Publications

Helsinki Urban Rat Project publishes peer-reviewed scientific articles in all the different research themes - they can be found here thematically ordered.
Disease ecology of rats

Aivelo, T., Alburkat H., Suomalainen, N., Kukowski, R., Heikkinen, P., Oksanen, A., Huitu, O., Kivistö, R., & Sironen, T. 2024. Potentially zoonotic pathogens and parasites in opportunistically sourced urban brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) in and around Helsinki, Finland, 2018 to 2023. Eurosurveillance, 29(40):2400031. Open Access

Aivelo, T. & Lehtimäki, J. 2021: Luonnon monimuotoisuus edistää kansanterveyttä. [Biodiversity enhances public health.] Duodecim, 137(20):2135-41. Open Access

Boundless Rat

Aivelo, T.,Koivisto, E., Esther, A., Koivisto, S. & Huitu, O. 2023. VKORC1-based resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides widespread in Finnish house mice but not in brown rats. International Journal of Pest Management, Open access.

Österdahl, V., Valtonen, V. & Nygren, N.V. 2023. Tahmeat rottakohtaamiset. TRACE ∴ Journal for Human-Animal Studies, 9:34-56. Open access.

Nygren, N. & Aivelo, T.. 2022 Rotta kuntalaisena - rottien esiintyminen ja hallinta (Rats as a municipal citizen - rat occurrence and control). Suomen eläinlääkärilehti, 128(6): 331-337. PDF

Koivisto, E., Esther, A., Aivelo, T., Koivisto, S. & Huitu, O. 2021. Prevalence of anticoagulant rodenticide resistance (Vkorc1 gene polymorphism) in two commensal rodent species in Finland. TUKES Report 1/2021. PDF

Aivelo, T. & Nygren, N. 2020 Rotat osoittavat kiertotalouden porsaanreiät (Rats indicate the holes in circular economy). Niin & Näin, 4/20, 39-46.

Citizen Science and Science Education

Kervinen, A., Hohti, R., Rautio, P., Saari, M. H., Tammi, T., & Aivelo, T. 2024. Ratty places – unsettling human-centeredness in ecological inquiry with young people. Environmental Education Research, 30(7), 1129–1146. Preprint (to be added)

Kervinen, A. & Aivelo, T. 2023. Secondary school students' responses to epistemic uncertainty during an ecological citizen science inquiry. Science Education, 107, 1352–1379. Open Access Preprint

Aivelo, T. 2022. How do age, available support, gender and attitudes affect the quality of data collected by young citizen scientists in an ecological research project? Preprint 

Aivelo, T. 2022. School students’ attitudes towards unloved biodiversity: insights from a citizen science project about urban rats. Environmental Education Research. Open Access Preprint

Rautio, P., Tammi, T. Aivelo, T., Hohti, R., Kervinen, A., Saari, M.  2022. ”For whom? By whom?” Critical perspectives of participation in ecological citizen science. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 17:765-793. Open Access

Aivelo, T. & Huovelin, S. 2020: Combining formal education and citizen science: A case study on students’ perceptions of learning and interest in an urban rat project. Environmental Education Research, 26:324-340. Open Access

Bird feeding and rat history

Lähdesmäki, H., Aivelo, T., & Savolainen, P. 2024. Bird feeding devices exclude unwelcome visitors. More-than-humans shaping the architecture and technology of birdfeeders in twentieth-century Finland. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 25148486241242680. Open Access

Lähdesmäki, H. 2024. Negotiating Belonging in Multispecies Cities: Rats, Birds and Humans as Neighbours in the City of Helsinki in Arrivals and Departures: The Human Relationship with Changing Biodiversity, pp. 85-106, edited by Otto Latva, Heta Lähdesmäki, Kirsi Sonck-Rautio and Harri Uusitalo, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. Open Access