Rate My Professor Eeva-Stiina Tuittila

Eeva-Stiina Tuittila is Professor of Forest Soil Science and Deputy Head of School in the School of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology at the University of Eastern Finland. She obtained her PhD from the University of Helsinki in 2000. Following postdoctoral positions at McMaster University and Université Laval in Canada, as well as serving as an Academy Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki, she joined the University of Eastern Finland in August 2011 as a university researcher in Forest Ecology. In February 2012, she was appointed to her current professorial position. Tuittila leads the Peat&Trees - Peatland and Soil Ecology Research Group, focusing on ecosystem adaptations to global change pressures such as climate and land-use changes in peatlands. Her work examines vegetation, microbial communities, carbon dynamics, and greenhouse gas fluxes including CO2, CH4, and biogenic volatile organic compounds. She also investigates human-nature interactions, including perceptions of urban forests, human-tree relationships, and the forest happiness index in Finland.

Tuittila serves as the principal investigator and leader of the Centre of Excellence in Peatlands, Climate Change and Ecological Restoration (PeatResC, 2026-2033), a collaborative effort involving the University of Eastern Finland, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Aalto University, and University of Helsinki. This centre assesses climate change impacts on peatland biodiversity, carbon sinks, methane dynamics, and restoration effects using long-term datasets, paleoecology, remote sensing, and modeling. Key publications include "Peatlands in the Earth's 21st century climate system" (Frolking et al., 2011), "Methanotrophy induces nitrogen fixation during peatland development" (Larmola et al., 2014), "Wetland chronosequence as a model of peatland development: Vegetation succession, peat and carbon accumulation" (Tuittila et al., 2013), "Plant phenology and species-specific traits control plant CH4 emissions in a northern boreal fen" (Ge et al., 2023), "Restoration induced long-term vegetation change in oligotrophic peatlands" (Kumpulainen et al., 2025), and "Assessing the Value of Testate Amoebae and their Functional Traits in Detecting Climate Change-Induced Peatland Drying" (Kuuri-Riutta et al., 2026). Her research contributes to understanding peatland roles in climate regulation and restoration strategies.