Rate My Professor James Blande

Professor James Blande serves as Professor of Chemical Ecology in the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences within the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology at the University of Eastern Finland. He has led the Environmental Ecology Research Group since its establishment on 1 January 2010. Blande obtained his PhD in chemical ecology from Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom in 2004, with research on the chemical ecology of aphid parasitoids supervised by Professors Guy Poppy and John Pickett. He then took up a postdoctoral position at the University of Kuopio, now the University of Eastern Finland, under Professor Jarmo Holopainen, where he combined chemical ecology with plant ecophysiology and studies on ecosystem responses to atmospheric pollutants. Subsequent roles include Academy Postdoctoral Fellow (2009-2011), Academy Research Fellow (2011-2016), Docentship in Chemical Ecology (2013-), visiting researcher at the University of California Davis in 2012 and at the Nature Conservation Center of the American University of Beirut in 2014, Associate Professor and group leader (2018-2021), and full Professor since 1 January 2022.

Blande's research focuses on the mechanisms by which atmospheric pollutants, particularly ozone, interact with other abiotic factors such as drought to influence volatile-mediated ecological interactions, including plant-plant communication, plant-pollinator dynamics, plant-herbivore interactions, and tritrophic systems. His work employs model organisms like Brassicaceous plants, boreal forest trees including birch, pine, and spruce, and sagebrush, aiming to predict and harness volatiles for ecosystem services in agriculture and horticulture. He directs the Centre of Excellence in Anthropocenic Chemical Ecology of Forests. Key publications include "Biogenic secondary organic aerosol participates in plant interactions and herbivory defense" (Science, 2024), "Between-plant interactions in Scots pine are not impaired by air pollutants" (Communications Earth & Environment, 2026), "Air pollution impedes plant-to-plant communication by volatiles" (Ecology Letters, 2010), and "Ozone degrades common herbivore-induced plant volatiles: does this affect herbivore prey location by predators and parasitoids?" (Journal of Chemical Ecology, 2007). Blande has secured funding from the Research Council of Finland for projects developing new plant elicitors.