vähentäessä

vähentäessä is the adessive case of the Finnish verb 'vähetä' in its third infinitive form. This grammatical construction functions as a temporal adverbial clause, equivalent to "when decreasing" or "while decreasing" in English. It is used to describe an action or state that occurs concurrently with a process of reduction or diminution. For example, "vähentäessä kantoja, saalista oli vähemmän" translates to "when decreasing the numbers of [prey animals], there was less quarry." The adessive case in Finnish often indicates accompaniment or circumstance, and in this specific gerundial form, it points to the ongoing nature of the reduction as the context for another event. The third infinitive is a verbal noun form that can be used in various subordinate clauses, and its adessive form is particularly common for expressing temporal relationships. This construction is a concise way to convey a cause-and-effect or a simultaneous action where one element is diminishing.