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Development

Relative to their total area - 2% of the total area of Finland - shores are a hotspot for threatened species. More than 160 threatened species can be defined as primarily shore species. This equals 11% of all threatened species in the country.

Two thirds of the species occur on coastal shores, of which sand beaches are the most important habitat type. Another important habitat type are coastal shore meadows, which host 22% of the threatened species.

Of the shores of rivers and lakes, shore meadows stand out as the richest in threatened species. As habitats that are regularly affected by flooding water, the alluvial shores of both inland waters and the Baltic Sea are a special shore type hosting 12 threatened species.

More than 60% of all threatened shore species are invertebrates and one quarter vascular plants. The share of invertebrates is most pronounced on sand beaches where nearly all threatened species are spiders, butterflies beetles, Hymenoptera (sawflies, ants, bees etc.) or Hemiptera (shield bugs, cicadas etc.). Shore meadows are also important for vascular plants.

Altogether 17 shore species have been extinct from Finland. These species are divided evenly between all closer shore habitat types.

According to the expert judgement from 2005, more new threatened species will be named from shore habitats than from any other main habitat type. Altogether 20 new well-known species are expected to be added to the list of threatened shore species.

Threats