Effects of recreational use and fragmentation on the understorey vegetation and soil microbial communities of urban forests in southern Finland

The impacts of fragmentation and recreational use on the hemiboreal urban forest understorey vegetation and the microbial community of the humus layer (the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) pattern, microbial biomass and microbial activity, measured as basal respiration) were examined in the greater Helsinki area, southern Finland. Trampling tolerance of 1) herb-rich OMT, 2) mesic MT, and 3) sub-xeric VT forests (in decreasing order of fertility) was studied by comparing relative understorey vegetation cover (urban/untrampled reference ratio) of the three forest types. The trampling tolerance of forest vegetation increased with the productivity of the site (sub-xeric < mesic < herb-rich). Wear of understorey vegetation correlated positively with the number of residents (i.e., recreational pressure) around the forest patch. An increase of 15000 residents within a radius of 1 km around a forest patch was associated with ca. 30% decrease in the relative understorey vegetation cover. The cover of dwarf shrub Vaccinium myrtillus in particular decreased with increasing levels of wear. The cover of mosses in urban forests was less than half of that in untrampled reference areas. Cover of tree saplings, mainly Sorbus aucuparia, and some resilient herbs was higher than in the reference areas. In small urban forest fragments, broad-leaved trees, grasses and herbs were more abundant and mosses were scarcer than in larger urban forest areas. Thus, due to trampling and edge effects, resilient herb and grass species are replacing sensitive dwarf shrubs, mosses and lichens in urban forests. Differences in the soil microbial community structure were found between paths and untrampled areas and the effects of paths extended more than one meter from the paths. Paths supported approximately 25-30% higher microbial biomass with a transition zone of at least 1 m from the path edge. However, microbial activity per unit of biomass was lower on paths than in untrampled areas. Furthermore, microbial biomass and activity were 30-45% lower at the first 20 m into the forest fragments, due to low moisture content of humus near the edge. The decreased microbial activity detected at forest edges and paths implies decreased litter decomposition rates, and thus, a change in nutrient cycling. Changes in the decomposition and nutrient supply may in turn affect the diversity and function of plant communities in urban forests. Keywords: boreal forest vegetation, edge effects, phospholipid fatty acids, trampling, urban woodlands, wear

Dung beetle communities in Madagascar

The traditional aim of community ecology has been to understand the origin and maintenance of species richness in local communities. Why certain species occur in one place but not in another, how ecologically apparently similar species use resources, what is the role of the regional species pool in affecting species composition in local communities, and so forth. Madagascar offers great opportunities to conduct such studies, since it is a very large island that has been isolated for tens of million of years. Madagascar has remarkable faunal and floral diversity and species level endemism reaches 100% in many groups of species. Madagascar is also exceptional for endemism at high taxonomic levels and for the skewed representation of many taxa in comparison with continental faunas. For example, native ungulates that are dominant large herbivorous mammals on the African continent are completely lacking in Madagascar. The largest native Malagasy herbivores, and the main dung producers for Malagasy dung beetles, are the endemic primates, lemurs. Cattle was introduced to Madagascar about 1,000 yrs ago and is today abundant and widespread. I have studied Malagasy dung beetle communities and the distributional patterns of species at several spatial scales and compared the results with comparable communities in other tropical areas. There are substantial differences in dung beetle communities in Madagascar and elsewhere in the tropics in terms of the life histories of the species, species ecological traits, local and regional species diversities, and the sizes of species geographical ranges. These differences are attributed to Madagascar s ancient isolation, large size, heterogeneous environment, skewed representation of the mammalian fauna, and recent though currently great human impact.

Aerobic carbon-cycle related microbial communities in boreal peatlands: responses to water-level drawdown

Boreal peatlands represent a considerable portion of the global carbon (C) pool. Water-level drawdown (WLD) causes peatland drying and induces a vegetation change, which affects the decomposition of soil organic matter and the release of greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4). The objective of this thesis was to study the microbial communities related to the C cycle and their response to WLD in two boreal peatlands. Both sampling depth and site type had a strong impact on all microbial communities. In general, bacteria dominated the deeper layers of the nutrient-rich fen and the wettest surfaces of the nutrient-poor bog sites, whereas fungi seemed more abundant in the drier surfaces of the bog. WLD clearly affected the microbial communities but the effect was dependent on site type. The fungal and methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) community composition changed at all sites but the actinobacterial community response was apparent only in the fen after WLD. Microbial communities became more similar among sites after long-term WLD. Litter quality had a large impact on community composition, whereas the effects of site type and WLD were relatively minor. The decomposition rate of fresh organic matter was influenced slightly by actinobacteria, but not at all by fungi. Field respiration measurements in the northern fen indicated that WLD accelerates the decomposition of soil organic matter. In addition, a correlation between activity and certain fungal sequences indicated that community composition affects the decomposition of older organic matter in deeper peat layers. WLD had a negative impact on CH4 oxidation, especially in the oligotrophic fen. Fungal sequences were matched to taxa capable of utilizing a broad range of substrates. Most of the actinobacterial sequences could not be matched to characterized taxa in reference databases. This thesis represents the first investigation of microbial communities and their response to WLD among a variety of boreal peatland habitats. The results indicate that microbial community responses to WLD are complex but dependent on peatland type, litter quality, depth, and variable among microbes.

Management of semi-natural grasslands for butterfly and moth communities

This work focuses on the factors affecting species richness, abundance and species composition of butterflies and moths in Finnish semi-natural grasslands, with a special interest in the effects of grazing management. In addition, an aim was set at evaluating the effectiveness of the support for livestock grazing in semi-natural grasslands, which is included in the Finnish agri-environment scheme. In the first field study, butterfly and moth communities in resumed semi-natural pastures were com-pared to old, annually grazed and abandoned previous pastures. Butterfly and moth species compo-sition in restored pastures resembled the compositions observed in old pastures after circa five years of resumed cattle grazing, but diversity of butterflies and moths in resumed pastures remained at a lower level compared with old pastures. None of the butterfly and moth species typical of old pas-tures had become more abundant in restored pastures compared with abandoned pastures. There-fore, it appears that restoration of butterfly and moth communities inhabiting semi-natural grass-lands requires a longer time that was available for monitoring in this study. In the second study, it was shown that local habitat quality has the largest impact on the occurrence and abundance of butterflies and moths compared to the effects of grassland patch area and connec-tivity of the regional grassland network. This emphasizes the importance of current and historical management of semi-natural grasslands on butterfly and moth communities. A positive effect of habitat connectivity was observed on total abundance of the declining butterflies and moths, sug-gesting that these species have strongest populations in well-connected habitat networks. Highest species richness and peak abundance of most individual species of butterflies and moths were generally observed in taller grassland vegetation compared with vascular plants, suggesting a preference towards less intensive management in insects. These differences between plants and their insect herbivores may be understood in the light of both (1) the higher structural diversity of tall vegetation and (2) weaker tolerance of disturbances by herbivorous insects due to their higher trophic level compared to plants. The ecological requirements of all species and species groups inhabiting semi-natural grasslands are probably never met at single restricted sites. Therefore, regional implementation of management to create differently managed areas is imperative for the conservation of different species and species groups dependent on semi-natural grasslands. With limited resources it might be reasonable to focus much of the management efforts in the densest networks of suitable habitat to minimise the risk of extinction of the declining species.

The Media and the Academic Globalization Debate : Theoretical Analysis and Critique

This study offers a reconstruction and critical evaluation of globalization theory, a perspective that has been central for sociology and cultural studies in recent decades, from the viewpoint of media and communications. As the study shows, sociological and cultural globalization theorists rely heavily on arguments concerning media and communications, especially the so-called new information and communication technologies, in the construction of their frameworks. Together with deepening the understanding of globalization theory, the study gives new critical knowledge of the problematic consequences that follow from such strong investment in media and communications in contemporary theory. The book is divided into four parts. The first part presents the research problem, the approach and the theoretical contexts of the study. Followed by the introduction in Chapter 1, I identify the core elements of globalization theory in Chapter 2. At the heart of globalization theory is the claim that recent decades have witnessed massive changes in the spatio-temporal constitution of society, caused by new media and communications in particular, and that these changes necessitate the rethinking of the foundations of social theory as a whole. Chapter 3 introduces three paradigms of media research the political economy of media, cultural studies and medium theory the discussion of which will make it easier to understand the key issues and controversies that emerge in academic globalization theorists treatment of media and communications. The next two parts offer a close reading of four theorists whose works I use as entry points into academic debates on globalization. I argue that we can make sense of mainstream positions on globalization by dividing them into two paradigms: on the one hand, media-technological explanations of globalization and, on the other, cultural globalization theory. As examples of the former, I discuss the works of Manuel Castells (Chapter 4) and Scott Lash (Chapter 5). I maintain that their analyses of globalization processes are overtly media-centric and result in an unhistorical and uncritical understanding of social power in an era of capitalist globalization. A related evaluation of the second paradigm (cultural globalization theory), as exemplified by Arjun Appadurai and John Tomlinson, is presented in Chapter 6. I argue that due to their rejection of the importance of nation states and the notion of cultural imperialism for cultural analysis, and their replacement with a framework of media-generated deterritorializations and flows, these theorists underplay the importance of the neoliberalization of cultures throughout the world. The fourth part (Chapter 7) presents a central research finding of this study, namely that the media-centrism of globalization theory can be understood in the context of the emergence of neoliberalism. I find it problematic that at the same time when capitalist dynamics have been strengthened in social and cultural life, advocates of globalization theory have directed attention to media-technological changes and their sweeping socio-cultural consequences, instead of analyzing the powerful material forces that shape the society and the culture. I further argue that this shift serves not only analytical but also utopian functions, that is, the longing for a better world in times when such longing is otherwise considered impracticable.

Stadilaispojat, rikokset ja lastensuojelu : Viisi tapaustutkimusta kuudelta vuosikymmeneltä

Societal reactions to norm breaking behavior of children reveal, how we understand childhood, the relations between generations and communitie's ratio of tolerance. In Finland the children that repeatedly commit crimes receive social service measures that are based on Child Welfare Act. In the city of Helsinki (Stadi in the slang of Helsinki) existed an agency specifically established for ill-behaving children until the 1980's, agter which an unified agency for the maltreated and maladjusted children was founded. Through five boys' welfare cases, this research aims at defining what kind of positions, social relations and structures are constructed in the social dynamics of these children's everyday lives. The cases cover different decades from the 1940s to the present. At the same time the cases reflect the child welfare and societal practices, and reveal how the communities have participated in constructing deviance in different eras. The research is meta-theoretically based on critical realism and specifically on Roy Bhaskar's transformative model of social activity. The cases are analyzed in the framework of Edwin M. Lemert's societal reaction theory. Thus the focus of the study is on the wide structural context of the institutional and societal definitions of deviance. The research is methodologically based on a qualitative multiple case study research. The primary data consist of classified child welfare case files collected from the archives of the city of Helsinki. The data of the institutional level consist of the annual reports from 1943 to 2004 and the ordinances from 1907 onwards, and of various committee documents produced in the law-making process of child welfare, youth and criminal legislation of the 20th century. Empirical finding are interpreted in a dialogue with previous historical and child welfare research, contemporary literature and studies on the urban development. The analysis is based on Derek Layder's model of adaptive theory. The research forms a viewpoint to the historical study of child welfare, in which the historical era, its agents and the dynamics of their mutual relations are studied through an individual level reconstruction based on the societal reaction theory. The case analyses reveal how the positions of the children form differently in the different eras of child welfare practices. In the 1940s the child is positioned as a psychopath and a criminal type. The measures are aimed at protecting the community from the disturbed child, and at adjusting the individual by isolation. From 1960s to 1980s the child is positioned as a child in need of help and support. The child becomes a victim, a subject that occupies rights, and a target of protection. In the turn of the millennium a norm breaking child is positioned as a dangerous individual that, in the name of the community safety, has to be confined. The case analyses also reveal the prevailing academic and practical paradigms of the time. Keywords: childhood, youth, child protection, child welfare, delinquency, crime, deviance, history, critical realism, case study research

Lähteiden lumoamat : Henry Biaudet, Liisi Karttunen ja suomalainen historiantutkimus Roomassa 1900-luvun alussa

Enchanted by Sources. Henry Biaudet, Liisi Karttunen and Finnish Historical Research in Rome in the Early Twentieth Century This study traces the scholarly endeavours of Henry Biaudet (1870 1915) and Liisi Karttunen (1880 1957) and "La mission historique finlandaise à Rome" which they founded in 1909. They are forgotten in Finnish historiography, but remain internationally renowned for their contribution to the nunciature studies. By investigating their historical work on the Counter- Reformation era, their roles in the scientific communities of Helsinki and Rome as well as the intersection of politics and science in their scholarly practices the study explores the nature of historical research in general at the turn of the twentieth century. The work covers fields such as historiography, university history and the political use of history. Methodologically the research is based on the analysis and contextualization of published and unpublished sources (e.g. correspondences, university records, scholarly publications and reviews in academic journals). Henry Biaudet criticized the previous research on the Nordic Counter-Reformation for its narrow national scope and sources. He sought out a new approach, including the use of sources in archives all over Europe and the inclusion of the Catholic viewpoint. Accordingly, Biaudet and Karttunen searched for records in archives in Southern Europe. Their unorthodox interpretations were denounced in Finland since the picture they gave of late sixteenth-century Sweden was too different from the national narrative. Moreover, Finnish national identity was firmly rooted in Protestantism, and questioning the benevolence of the Reformation and its main actors was considered as an attack not only against historical truth but also national values. The comparison between Biaudet s and Karttunen s arguments and the accepted narrative in Finland shows how traditional interpretations of the Nordic Reformation were influenced by the Lutheran ethos and European anticlerical rhetoric. Historians have recently paid substantial attention to the political use of history, usually focusing on politicized constructions of the national past. This study shows how research that met the criteria of modern historiography also served political purposes. Conducting research in an international community of historians and publishing ambitious scholarly studies that interested an international audience were ways to create a positive image of Finland abroad. These were not uniquely Finnish ideas but rather ideas shared by the international community of historians in Rome. In this context, scientific pursuits were given a clear political meaning. This enhances our understanding of nineteenth-century historiography being firmly rooted between science and politics.

The role of selected non-timber forest products for rural areas in Laos: Case studies in Ban Napo and Ban Kouay communities

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are one of the major income sources for the rural population of Laos. An exploratory study was conducted to determine the role of non-timber forest products for rural communities of the study area. The study was carried out in two villages viz. Ban Napo and Ban Kouay of Sangthong district between January and March 2010. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to gather data from the respondents. Twenty-five respondents from each village were chosen based on their involvement in NTFPs collection and marketing activities. Statistically significant NTFPs income differences were not found between the villages and age groups of the respondents, however, significant differences were found in the annual incomes between farms size of the respondents. This study also analyzed the value chain structure of the three (See khai’ ton, Bamboo mats and Incense sticks) important non-timber forest products and the interactions between the actors in the case study areas. Barriers to entry the market, governance and upgrading possibilities have been discussed for each of the value chains. Comparison of unit prices at different levels of the value chains indicated uneven income distribution in favour of the intermediaries, factories and foreign buyers. The lack of capital, marketing information and negotiation skills restricted the villagers to increase their income. However, all the respondents have shown their satisfaction with their income from NTFPs.

Spatial ecology of food webs : herbivore-parasitoid communities on the pedunculate oak

Herbivorous insects, their host plants and natural enemies form the largest and most species-rich communities on earth. But what forces structure such communities? Do they represent random collections of species, or are they assembled by given rules? To address these questions, food webs offer excellent tools. As a result of their versatile information content, such webs have become the focus of intensive research over the last few decades. In this thesis, I study herbivore-parasitoid food webs from a new perspective: I construct multiple, quantitative food webs in a spatially explicit setting, at two different scales. Focusing on food webs consisting of specialist herbivores and their natural enemies on the pedunculate oak, Quercus robur, I examine consistency in food web structure across space and time, and how landscape context affects this structure. As an important methodological development, I use DNA barcoding to resolve potential cryptic species in the food webs, and to examine their effect on food web structure. I find that DNA barcoding changes our perception of species identity for as many as a third of the individuals, by reducing misidentifications and by resolving several cryptic species. In terms of the variation detected in food web structure, I find surprising consistency in both space and time. From a spatial perspective, landscape context leaves no detectable imprint on food web structure, while species richness declines significantly with decreasing connectivity. From a temporal perspective, food web structure remains predictable from year to year, despite considerable species turnover in local communities. The rate of such turnover varies between guilds and species within guilds. The factors best explaining these observations are abundant and common species, which have a quantitatively dominant imprint on overall structure, and suffer the lowest turnover. By contrast, rare species with little impact on food web structure exhibit the highest turnover rates. These patterns reveal important limitations of modern metrics of quantitative food web structure. While they accurately describe the overall topology of the web and its most significant interactions, they are disproportionately affected by species with given traits, and insensitive to the specific identity of species. As rare species have been shown to be important for food web stability, metrics depicting quantitative food web structure should then not be used as the sole descriptors of communities in a changing world. To detect and resolve the versatile imprint of global environmental change, one should rather use these metrics as one tool among several.

How do Researchers Find and Retrieve Scientific Publications – A Case study of the Impact of the Internet on the Construction IT and Construction Management Research Communities

The World Wide Web provides the opportunity for a radically changed and much more efficient communication process for scientific results. A survey in the closely related domains of construction information technology and construction management was conducted in February 2000, aimed at measuring to what extent these opportunities are already changing the scientific information exchange and how researchers feel about the changes. The paper presents the results based on 236 replies to an extensive Web based questionnaire. 65% of the respondents stated their primary research interest as IT in A/E/C and 20% as construction management and economics. The questions dealt with how researchers find, access and read different sources; how much and what publications they read; how often and to which conferences they travel; how much they publish, and what are the criteria for where they eventually decide to publish. Some of the questions confronted traditional and electronic publishing with one final section dedicated to opinions about electronic publishing. According to the survey researchers already download half of the material that they read digitally from the Web. The most popular method for retrieving an interesting publication is downloading it for free from the author’s or publisher’s website. Researchers are not particularly willing to pay for electronic scientific publications. There is much support for a scenario of electronic journals available totally freely on the Web, where the costs could be covered by for instance professional societies or the publishing university. The shift that the Web is causing seems to be towards the "just in time" reading of literature. Also, frequent users of the Web rely less on scientific publications and tend to read fewer articles. If available with little effort, papers published in traditional journals are preferred; if not, the papers should be on the Web. In these circumstances, the role of paper-based journals published by established publishers is shifting from the core "information exchange" to the building of authors' prestige. The respondents feel they should build up their reputations by publishing in journals and relevant conferences, but then make their work freely available on the Web.

Molecular characterization of sediment bacterial communities affected by fish farming

Fish farming introduces nutrients, microbes and a wide variety of chemicals such as heavy metals, antifoulants and antibiotics to the surrounding environment. Introduction of antibiotics has been linked with the increased incidence of antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria in the farm vicinities. In this thesis molecular methods such as quantitative PCR and DNA sequencing were applied to analyze bacterial communities in sediments from fish farms and pristine locations. Altogether four farms and four pristine sites were sampled in the Baltic Sea. Two farm and two pristine locations were sampled over a surveillance period of four years. Furthermore, a new methodology was developed as a part of the study that permits amplifying single microbial genomes and capturing them according to any genetic traits, including antibiotic resistance genes. The study revealed that several resistance genes for tetracycline were found at the sediment underneath the aquaculture farms. The copy number of these genes remained elevated even at a farm that had not used any antibiotics since year 2000, six years before this study started. Similarly, an increase in the amount of mercury resistance gene merA was observed at the aquaculture sediment. The persistence of the resistance genes in absence of any selection pressure from antibiotics or heavy metals suggests that the genes may be introduced to the sediment by the farming process. This is also supported by the diversity pattern of the merA gene between farm and pristine sediments. The bacterial community-level changes in response to fish farming were very complex and no single phylogenetic groups were found that would be typical to fish farm sediments. However, the community structures had some correlation with the exposure to fish farming. Our studies suggest that the established approaches to deal with antibiotic resistance at the aquaculture, such as antibiotic cycling, are fundamentally flawed because they cannot prevent the introduction of the resistance genes and resistant bacteria to the farm area by the farming process. Further studies are required to study the entire fish farming process to identify the sources of the resistance genes and the resistant bacteria. The results also suggest that in order to prevent major microbiological changes in the surrounding aquatic environment, the farms should not be founded in shallow water where currents do not transport sedimenting matter from the farms. Finally, the technique to amplify and select microbial genomes will potentially have a considerable impact in microbial ecology and genomics.

University Students' Approaches to Learning, Self-Regulation, and Cognitive and Attributional Strategies : Connections with Well-Being and Academic Success

This dissertation empirically explores the relations among three theoretical perspectives: university students approaches to learning, self-regulated learning, as well as cognitive and attributional strategies. The relations were quantitatively studied from both variable- and person-centered perspectives. In addition, the meaning that students gave to their disciplinary choices was examined. The general research questions of the study were: 1) What kinds of relationships exist among approaches to learning, regulation of learning, and cognitive and attributional strategies? What kinds of cognitive-motivational profiles can be identified among university students, and how are such profiles related to study success and well-being? 3) How do university students explain their disciplinary choices? Four empirical studies addressed these questions. Studies I, II, and III were quantitative, applying self-report questionnaires, and Study IV was qualitative in nature. Study I explored relations among cognitive strategies, approaches to learning, regulation of learning, and study success by using correlations and a K-means cluster analysis. The participants were 366 students from various faculties at different phases of their studies. The results showed that all the measured constructs were logically related to each other in both variable- and person-centered approaches. Study II further examined what kinds of cognitive-motivational profiles could be identified among first-year university students (n=436) in arts, law, and agriculture and forestry. Differences in terms of study success, exhaustion, and stress among students with differing profiles were also looked at. By using a latent class cluster analysis (LCCA), three groups of students were identified: non-academic (34%), self-directed (35%), and helpless students (31%). Helpless students reported the highest levels of stress and exhaustion. Self-directed students received the highest grades. In Study III, cognitive-motivational profiles were identified among novice teacher students (n=213) using LCCA. Well-being, epistemological beliefs, and study success were looked at in relation to the profiles. Three groups of students were found: non-regulating (50%), self-directed (35%), and non-reflective (22%). Self-directed students again received the best grades. Non-regulating students reported the highest levels of stress and exhaustion, the lowest level of interest, and showed the strongest preference for certain and practical knowledge. Study IV, which was qualitative in nature, explored how first-year students (n = 536 ) in three fields of studies, arts, law, and veterinary medicine explained their disciplinary choices. Content analyses showed that interest appeared to be a common concept in students description of their choices across the three faculties. However, the objects of interest of the freshmen appeared rather unspecified. Veterinary medicine and law students most often referred to future work or a profession, whereas only one-fifth of the arts students did so. The dissertation showed that combining different theoretical perspectives and methodologies enabled us to build a rich picture of university students cognitive and motivational predispositions towards studying and learning. Further, cognitive-emotional aspects played a significant role in studying, not only in relation to study success, but also in terms of well-being. Keywords: approaches to learning, self-regulation, cognitive and attributional strategies, university students

Social dynamics for sustainable food systems. Actors’ orientations towards sustainability in primary production and public consumption

Abstract The modern food system and sustainable development form a conceptual combination that suggests sustainability deficits in the ways we deal with food consumption and production - in terms of economic relations, environmental impacts and nutritional status of western population. This study explores actors’ orientations towards sustainability by taking into account actors’ embedded positions within structures of the food system, actors’ economic relations and views about sustainability as well as their possibilities for progressive activities. The study looks particularly at social dynamics for sustainability within primary production and public consumption. If actors within these two worlds were to express converging orientations for sustainability, the system dynamics of the market would enable more sustainable growth in terms of production dictated by consumption. The study is based on a constructivist research approach with qualitative text analyses. The data consisted of three text corpora, the ‘local food corpus’, the ‘catering corpus’ and the ‘mixed corpus’. The local food actors were interviewed about their economic exchange relations. The caterers’ interviews dealt with their professional identity for sustainability. Finally, the mixed corpus assembled a dialogue as a participatory research approach, which was applied in order to enable researcher and caterer learning about the use of organic milk in public catering. The data were analysed for theoretically conceptualised relations, expressing behavioural patterns in actors’ everyday work as interpreted by the researcher. The findings were corroborated by the internal and external communities of food system actors. The interpretations have some validity, although they only present abstractions of everyday life and its rich, even opaque, fabric of meanings and aims. The key findings included primary producers’ social skilfulness, which enabled networking with other actors in very different paths of life, learning in order to promote one’s trade, and trusting reflectively in partners in order to extend business. These activities expanded the supply chain in a spiral fashion by horizontal and vertical forward integration, until large retailers were met for negotiations on a more equal or ‘other regarding’ basis. This kind of chain level coordination, typically building around the core of social and partnership relations, was coined as a socially overlaid network. It supported market access of local farmers, rooted in their farms, who were able to draw on local capital and labour in promotion of competitive business; the growth was endogenous. These kinds of chains – one conventional and one organic – were different from the strategic chain, which was more profit based and while highly competitive, presented exogenous growth as it depended on imported capital and local employees. However, the strategic chain offered learning opportunities and support for the local economy. The caterers exhibited more or less committed professional identity for sustainability within their reach. The facilitating and balanced approaches for professional identities dealt successfully with local and organic food in addition to domestic food, and also imported food. The co-operation with supply chains created innovative solutions and savings for the business parties to be shared. The rule-abiding approach for sustainability only made choices among organic supply chains without extending into co-operation with actors. There were also more complicated and troubled identities as juggling, critical and delimited approaches for sustainability, with less productive efforts due to restrictions such as absence of organisational sustainability strategy, weak presence of local and organic suppliers, limited understanding about sustainability and no organisational resources to develop changes towards a sustainable food system. Learning in the workplace about food system reality in terms of supply chain co-operation may prove to be a change engine that leads to advanced network operations and a more sustainable food system. The convergence between primary producers and caterers existed to an extent allowing suggestion that increased clarity about sustainable consumption and production by actors could be approached using advanced tools. The study looks for introduction of more profound environmental and socio-economic knowledge through participatory research with supply chain actors in order to promote more sustainable food systems. Summary of original publications and the authors’ contribution I Mikkola, M. & Seppänen, L. 2006. Farmers’ new participation in food chains: making horizontal and vertical progress by networking. In: Langeveld, H. & Röling N. (Eds.). Changing European farming systems for a better future. New visions for rural areas. Wageningen, The Netherlands. Wageningen Academic Publishers: 267–271. II Mikkola, M. 2008. Coordinative structures and development of food supply chains. British Food Journal 110 (2): 189–205. III Mikkola, M. 2009. Shaping professional identity for sustainability. Evidence in Finnish public catering. Appetite 53 (1): 56–65. IV Mikkola, M. 2009. Catering for sustainability: building a dialogue on organic milk. Agronomy Research 7 (Special issue 2): 668–676. Minna Mikkola has been responsible for developing the generic research frame, particular research questions, the planning and collection of the data, their qualitative analysis and writing the articles I, II, III and IV. Dr Laura Seppänen has contributed to the development of the generic research frame and article I by introducing the author to the basic concepts of economic sociology and by supporting the writing of article II with her critical comments. Articles are printed with permission from the publishers.