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.
1996
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No abstract has been registered
Authors
Marit Slåttelid Skeie May Bente Brurberg P.H. Middelhoven Gunnar Fimland Jon Nissen-Meyer Ingolf F. Nes Vincent G. H. EijsinkAbstract
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Authors
Knut SolbraaAbstract
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Testicular cancer incidence is increasing rapidly in several countries. Environmental causes acting early in life are suspected but have not yet been identified. We conducted a cohort study to identify parental risk factors for testicular cancer among farmers' sons. Children born in 1952-1991 to parents who were farm holders at the time of the agricultural censuses in 1969-1989 were identified in the Central Population Register (Oslo, Norway). The resulting cohort of male offspring (n = 166,291) were followed up in the Cancer Registry of Norway (Oslo, Norway) for 1965-1991. Exposure indicators were derived from census information on activities on the farm. The cancer incidence was compared with that of the total rural population, and potential risk factors were analyzed by Poisson regression. In a follow-up of 2,924,663 person-years, 158 incident cases of testicular cancer were identified. The study population had a higher incidence of testicular cancer than did the total rural population, particularly at ages 15-19 years and in western Norway. Specific fertilizer regimens on the farm were associated with testicular cancer (rate ratio = 2.44; 95% confidence interval = 1.66-3.56), in particular nonseminoma (rate ratio = 4.21; 95% confidence interval = 2.13-8.32). The rate ratio estimates were highest for boys ages 15-19 years and for a subset of study subjects who were considered more likely to have grown up on a farm. Nondifferential misclassification and bias toward unity are likely because exposure information was available only at the farm level and only for census years. The fertilizer indicators were not available early in life for most subjects, and precise interpretations are difficult. A hypothesis worth considering is that excess nutrient run-off from agriculture constitutes a risk. However, inferences concerning the biological basis of our observations can scarcely be made.
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Authors
Tor J. JohansenAbstract
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In the present study the predation rate of Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) on eggs and larvae of the lepidopterous species Mamestra brassicae (L.) was investigated including the prey"s influence on survival and development. The experiments were done at 20 +/- 1 degrees C and L:D = 16:8. C. carnea larvae were fed on eggs and first instar larvae of M. brassicae, respectively. In both cases the daily predation rate of C. carnea increased slowly during the two first instars and reached a peak in the third larval instar. During the third instar 87% and 85% of the total numbers of M. brassicae eggs and larvae, respectively, were consumed. C. carnea preyed on a mean total of 312 M. brassicae eggs and 232 M. brassicae larvae during its larval development. The mean daily predation rate of C. carnea reached a maximum of 106.6 eggs of M. brassicae and 46.1 larvae of M. brassicae. C. carnea consumed a total of 32 mg of M. brassicae eggs and 70 mg of M. brassicae larvae during its larval development. The developmental time of C. carnea fed on M. brassicae eggs and larvae was 27.4 and 21.5 days, respectively. Almost 10% of C. carnea died when reared on M. brassicae eggs and 15% died when reared on M. brassicae larvae. The quality aspect of the prey is discussed.
Authors
Paal KrokeneAbstract
Aggressive bark beetles kill healthy conifers through pheromone-mediated mass attacks. The exact mechanism by which trees are killed is still disputed, but phytopathogenic blue-stain fungi associated with the beetles are probably involved in most cases. This thesis compares the blue-stain flora of five bark beetle species that colonize Norway spruce of different resistance. The aggressive Ips typographus can kill healthy trees, while the other species are non-aggressive and colonize either severly stressed or dying trees (the facultatively parasitic Ips duplicatus, Polygraphus poligraphus and Pityogenes chalcographus), or dead trees (the saprophagic Hylurgops palliates). Ips typographus and I. duplicatus were both found to carry very high frequencies of the phytopathogenic fungus Ceratocystis polonica. This fungus has previously been found associated only with I. typographus, and has been shown to be pathogenic to Norway spruce in experimental mass inoculations. The other bark beetles carried no known pathogenic fungi. The phytopathogenicity of four of the isolated blue-stain fungi were evaluated through mass and low-density inoculation in young Norway spruce trees. Mass inoculations confirmed C. polonica\"s pathogenicity, while the other fungi, which are associated with non-aggressive beetles, were not pathogenic (Ophiostoma piceae, cfr. Ambrosiell sp., Dark sterile sp.A). Low-density inoculations revealed only small differences between the four fungi in phloem necrosis length. Necrosis length is used as a standard criterion of fungal pathogenicity, but it was not useful for assessing the pathogenicity of the fungi in the fungus-host tree system under study here. Ceratocystis polonica was found to penertrate deeper into the sapwood and induce deeper sapwood desiccation than the other fungi. The ability to invade sapwood is probably more important for fungal pathogenicity than the ability to colonize phloem, and may thus be a better criterion for assessing the pathogenicity of blue-stain fungi. General aspects of the association between bark beetles and blue-stain fungi are discussed.