Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2026
Authors
Mats Carlehög Stine Therese Alm Hersleth Marianne Hotle Benedikt Tobias Grein Ingunn ØvsthusAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Anupam GogoiAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Johanna Eva Bodin Paul Ragnar Berg Knut Tomas Dalen Nur Duale Erik Georg Granquist Anne-Marthe Ganes Jevnaker Tor Atle Mo Truls Nesbakken Kaare Magne Nielsen Kristian Prydz Espen Rimstad Eli Knispel Rueness Monica Sanden Sjur Sandgrind Guro Katrine Sandvik Line Elisabeth Breivik Sundt-Hansen Amin Sayyari Ville Erling Sipinen Eva Bonsak ThorstadAbstract
The Norwegian Environment Agency has tasked The Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment (VKM) with developing generic guidance documents for environmental risk assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to be used in field trials. GMOs used in limited field trials may have effect on the environment, and human and animal health. All experiments involving the use of GMOs in field trails for research require approval under the Norwegian Gene Technology Act. The Norwegian Environment Agency is the decision-making authority for deliberate release of GM plants in field trials. VKM performs health and environmental risk assessments (ERAs) of GMOs for the Norwegian Environment Agency. This guidance document is intended as a support for applicants seeking approval for field trials under the Gene Technology Act and identifies the scientific documentation and data necessary to facilitate an ERA of a genetically modified animal (GM animal) conducted by VKM. The risk assessments conducted by VKM generally follow the step-by-step approach outlined in EU Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms into the environment, starting with hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure characterization and risk characterization. The Gene Technology Act and the Regulations on impact assessment under the Gene Technology Act implements Directive 2001/18/EC into Norwegian legislation. Appendix 2 of the Regulation contain the principles for environmental risk assessment, which corresponds to the principles of Annex II in the Directive. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has developed further guidance on the risk assessment of genetically modified organisms based on Annex II. ERAs of GM animals involve the collection, assessment and, where appropriate, generation of information on a GM animal to determine its potential impacts on the environment and on human and animal health, compared with non-GM animals or appropriate comparators. VKM performs risk assessments that include the following six steps: hazard identification, hazard characterisation, exposure characterisation, risk characterisation, risk reducing measures, and overall risk evaluation of the use of the GM animal in a field trial. Applicants should identify the scientific documentation and data necessary for VKM to perform an ERA based on these steps. Applicants should also consider general risk reducing measures in relation to the identified risks, taking into consideration the type of GM animal, the intended management regime (confinement), the scale of the field trial, the characteristics of the genetic modification, the characteristics of the identified hazard(s), and the potential consequences for the environment and for human and animal health. This document provides guidance for the assessment of the potential environmental effects of GM animals, based on data from the required molecular characterisation, consideration of the potential impacts of the modified characteristics of the GM animal, and any risk mitigating measures implemented in the event of escape of GM animals into the environment during field trials. The guidance is intended as a dynamic document to be amended in accordance with future scientific and regulatory developments.
Authors
Sally A. Power Manjunatha H. Chandregowda Kirk Barnett Juan Pineiro Shun Hasegawa Coline Deveautour Eleanor Gibson‐Forty Jeff Chieppa Scott N. Johnson Sarah Facey Raul Ochoa‐HuesoAbstract
Warming‐driven intensification of the hydrological cycle is altering global rainfall patterns. However, the relative importance of changes in the amount versus timing of rainfall and the role of atmospheric drivers of moisture demand in modifying relationships between rainfall, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are currently unresolved. To address this, we undertook a 10‐year rainfall manipulation experiment in a mesic grassland in New South Wales, Australia. We used rain shelters to achieve five rainfall treatments: (i) ambient, (ii) ambient +50% (IA), (iii) ambient −50% (RA), (iv) reduced frequency (RF, cumulative ambient rainfall applied once every 3 weeks) and (v) summer drought (SD, no rain during the Austral summer). We found that inter‐annual variation in ANPP was best explained by the amount of growing season rainfall relative to potential evapotranspiration (i.e., P/PET, or aridity) (R 2 adj 0.52). Reductions in the amount of rainfall, particularly during summer, were associated with productivity decline, shifts in community composition and a loss of diversity. However, reducing the frequency of rain events had no overall effect on productivity, despite a loss of species diversity. Notably, treatment‐related declines in diversity and/or richness were associated with both increases (IA) and decreases (SD) in temporal stability of ANPP and the stabilising role of species asynchrony, thereby highlighting the importance of species identity and associated functional traits for community stability. Our study uniquely emphasises the importance of accounting for seasonal drivers of moisture demand when predicting functional responses to changes in rainfall regimes and highlights how the ecological mechanisms underpinning community stability are influenced by changes in both the amount and timing of rainfall. These mechanistic insights can enhance the predictive capacity of Earth system models and inform targeted management strategies to offset the negative effects of future, more extreme rainfall on the ecosystem services provided by global grasslands.
Authors
Bin Wang He Lyu Xueqian Zhang Mingkai Jiang Belinda E. Medlyn David Wårlind Jürgen Knauer Katrin Fleischer Daniel S. Goll Stefan Olin Xiaojuan Yang Lin Yu Sönke Zaehle Haicheng Zhang Kristian Schufft Kristine Y. Crous Yolima Carrillo Catriona A. Macdonald Ian C. Anderson Matthias M. Boer Mark Farrell Andrew Gherlenda Laura Castañeda-Gómez Shun Hasegawa Klaus Jarosch Paul Milham Raúl Ochoa-Hueso Varsha Pathare Johanna Pihlblad Juan Piñeiro Sally A. Power Peter B. Reich Markus Riegler David S. Ellsworth Benjamin SmithAbstract
The capacity of nutrient-limited forests to enhance carbon (C) sequestration under elevated CO 2 (eCO 2 ) remains a critical uncertainty in C cycle modeling. While existing evidence suggests that low phosphorus (P) bioavailability may constrain CO 2 fertilization effects on plant growth, the extent to which this limitation modulates ecosystem responses to eCO 2 in forests adapted to P-deficient soils remains poorly understood. Here, using eight P-enabled models, we simulated the magnitudes and mechanisms through which P bioavailability interacts with eCO 2 , emulating an ecosystem-scale P enrichment experiment at a P-limited Eucalyptus forest undergoing long-term Free-Air CO 2 Enrichment. While models predicted pronounced P effects on tree growth, P enrichment unexpectedly did not increase the CO 2 effects on tree growth and ecosystem C sequestration. Models prioritized either CO 2 -driven or P-driven growth, but rarely both. This tradeoff emerged due to model-specific assumptions on 1) partitioning of the extra P in soil labile versus nonlabile pools; 2) plant photosynthetic acclimation to P deficiency; 3) C and nutrient use strategies regulating plant size and allocation; and 4) microbial-driven soil decomposition processes. By generating divergent yet biologically plausible outcomes, these predictions establish critical testable hypotheses for empirical research and highlight multiple P-related pathways that may influence the future land C sink.
Authors
Emmanuel Tetteh Jumpah Habtamu Alem Bekele Hundie Kotu Selorm Ayeduvor Vladimír Verner Abdulai Adams Miroslava BavorováAbstract
No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
Abstract
DNA methylation can change DNA properties, affecting chromatin accessibility, gene expression, and phenotypic variation. In clonal Norway spruce, warmer (WE) versus cooler (CE) embryogenic conditions produce phenotypically dif ferent trees. This climatic memory, induced during embryogenesis, remains stable in the resulting epitype trees, and the epigenetically altered timing of bud phenology persists between WE and CE epitypes even after decades under common garden conditions. We examined DNA methylation patterns in 14-year-old epitypes throughout the annual developmental cycle. Using targeted bisulfite sequencing, we screened for differential DNA methylation over a 3000 bp region in 2744 genes related to the epigenetic machinery, circadian clock, and phenology. Clustering DNA methylation differences in the CG context clearly separated epitype trees, confirming epigenetic mark differences. Differences in methylation of cytosines in all contexts were highly dynamic and varied markedly among annual developmental stages, suggesting the existence of circannual clocks affecting methylation levels in the studied genomic regions. Most stable methylation marks were identified in CG contexts, fewer in CHG and none in CHH contexts, consistent with differences in inheritance among methylation con texts. We identified stable CG and CHG methylation marks in the promoter regions of 30 specific genes. Two ARGONAUTE genes and 4 other genes exhibited stable marks across all time points for CE or WE, and putative embryo–adult transmission for some genes. These findings indicate that DNA methylation marks maintained in genomic regions throughout the annual cycle may contribute to an induced epigenetic memory established in embryos and later manifested as phenologically dif ferent epitype trees.
Authors
Junbin Zhao Mounir Takriti Per-Erik Jansson Ed Jones Mikhail Mastepanov Erling Fjelldal Cornelya Klutsch David Kniha Runar Kjær Simon Weldon Kjetil Fadnes Knut Bjørkelo Jonathan Rizzi Christian Wilhelm Mohr Gunnhild Søgaard Jagadeesh YeluripatiAbstract
Abstract Peatlands drained for agriculture and other uses release substantial carbon dioxide. Many countries estimate these emissions using the 2014 IPCC Tier 1 emission factors. Here we calibrated an ecosystem model with data from two cultivated peatland sites in Norway and simulate carbon dioxide emissions at 50 sites nationwide for 2001–2022. Model results showed that carbon dioxide emissions were strongly controlled by water table depth and aligned well with observations from other European peatlands of similar climate zones. Crucially, the Tier 1 emission factor matched our simulations only under very deep water tables (< –0.7 m), but overestimated emissions by 31–88% when water levels ranged from –0.7 m to –0.3 m. This indicates that Tier 1 methods may overstate emissions from cultivated peatlands in cool temperate and boreal regions, inflating estimates of mitigation potential. Tier 2 or 3 approaches can reduce uncertainty but require more field data.