[2] Palmgren wrote early accounts on the role of isolation and stochastic events in the distribution of species, while his contemporary biology was largely deterministic.

Palmgren had observed a decrease in species richness from west to east in Åland, his main geographical scene of scientific inquiry.

In contrast, Jaccard held that the lower species-to-genus ratio towards the east was an effect of decreased diversity in habitat conditions and increased competitive exclusion.

He initiated and led a movement among young Finnish men to refuse conscription service in the Russian Imperial Army.

A rescript of 1900 by Nicholas II of Russia, sovereign of the Grand Duchy of Finland, put Finnish conscripts under the Russian military top.