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Kastikka, a national floristic database in Finland, was established in 1963, when the entry into punched cards of occurrence records from collections in botanical museums and the published literature commenced. Over one million records were entered before the data were moved onto magnetic tapes. In the early 1980s, the data were transferred from the tapes into an Oracle relational database, where they are located still today. In the 21st century, records from museum collections and literature have been overwhelmed by records collected directly in the field every year. The location accuracy of the records has also improved over time. Old records were mostly located within 10 × 10 km2 squares, whereas the accuracy of current records is usually 1 km2 or better. Currently, we are experiencing the last years of Kastikka as an independent system. In the future, Kastikka will be integrated into a national collection management system maintained by the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility. Non

Collection of field data for the Atlas of the vascular flora of Finland started in 1985. The original mapping period was planned to be 1985–1990, but the field work has continued yearly since then. Now, after 37 years of field work, it is important to take into account possible changes in the distribution and abundance of the species during the mapping period. We calculated distribution maps for the species based on the atlas data collected by the end of 1990 and 2020, respectively. For those species showing little change in abundance between the years, the maps are surprisingly similar. The main difference is greater detail of small-scale variation in 2020 compared with 1990. For documenting true change in the abundance and distribution of the species, we have calculated distribution maps separately for the atlas data collected in 1958–1999 and in 2000–2020. These maps will be published online on the Atlas website (kasviatlas.fi) in June 2022. Transforming the function of the Atlas from mapping to monitoring is discussed. The most valuable information might be available by resurveying some of the Atlas squares originally surveyed in 1985–1999. A pilot study is planned for the summer of 2022. Non

Changes in the distribution and abundance of vascular plants in Finland were analysed by dividing the plant atlas data into two temporal subsets. The first period contained 1 km2 squares inventoried between 1958 and 1999 (4 248 squares), and the second period contained squares inventoried between 2000 and 2020 (4 132 squares). The results indicate that the number of species showing increase in abundance between the periods is much higher than the number of declining species. Most of the species showing fastest expansion are mostly neophytes and archaeophytes, as well as a group of apophytic native species. Sample maps for species representing each of the groups are shown. Overall, human influence seems to be the main factor explaining the dynamics of the vascular flora of Finland during recent decades. Non

Collection of presence-absence data from 1sq-km squares from different parts of Finland began in 1985. Here we present an overview of the project and its future prospects. The main challenge for the Atlas is to find new field workers in the future, when the active period of current data collectors is approaching the end. Non

Data from a national vascular plant atlas, containing species occurrence data from 1-km squares in different parts of Finland over a period of 60 years, were used for detecting change in the commonness of 712 species. The dataset was divided into two parts, one containing squares inventoried between 1960 and 2000 (Period A, 4 596 squares) and the other containing squares from 2001 to 2019 (Period B, 3 692 squares). Of the 712 species analysed, we observed 124 species that showed consistent increase in commonness from Period A to Period B. Only eight species showing a decline from Period A to Period B were found. Our results indicate that human activities have been the main driving force behind the floristic change in Finland during the study period. The successful competitors are mostly alien and apophytic native species that are able to utilize habitats modified by cultural influence.