movement to environmental decisions. Management decisions can be informed by their position in this knowledge-relevance space. We then outline a framework to support decisions around (1) increasing understanding of the relevance of movement knowledge, (2) increasing robustness of decisions to uncertainties and (3) improving knowledge on species' movement. Our decision-support framework provides guidance for managing movement-related uncertainty in systematic conservation planning, agri-environment schemes, habitat restoration and international biodiversity policy. It caters to different resource levels (time and funding) so that species' movement knowledge can be more effectively integrated into environmental decisions.

Species distribution models (SDMs) are used to inform a range of ecological, biogeographical and conservation applications. However, users often underestimate the strong links between data type, model output and suitability for end‐use. We synthesize current knowledge and provide a simple framework that summarizes how interactions between data type and the sampling process (i.e. imperfect detection and sampling bias) determine the quantity that is estimated by aSDM. We then draw upon the published literature and simulations to illustrate and evaluate the information needs of the most common ecological, biogeographical and conservation applications ofSDMoutputs. We find that, while predictions of models fitted to the most commonly available observational data (presence records) suffice for some applications, others require estimates of occurrence probabilities, which are unattainable without reliable absence records. Our literature review and simulations reveal that, while converting continuousSDMoutputs into categories of assumed presence or absence is common practice, it is seldom clearly justified by the application's objective and it usually degrades inference. MatchingSDMs to the needs of particular applications is critical to avoid poor scientific inference and management outcomes. This paper aims to help modellers and users assess whether their intendedSDMoutputs are indeed fit for purpose.

Evolutionary and genetic knowledge is increasingly being valued in conservation theory, but is rarely considered in conservation planning and policy. Here, we integrate phylogenetic diversity (PD) with spatial reserve prioritization to evaluate how well the existing reserve system in Victoria, Australia captures the evolutionary lineages of eucalypts, which dominate forest canopies across the state. Forty-three per cent of remaining native woody vegetation in Victoria is located in protected areas (mostly national parks) representing 48% of the extant PD found in the state. A modest expansion in protected areas of 5% (less than 1% of the state area) would increase protected PD by 33% over current levels. In a recent policy change, portions of the national parks were opened for development. These tourism development zones hold over half the PD found in national parks with some species and clades falling entirely outside of protected zones within the national parks. This approach of using PD in spatial prioritization could be extended to any clade or area that has spatial and phylogenetic data. Our results demonstrate the relevance of PD to regional conservation policy by highlighting that small but strategically located areas disproportionally impact the preservation of evolutionary lineages.

Evolutionary and genetic knowledge is increasingly being valued in conservation theory, but is rarely considered in conservation planning and policy. Here, we integrate phylogenetic diversity (PD) with spatial reserve prioritization to evaluate how well the existing reserve system in Victoria, Australia captures the evolutionary lineages of eucalypts, which dominate forest canopies across the state. Forty-three per cent of remaining native woody vegetation in Victoria is located in protected areas (mostly national parks) representing 48% of the extant PD found in the state. A modest expansion in protected areas of 5% (less than 1% of the state area) would increase protected PD by 33% over current levels. In a recent policy change, portions of the national parks were opened for development. These tourism development zones hold over half the PD found in national parks with some species and clades falling entirely outside of protected zones within the national parks. This approach of using PD in spatial prioritization could be extended to any clade or area that has spatial and phylogenetic data. Our results demonstrate the relevance of PD to regional conservation policy by highlighting that small but strategically located areas disproportionally impact the preservation of evolutionary lineages.

Species ranges are expected to move polewards following the changing climate, which poses novel challenges to the protected area network, particularly at northern latitudes. Here we study how well protected areas are likely to sustain populations of birds of conservation concern under a changing climate in northern Europe, in Finland. We fitted bioclimatic envelope models generated for 100 bird species to climate scenario data for the years 2051–2080 and three alternative emission scenarios in a 10-km grid system to predict changes in the species probability of occurrence. We related the projected changes in the climatic suitability to the amount of protected preferred habitat for the study species in the 10-km grid cells, and based on the cover of four main CORINE Land Cover classes in each conservation area in Finland. The probability of occurrence of all species (except marshland birds) decreased according to all scenarios, the decline being greatest in southern and smallest in northern boreal zones. This decline was slightly greater in unprotected than in protected areas for species of forests, mires and mountain habitats. The climatically suitable areas for the species were predicted to shift northwards, but the potential gain of southern species of conservation concern appears not to compensate for the loss of northern species. Thus, a representative protected area network is needed in all boreal zones. Overall, our results show that species-specific habitat preferences and habitat availability should be taken into account when assessing the efficiency of a protected area network in a changing climate.

Climate change is affecting biodiversity worldwide, but conservation responses are constrained by considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude, rate and ecological consequences of expected climate change. Here we propose a framework to account for several sources of uncertainty in conservation prioritization. Within this framework we account for uncertainties arising from (i) species distributions that shift following climate change, (ii) basic connectivity requirements of species, (iii) alternative climate change scenarios and their impacts, (iv) in the modelling of species distributions, and (v) different levels of confidence about present and future. When future impacts of climate change are uncertain, robustness of decision-making can be improved by quantifying the risks and trade-offs associated with climate scenarios. Sensible prioritization that accounts simultaneously for the present and potential future distributions of species is achievable without overly jeopardising present-day conservation values. Doing so requires systematic treatment of uncertainties and testing of the sensitivity of results to assumptions about climate. We illustrate the proposed framework by identifying priority areas for amphibians and reptiles in Europe.

The eastern schist area is composed of mica gneiss and veined gneiss, calc-alkaline metavolcanics, silicate- and oxide-facies iron formation and dololmite-dominated carbonate rocks, whereas the western schist area is characterised by mica gneiss, veined gneiss, metatexite and diatexite together with tholeiitic metvolcanite associated with granite sulphide schist and metachert containing iron oxide, iron sulphide and manganese silicate. Most of the airborne geophysical conductivity anomalies occur in the western schist area, signifying occurrences of granite-sulphide schists. Potential economic minerals are nickel and copper sulphides, calcite, dolomite, graphite, ilmenite, apatite and gold. Favourable Ni potential is shown by the abundance of mafic magma in the crust, manifested as small, discrete gabbro and peridotite intrusions scattered especially throughout the western schist area, where S is also available. Also encouraging is the correlation of the Ni-bearing Pirkanmaa belt with the western schist area. However, peridotite cumulates in the amounts critical for Ni are rare, possibly partly as a result of poor and selective exposure conditions. Anomalous As, high background Au in metacherts, Sb enrichment in skarns and numerous well-developed fracture zones indicate reasonable potential for gold. Conditions for ilmenite could exist in the granitoid areas of the E and SE. Large areas of the study area are virtually unexplored., The eastern schist area is composed of mica gneiss and veined gneiss, calc-alkaline metavolcanics, silicate- and oxide-facies iron formation and dololmite-dominated carbonate rocks, whereas the western schist area is characterised by mica gneiss, veined gneiss, metatexite and diatexite together with tholeiitic metvolcanite associated with granite sulphide schist and metachert containing iron oxide, iron sulphide and manganese silicate. Most of the airborne geophysical conductivity anomalies occur in the western schist area, signifying occurrences of granite-sulphide schists. Potential economic minerals are nickel and copper sulphides, calcite, dolomite, graphite, ilmenite, apatite and gold. Favourable Ni potential is shown by the abundance of mafic magma in the crust, manifested as small, discrete gabbro and peridotite intrusions scattered especially throughout the western schist area, where S is also available. Also encouraging is the correlation of the Ni-bearing Pirkanmaa belt with the western schist area. However, peridotite cumulates in the amounts critical for Ni are rare, possibly partly as a result of poor and selective exposure conditions. Anomalous As, high background Au in metacherts, Sb enrichment in skarns and numerous well-developed fracture zones indicate reasonable potential for gold. Conditions for ilmenite could exist in the granitoid areas of the E and SE. Large areas of the study area are virtually unexplored.

The c.1.88 Ga Vaasa batholith, formed during the Svecofennian orogeny, is a large granitoid area (8 000 km2) with gradational contacts against the garnet- and cordierite-bearing diatexite and metatexite migmatites of the Pohjanmaa belt. The batholith consists of porphyritic and even-grained granodiorite with smaller proportions of granite and pyroxene granitoid. The various phases, peraluminous in composition, mainly grade into each other and usually contain relicts of Ca concretions and schists, biotite and garnet, locally resembling uniform diatexites. The Mg content in biotite of granodiorites and pyroxene tonalites is greater than in granite and particularly elevated, together with Al2O3, in tonalite orthopyroxene. The textural, mineralogical and chemical continuity between Vaasa granodiorites and adjacent diatexites indicate that the batholith represents a magma layer formed by extensive in situ melting of the crust. The batholith and adjacent diatexites, formed mainly from inhomogeneous magma, are separated from the Pohjanmaa metatexites by magmatic interface, the metatexites having formed in a conduction heat-flow zone above the interface. The Vaasa batholith is an exceptional type example of the voluminous and diverse granitoids in Finland., The c.1.88 Ga Vaasa batholith, formed during the Svecofennian orogeny, is a large granitoid area (8 000 km2) with gradational contacts against the garnet- and cordierite-bearing diatexite and metatexite migmatites of the Pohjanmaa belt. The batholith consists of porphyritic and even-grained granodiorite with smaller proportions of granite and pyroxene granitoid. The various phases, peraluminous in composition, mainly grade into each other and usually contain relicts of Ca concretions and schists, biotite and garnet, locally resembling uniform diatexites. The Mg content in biotite of granodiorites and pyroxene tonalites is greater than in granite and particularly elevated, together with Al2O3, in tonalite orthopyroxene. The textural, mineralogical and chemical continuity between Vaasa granodiorites and adjacent diatexites indicate that the batholith represents a magma layer formed by extensive in situ melting of the crust. The batholith and adjacent diatexites, formed mainly from inhomogeneous magma, are separated from the Pohjanmaa metatexites by magmatic interface, the metatexites having formed in a conduction heat-flow zone above the interface. The Vaasa batholith is an exceptional type example of the voluminous and diverse granitoids in Finland.