Hopp til hovedinnholdet

Projects

NIBIO is a project driven research institute and collects approximately 400 million NOK annually in project funding from both national and international sources. A lot of activity is carried out through EU and EEA-projects and we also participate in research projects in Asia, Africa and Latin America. NIBIO coordinates several large international projects with a particular focus on food security and climate change. The list of projects is not complete.

Project image

Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health

Learning-by-doing - transfer of know-how in monitoring tree vitality. Czech-Norwegian cooperation in forestry education


Forests cover about one third of Europe’s total land area and provide diverse benefits to European citizens. However, this is changing dramatically as European forests face devastating losses caused by global change and emerging pests and pathogens. These threats cause severe habitat loss, reductions in forest carbon sink strength and biodiversity, economic losses to the forestry sector, and subsequent socioeconomic impacts (including reductions of most types of ecosystems services). Forest health is a “hot topic” and there are often opposing groups dominating the public debate, usually based on subjective assessments. In modern forestry we already have several recently developed instrumental techniques that give precise, objective measurements of different vital functions in trees. The aim of our project is to motivate and teach forestry students to take science-based decisions regarding the future of European forests by introducing them to direct, hands-on experience with the latest vitality monitoring equipment for forest trees. We will select experimental sites both in the Czech Republic and in Norway, install state-of-the-art monitoring equipment and measure key tree vitality functions. Students will be involved in site-selection, installation of equipment, measurements, data interpretation and communication of the results. By giving the students direct hands-on experience with the latest equipment, they will get access to objective data sets, develop their ability to interpret data, and learn how to communicate their findings to the public. In addition to student’s theses based on the obtained data, we will provide students with a global overview of state-of-the-art methods to assess forest health. This will increase the students’ ability to make sound management decisions in the future. Finally, the project will strengthen international cooperation on the vital topic of forest health.

Finished Updated: 30.09.2023
End: sep 2023
Start: oct 2021
Project image

Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health

Beyond the genome: epigenetics of defense priming and climatic adaptation in plants


In this project we study epigenetic modifications involved in defenses priming against pests and pathogens and climatic adaptation in plants. These are novel research questions of great interest, both from a basic scientific perspective and from a climate change and crop protection perspective. Healthy, vigorous plants with flexible phenotypes that are well adapted to shifting environmental conditions provide better yield and more efficient carbon sequestration from the atmosphere, with less pesticide use. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of the epigenetic machinery will help inform how epigenetics may be exploited in plant breeding and crop management practices.

Finished Updated: 26.04.2019
End: jul 2021
Start: jul 2016
Project image

Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health

EpiSpruce


The spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) has caused great economic and ecological losses in Norwegian spruce forests. Warming temperatures are predicted to cause an increase in the frequency of bark beetle attacks. Recent work has shown that treating spruce trees with a naturally produced tree hormone, methyl jasmonate, helps the trees defend themselves against spruce bark beetle attacks. This treatment is similar to a person getting a vaccination. When painted with methyl jasmonate, a tree builds up defenses which can be rapidly deployed when the tree is under attack. This initial increase in ability to respond to attack can last for weeks or months. In this project, we are seeking to understand the changes that occur at the cellular and molecular level to make possible this rapid response. In addition, methyl jasmonate treatment produces new "memories" for the tree. These "memories" are stored as changes to the tree's DNA and allow the tree to continue to have heightened defense responses for months or even years. This process is called "defense priming". In this project, we will explore how these DNA "memories" are made. We are also interested to see if these "memories" can be passed on to the offspring of treated trees. If so, we may be able to help protect the next generation of forests from increased bark beetle attack by immunizing their parents with methyl jasmonate. So far we have learned that increasing ability to produce enzymes that breakdown fungal cell walls is one of the important memories stored after methyl jasmonate treatment.

Finished Updated: 30.04.2019
End: jan 2020
Start: apr 2016