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.
2021
Authors
Tomáš Hlásny Louis König Paal Krokene Marcus Lindner Claire Montagné-Huck Jörg Müller Hua Qin Kenneth F. Raffa Mart-Jan Schelhaas Miroslav Svoboda Heli Viiri Rupert SeidlAbstract
Purpose of Review Outbreaks of tree-killing bark beetles have reached unprecedented levels in conifer forests in the northern hemisphere and are expected to further intensify due to climate change. In parts of Europe, bark beetle outbreaks and efforts to manage them have even triggered social unrests and political instability. These events have increasingly challenged traditional responses to outbreaks, and highlight the need for a more comprehensive management framework. Recent Findings Several synthesis papers on different aspects of bark beetle ecology and management exist. However, our understanding of outbreak drivers and impacts, principles of ecosystem management, governance, and the role of climate change in the dynamics of ecological and social systems has rapidly advanced in recent years. These advances are suggesting a reconsideration of previous management strategies. Summary We synthesize the state of knowledge on drivers and impacts of bark beetle outbreaks in Europe and propose a comprehensive context-dependent framework for their management. We illustrate our ideas for two contrasting societal objectives that represent the end-members of a continuum of forest management goals: wood and biomass production and the conservation of biodiversity and natural processes. For production forests, we propose a management approach addressing economic, social, ecological, infrastructural, and legislative aspects of bark beetle disturbances. In conservation forests, where non-intervention is the default option, we elaborate under which circumstances an active intervention is necessary, and whether such an intervention is in conflict with the objective to conserve biodiversity. Our approach revises the current management response to bark beetles in Europe and promotes an interdisciplinary social-ecological approach to dealing with disturbances.
Abstract
Horticultural production systems are under pressure to find environmentally friendly growing media. Peat is currently the most popular substrate for fresh potted herbs production; however, this raw material is not sustainable due to the large amount of greenhouse gases released during its harvesting. Therefore, the goal of the study was to test the performance of various commercial wood fiber products and compare them with peat and coir in an ebb-and-flow production system with basil (Ocimum basilicum L. 'Marian'). Basil plants were grown in three different pot sizes (6, 9 and 12 cm in diameter) and under various fertigation regimes (EC 1, 2 and 3). Height and biomass of the plants were recorded when the best performing plants reached the commercial stage. The tallest plants and greatest biomass were produced in peat and coir, however, the results confirm that wood fiber can be a promising substrate alternative. Further research is needed to study, among others topics, how to modify some properties of wood fibers to fulfil their potential as a replacement for non-sustainable growing media in production of herbs in pots.
Authors
Mladen Ognjenovic Ivan Seletkovic Nenad Potocic M. Perčec-Tadić R. Sokol Jurković M. Marušić K. Sever D. Ugarković Volkmar Timmermann Pasi Rautio Mathieu JonardAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Thyra Sophie Hofmann Günay Bayramov Thomas Wagner Anneli Karlsson Wendy Fjellstad Sebastian EiterAbstract
Beetles were surveyed using pitfall traps in a community garden in Andernach, Germany. Two years of data revealed a beetle fauna characteristic of sandy, warm and dry habitats. Sporadic findings include species typical for the Mediterranean.
Authors
Gunda ThömingAbstract
Allelochemicals, chemical cues that, among other things, mediate insect–plant interactions, such as host plant recognition, have attracted notable interest as tools for ecological control of pest insects. Advances have recently been made in methods for sampling and analyzing volatile compounds and technology for tracking insects in their natural habitat. However, progress in odor-mediated behavioral bioassays of insects has been relatively slow. This perspective highlights this odor-mediated insect behavior, particularly in a natural setting and considering the whole behavioral sequence involved in the host location, which is the key to understanding the mechanisms underlying host plant recognition. There is thus a need to focus on elaborate behavioral bioassays in future studies, particularly if the goal is to use allelochemicals in pest control. Future directions for research are discussed.
Authors
Idoia Biurrun Remigiusz Pielech Iwona Dembicz François Gillet Łukasz Kozub Corrado Marcenó Triin Reitalu Koenraad Van Meerbeek Riccardo Guarino Milan Chytrý Robin J Pakeman Zdenka Preislerová Irena Axmanová Sabina Burrascano Sándor Bartha Steffen Boch Hans Henrik Bruun Timo Conradi Pieter De Frenne Franz Essl Goffredo Filibeck Michal Hájek Borja Jiménez-Alfaro Anna Kuzemko Zsolt Molnár Meelis Pärtel Ricarda Pätsch Honor C. Prentice Jan Roleček Laura M. E. Sutcliffe Massimo Terzi Manuela Winkler Jianshuang Wu Svetlana Acíc Alicia T.R. Acosta Elias Afif Munemitsu Akasaka Juha M. Alatalo Michele Aleffi Alla Aleksanyan Arshad Ali Iva Apostolova Parvaneh Ashouri Zoltán Bátori Esther Baumann Thomas Becker Elena Belonovskaya José Luis Benito Alonso Asun Berastegi Ariel Bergamini Kuber Prasad Bhatta Ilaria Bonini Marc-Olivier Büchler Vasyl Budzhak Alvaro Bueno Fabrizio Buldrini Juan Antonio Campos Laura Cancellieri Marta Carboni Tobias Ceulemans Alessandro Chiarucci Cristina Chocarro Luisa Conti Anna Mária Csergő Beata Cykowska-Marzencka Marta Czarniecka-Wiera Marta Czarnocka-Cieciura Patryk Czortek Jiří Danihelka Francesco de Bello Balázs Deák László Demeter Lei Deng Martin Diekmann Jiří Doležal Christian Dolnik Pavel Dřevojan Cecilia Duprè Klaus Ecker Hamid Ejtehadi Brigitta Erschbamer Javier Etayo Jonathan Etzold Tünde Farkas Mohammad Farzam George Fayvush Maria Rosa Fernández Calzado Manfred Finckh Wendy Fjellstad Georgios Fotiadis Daniel García-Magro Itziar García-Mijangos Rosario G. Gavilán Markus Germany Sahar Ghafari Gian Pietro Giusso del Galdo John Arvid Grytnes Behlul Güler Alba Gutiérrez-Girón Aveliina Helm Mercedes Herrera Elisabeth M. Hüllbusch Nele Ingerpuu Annika Jagerbrand Ute Jandt Monika Janišová Philippe Jeanneret Florian Jeltsch Kai Jensen Anke Jentsch Zygmunt Kącki Kaoru Kakinuma Jutta Kapfer Mansoureh Kargar András Kelemen Kathrin Kiehl Philipp Kirschner Asuka Koyama Nancy Langer Lorenzo Lazzaro Jan Lepš Ching-Feng Li Frank Yonghong Li Diego Liendo Regina Lindborg Swantje Löbel Angela Lomba Zdeňka Lososová Pavel Lustyk Arantzazu L. Luzuriaga Wenhong Ma Simona Maccherini Martin Magnes Marek Malicki Michael Manthey Constantin Mardari Felix May Helmut Mayrhofer Eliane S. Meier Farshid Memariani Kristina Merunková Ottar Michelsen Joaquín Molero Mesa Halime Moradi Ivan Moysiyenko Michele Mugnai Alireza Naqinezhad Rayna Natcheva Josep M. Ninot Marcin Nobis Jalil Noroozi Arkadiusz Nowak Vladimir Onipchenko Salza Palpurina Harald Pauli Hristo Pedashenko Christian Pedersen Robert K. Peet Aaron Pérez-Haase Jan Peters Nataša Pipenbaher Chrisoula Pirini Eulàlia Pladevall-Izard Zuzana Plesková Giovanna Potenza Soroor Rahmanian Maria Pilar Rodríguez-Rojo Vladimir Ronkin Leonardo Rosati Eszter Ruprecht Solvita Rusina Marko Sabovljević Anvar Sanaei Ana M. Sánchez Francesco Santi Galina Savchenko Maria Teresa Sebastia Dariia Shyriaieva Vasco Silva Sonja Skornik Eva Šmerdová Judit Sonkoly Marta Gaia Sperandii Monika Staniaszek-Kik Carly Stevens Simon Stifter Sigrid Suchrow Grzegorz Swacha Sebastian Świerszcz Amir Talebi Balázs Teleki Lubomír Tichý Csaba Tölgyesi Marta Torca Péter Török Nadezda Tsarevskaya Ioannis Tsiripidis Ingrid Turisová Atushi Ushimaru Orsolya Valkó Carmen Van Mechelen Thomas Vanneste Iuliia Vasheniak Kiril Vassilev Daniele Viciani Luis Villar Risto Virtanen Ivana Vitasović-Kosić András Vojtkó Denys Vynokurov Emelie Waldén Yun Wang Frank Weiser Lu Wen Karsten Wesche Hannah White Stefan Widmer Sebastian Wolfrum Anna Wróbel Zuoqiang Yuan David Zelený Liqing Zhao Jürgen DenglerAbstract
Aims Understanding fine-grain diversity patterns across large spatial extents is fundamental for macroecological research and biodiversity conservation. Using the GrassPlot database, we provide benchmarks of fine-grain richness values of Palaearctic open habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and complete vegetation (i.e., the sum of the former three groups). Location Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods We used 126,524 plots of eight standard grain sizes from the GrassPlot database: 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 m2 and calculated the mean richness and standard deviations, as well as maximum, minimum, median, and first and third quartiles for each combination of grain size, taxonomic group, biome, region, vegetation type and phytosociological class. Results Patterns of plant diversity in vegetation types and biomes differ across grain sizes and taxonomic groups. Overall, secondary (mostly semi-natural) grasslands and natural grasslands are the richest vegetation type. The open-access file ”GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks” and the web tool “GrassPlot Diversity Explorer” are now available online (https://edgg.org/databases/GrasslandDiversityExplorer) and provide more insights into species richness patterns in the Palaearctic open habitats. Conclusions The GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks provide high-quality data on species richness in open habitat types across the Palaearctic. These benchmark data can be used in vegetation ecology, macroecology, biodiversity conservation and data quality checking. While the amount of data in the underlying GrassPlot database and their spatial coverage are smaller than in other extensive vegetation-plot databases, species recordings in GrassPlot are on average more complete, making it a valuable complementary data source in macroecology.
Abstract
Soil surfactants are applied to alleviate soil water repellency (SWR). The ability of surfactants to improve turfgrass quality under dry conditions is well documented, but less information exists about their role in situations with water surplus. Our objective was to study responses to monthly application of the surfactant Qualibra (20 L ha–1) under dry and wet conditions on a sand-based green covered with creeping bentgrass. Dry conditions implied irrigation to field capacity (FC) once a week (FC1) in 2014 (a year with warm and dry weather from May through July) and deficit irrigation to 60% of FC once a week (DEF1) in 2015 (May through July cool and wet). Wet conditions implied excessive irrigation twice a week (EX2) with 50% more water than needed to replenish FC. The surfactant decreased the average soil water content of the surface 7.5 cm of the root zone from 0.193 to 0.168 m3 m–3 in 2014 and from 0.191 to 0.171 m3 m–3 in 2015. In 2015, the reduction in SWC was stronger with EX2 than with DEF1 irrigation, and this was accompanied by less organic matter accumulation on plots receiving EX2 irrigation. The surfactant reduced the water drop penetration time (WDPT) regardless of irrigation treatments, but improved turfgrass quality only with DEF1 irrigation in 2015. A harder playing surface due to Qualibra was not observed in 2014 and only at one out of six observations with EX2 irrigation in 2015. We conclude that surfactants imply various benefits depending on water supply.
Authors
Ikumi Umetani Eshetu Janka Wakjera Michal Sposób Christopher Jonathan Hulatt Synne Kleiven Rune BakkeAbstract
Bicarbonate was evaluated as an alternative carbon source for a green microalga, Tetradesmus wisconsinensis, isolated from Lake Norsjø in Norway. Photosynthesis, growth, and lipid production were studied using four inorganic carbon regimes: (1) aeration only, (2) 20 mM NaHCO3, (3) 5% (v/v) CO2 gas, and (4) combination of 20 mM NaHCO3 and 5% CO2. Variable chlorophyll a fluorescence analysis revealed that the bicarbonate treatment supported effective photosynthesis, while the CO2 treatment led to inefficient photosynthetic activity with a PSII maximum quantum yield as low as 0.31. Conversely, bicarbonate and CO2 treatments gave similar biomass and fatty acid production. The maximum growth rate, the final cell dry weight, and total fatty acids under the bicarbonate-only treatment were 0.33 (± 0.06) day−1, 673 (± 124) mg L−1 and 75 (± 5) mg g−1 dry biomass, respectively. The most abundant fatty acid components were α-linolenic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids constituting 69% of the total fatty acids. The fatty acid profile eventuated in unsuitable biodiesel fuel properties such as high degree of unsaturation and low cetane number; however, it would be relevant for food and feed applications. We concluded that bicarbonate could give healthy growth and comparative product yields as CO2.
Abstract
Population fluctuations of small rodents are often synchronized over larger areas (>100 km) than what could be explained by dispersal, suggesting that the synchronizing factor is weather-related and possibly mediated through changes in food quality. Because bank vole (Myodes glareolus) populations usually peak 1 year after peaks in reproduction of the staple winter food plant bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), we tested for a possible link between food and spatial synchrony by comparing the synchrony in bank vole population indices and bilberry seed production indices between three study areas across about 20,000 km2 in South Norway during a four decade period (1979–2019). There were subperiods of spatial synchrony and asynchrony between the study areas in the fluctuations of bank vole numbers and bilberry seed production, with the latter part of the study period displaying more pronounced synchrony than the first and middle part. However, with a few marked exceptions, when vole fluctuations were spatially out of phase across study areas so was bilberry seed production. Thus, we conclude that bilberry seed production to a large extent explained the spatiotemporal synchronicity in bank vole population fluctuations. Although bilberry seed production seems to be a causal driver of vole fluctuations, it remains to be seen to what extent the chemical composition of bilberry plants influences vole performance. Finally, certain weather factors may still influence voles directly, or indirectly by triggering bilberry seed production.
Authors
Yeqing Li Zhenxin Wang Zhuoliang Jiang Lu Feng Junting Pan Mingyu Zhu Chengjie Ma Zhangmu Jing Hao Jiang Hongjun Zhou Hui Sun Hongbin LiuAbstract
This study evaluated the effects of bio-based carbon materials on methane production by anaerobic digestion. The results showed that biochar and hydrochar can promote cumulative methane yield by 15% to 29%. However, there was no statistical significance (p > 0.05) between hydrochar and biochar produced at different temperature on methane production. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and bioinformatics analysis showed that biochar and hydrochar enriched microorganism that might participate in direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) such as Pseudomonadaceae, Bacillaceae, and Clostridiaceae. The the surface properties of the modified biochar were characterized with BET, Raman, FTIR and XPS. Bio-based carbon materials with uniform dispersion provided a stable environment for the DIET of microorganisms and electrons are transferred through aromatic functional groups on the surface of materials. This study reveals bio-based carbon materials surface properties on methane production in anaerobic digestion and provides a new approach to recycling spent coffee grounds.