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

Erdin, M., Altan, E., Suomalainen, N., Alburkat, H., Aivelo, T., Sironen, T. & Smura, T. 2025. Genetic characterization of rat hepatitis E virus (Rocahepevirus ratti) in urban brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) in Helsinki, Finland. Arch Virol 170:215.

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.

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

Boundless Rat

Aivelo, T., Tornikoski, T., Pentikäinen, S., Suonpää, J. & Vitikainen, E. 2025. Prosocial behaviour is common and aggressive behaviour rare in free-living, brown rats in camera trap material. Mammalian Biology 

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,

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

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.

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.

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

Hohti, R., Tuominen, P., Aivelo, T., Simonen, M., Tammi, T., & Rautio, P. 2025. ‘This place cannot be tidied up!’ Stigmatisation, rats, and place-making in a multispecies city. Children’s Geographies, 23(5):653–669.

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.  

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?

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

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.

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.

Bird feeding and rat history

Aivelo, T., Aulio, M., Enström, J., Deshpande, P., Haukka, A., Lähdesmäki, H., Rönkä, K., Santangeli, A., Väkkärä, V., Lehikoinen, A., Thorogood, R., & Kervinen, A. 2025. Multispecies relations shape bird-feeding practices. npj Biodiversity 4:9

Deshpande, P., Haukka, A., Rönkä, K., Aivelo, T., Santangeli, A., Thorogood, R. & Lehikoinen, A., 2025. How, why, where and when people feed birds?—Spatio-temporal changes in bird-feeding in Finland. People and Nature, 7:360-372.

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.

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.

 

Living with rats

Lukasik, K.M., Linturi, M. & Aivelo, T. 2025. Codes of conduct: towards just coexistence in urban spaces. npj Urban Sustain 5:55. .

Bankovska, A., & Lukasik, K. 2025. Care as a Method and Methods for Care: Researching Multispecies Relationships in Urban Gardens in Finland. Public Urban Cultures of Care, 10:10010.