Syöte survey records 1,549 species, 829 new to the area
Thursday 8th October 2026 on 11:30 in
Finland
A 24-hour survey in Syöte National Park and its hiking area found 1,549 species, including 829 not previously recorded there, Yle reports.
About 50 species experts took part in the Bioblitz, organised by Metsähallitus in August. The results were completed this week. The survey also recorded 107 threatened or near-threatened species.
The experts found 285 species of fungi, more than at any previous Metsähallitus Bioblitz. A rainy summer with no long dry spells provided favourable conditions for fungi, said fungi expert Tapio Kekki.
Old-growth forest deadwood provided habitat for many specialised species, said Kaisa Junninen, a conservation specialist. The survey also found 246 plant species and 221 beetle species.
Researchers recorded 192 lichen species, including 25 that are threatened. Among the rarest finds was the endangered lichen known in Finnish as sauvaneulajäkälä, found growing abundantly in an old spruce forest on the slope of Sotivaaran. The survey also produced the first record in North Ostrobothnia of the critically endangered lichen lapinnyppyjäkälä.
Survey findings can help guide the management and use of the park and hiking area, and assessments of the effects of different activities, said Sampsa Malmberg of Metsähallitus Nature Services.
Bioblitz events, which aim to document species in a defined area over a short period, were developed in the United States in 1996 and have since spread internationally. Metsähallitus holds one each year in a different protected area. Next year’s event is planned for SeitsemInen National Park.