Lepsämänjoki Agricultural Watershed Area LAWA LTSER - Finland

The Lepsämä river LTSER was born when the participating research groups realized that they were concerned with socially structured environmental questions related to the same drainage basin in the Uusimaa region. Lepsämä river LTSER is a network of research institutes and groups interested in the state of and changes to key agroecosystems. The Lepsämä river LTSER network is open to institutions producing long-term research and monitoring data. Contributing to the network are the Helsinki University Department of Agricultural Sciences, Agrifood Research Finland, the Finnish Environment Institute, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Uusimaa, the Vantaa-river and Helsinki Region Water Protection Association and the Helsinki University Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education. The network aims to develop public co-operation and infrastructure for the interdisciplinary study of agricultural environments. The core area of the Network is the agricultural drainage basin of the Lepsämä river, the majority of which belongs to the municipality of Nurmijärvi in central Uusimaa, approximately 30 km northwest of Helsinki. Research data relating to biophysical environmental variables has been gathered from the Lepsämä river drainage basin for decades. This includes data on water quality, nutrient and particular matter load, agricultural land use, nutrient balance, soil types and topography, regional ecological diversity, species diversity of vascular plants, butterflies and farmland birds. The partaking research groups have gathered said data independently in various monitoring, research and development projects.