XVI International Botanical Congess

Representativeness of protected areas covering about 10% (30.000 sq km) of the land area of Finland will be evaluated in 1997-2000. Besides extent of different biotopes, optimality and complementarity of the network is studied, e.g. with the aid of optimization algorithms. Analyses include also isolation and size of reserves, and comparisons with land use patterns of areas surrounding reserves. Protected areas are highly unequally distributed, 56 % of their area is situated in the northernmost Finland, and only 6 % in southern half of the country. Accordingly, southern species and species of productive habitats are poorly represented in the reserve network compared to northern species and species of less productive habitats.