Nordic Forest History Network
Aki K Pitkänen

 Titel:

PhD in biology

 

 Address:

 

Karelian Institute, Department of Ecology
University of Joensuu
P.O. Box 111
80101 Joensu
Finland

 

 Tel 1

 

+358-(0)13-2514577

 Tel 2

+358-(0)13-803546

 

 Fax:

 

+358-(0)13-2513449

 

 Email:

 Links:

 

aki.pitkanen@joensuu.fi

University of Joensuu
Karelian Institute

 

Research:

I have been involved with forest fire history studies from 1995 onwards. I have studied forest fire history of eastern Finland by using palaeoecological methods (charcoal particle and pollen analyses). In addition, I have studied history of mire fires in Finland and in western Siberia. At the present I am working in research project "Changes in the fire regime and forest dynamics in Finland through past 4000 years" funded by Finlands Akademi for period 2000-2002. The project is a part of multidisciplinary research programmeFIBRE, (link: http://fibre.utu.fi/). The present research project involves with the analyses of fire frequency and associated vegetational changes in forest ecosystems by means of a stratigtaphical method based on charcoal layers in marginal areas of small mire basins.

Keywords:

forest fire history, boreal forests, charcoal particle analysis, laminated lake sediments, pollen analysis, slash-and-burn cultivation, mires, charcoal

Publications include:

Pitkänen, A. & Huttunen, P. 1999: A 1300-year forest-fire history at a site in eastern Finland based on charcoal and pollen records in laminated lake sediment. The Holocene 9, 311-320.

Pitkänen, A., Lehtonen, H. & Huttunen, P. 1999: Comparison of sedimentary microscopic charcoal particle records in a small lake with dendrochronological data: evidence for the local origin of microscopic charcoal produced by forest fires of low intensit in eastern Finland. The Holocene 9, 559-567.

Pitkänen, A: Fire frequency and forest structure at a dry site between AD 440 and 1110 based on charcoal and pollen records from a laminated lake sediment in Eastern Finland. The Holocene10, 221-228.

Pitkänen, A., Turunen, J. & Tolonen, K. 1999: The role of fire in the carbon dynamics of a mire, Eastern Finland. The Holocene 9, 453-462.

Pitkänen A. 1999: Palaeoecological study of the history of forest fires in eastern Finland. PhD-thesis. University of Joensuu Publications in Sciences 58. 31pp+appendices.