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.
2020
Authors
Lars Rød-Eriksen Johanna Skrutvold Ivar Herfindal Henrik Jensen Nina Elisabeth EideAbstract
1. Habitat fragmentation may affect species distributions through, for example, altered resource availability and shifts in species interactions. Fragmentation by roads has had negative impacts on Fennoscandian alpine ecosystems, with reduction of habitats and connectivity for alpine species. Concurrently, infrastructure development causes influx of subsidies through roadkills and litter, which may facilitate expansion of boreal scavenging species, such as the red fox Vulpes vulpes, which may intensify negative interactions with alpine species. Hence, understanding the impact of subsidies within marginal alpine areas is imperative for successful conservation and management of particularly vulnerable alpine species. 2. We used snow tracking and camera traps in three alpine tundra areas in Norway to investigate whether the presence of boreal scavengers was positively associated with highways during winter, and if this contrasted the pattern of a critically endangered alpine species, the Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus. In summer, artificial nests were used to assess whether predation risk was related to proximity to highways. 3. During winter, the occurrence of red foxes was higher close to highways and decreased with increasing distance to highways, while the arctic fox showed no discernible pattern. Red fox occurrence increased with the number of edible items of anthropogenic origin located along highways, whereas arctic fox occurrence decreased. 4. The overall predation risk of artificial nests during summer was high (>31.2%) and increased with proximity to the highway in the area with highest traffic volume. 5. Synthesis and applications. Highways crossing alpine areas may attract boreal scavengers, possibly connected to increased access to subsidies of anthropogenic origin. Litter and food waste dominated available subsidies along highways in our study, and prevailing mitigating measures directed at reducing roadkill and movement restrictions may not be applicable to reduce negative effects of littering. We recommend actions focusing on informational campaigns, improved garbage disposal facilities and routines, and imposing fines for littering, to reduce negative impacts on vulnerable species. This is likely needed to achieve goals of ‘no impact’ from the physical loss of habitats due to road development.
Authors
Simo Maduna Kelvin L. Hull Edward D. Farrell Jessica J. Boomer Ana Verissimo Ilaria A. M. Marino Carlotta Mazzoldi Lorenzo Zane Sabine P. Wintner Mikhail V. Chesalin Charlene da Silva Chrysoula Gubili Stefano Mariani Aletta E. Bester-van der MerweAbstract
Members of the smoothhound shark genus Mustelus display a widespread distribution pattern across ocean basins with a high degree of sub-regional endemism. The patterns and processes that resulted in smoothhound biodiversity and present-day distribution remain largely unknown. We infer the phylogenetic relationships of the genus Mustelus, based on sequence data (3474 bp) from three mitochondrial genes (CR, NADH-2 and 12S-16SrRNA) and a nuclear gene (KBTBD2) from seven species of Mustelus distributed across the eastern Atlantic- and Indo-Pacific oceans. Using the CR and KBTBD2 dataset, we infer the phylogeographic placement of Old World Mustelus, with particular reference to species from southern Africa. Using a near-complete phylogeny of the genus including Old World and New World species of Mustelus and publicly available sequences of the NADH-2 gene, we found supporting evidence indicating a major cladogenic event separating placental and aplacental species. Biogeographical analyses further revealed that the radiation of Mustelus in the southern African region was driven primarily by long-distance dispersal during the upper Miocene to lower Pleistocene. The placement of the placental blackspotted smoothhound Mustelus punctulatus at the base of the placental non-spotted clade suggests the secondary loss of black spots in the genus, and this was also supported by the ancestral state reconstruction. The results furthermore suggest that the Southern Hemisphere species of the genus arose from multiple separate dispersal events from the Northern Hemisphere which is in line with the earliest record of Mustelus in the Northern Hemisphere.
Authors
Knut Egil Bøe Grete Helen Meisfjord Jørgensen Turid Buvik Cecilie Marie MejdellAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Ornamental jewelweed (Impatiens glandulifera Royle) is an alien invasive plant in Europe. This annual plant often grows in riparian habitats where herbicides are prohibited. Several studies have reported the negative effect on ecosystem and ecosystem services by this species. However, limited research is published on control measures and the aim of our study was to explore use of hot water and cutting to control I. glandulifera. A lab experiment showed that the lethal water temperature for seed was between 45 and 50 C. In a pot experiment with seeds in soil, emergence of I. glandulifera was reduced by 78% and 93% compared with the untreated control with volumes of hot water (80 C) of 7.2 and 14.5 L m−2, respectively. When treatments were conducted on relatively tall plants (almost 60 cm) in late June, hot water gave significantly better control than cutting. Compared with an untreated control, I. glandulifera cover was reduced by 97% and 79% after hot water and cutting, respectively. Application of hot water to smaller (<40 cm) and less developed plants (BBCH 12–13) in early June and cutting of plants with visible flower buds (mid-July) led to no significant difference in cover. Compared with an untreated control, I. glandulifera cover was reduced by 99% (cut below first node) and 91% (hot water and cut above first node). When relatively tall plants (almost 60 cm) were treated, hot water use was high (31.1 L m−2) and required twice as many work hours (4.8 min m−2) as cutting (2.4 min m−2). When smaller plants (<40 cm) were targeted, work hours and hot water use were reduced to 2.1 min m−2 and 13.7 L m−2, respectively.
Abstract
There is an increasing interest in plastics, both as a resource and as a pollutant. In Europe, 25.8 million tons of plastic waste are generated each year, and their effects on climate, economy, human and environmental health are major challenges that society needs to address. Although a lot of emphasis is placed on recycling, the use of recycled plastics is still low in the EU. In this context, climate change and environmental concerns have boosted the development of various types of biodegradable plastics. The use of biodegradable plastics spans from disposable containers for food/drink, serviceware and wipes, via waste bags for organic waste collected for biogas production, to agricultural films used to cover soil during vegetable production. However, biodegradable plastics are rarely degraded so quickly and completely that the products disappear in nature, and the label may encourage people think otherwise, enhancing littering. The aim of our study was to describe the fate of biodegradable materials and products during waste treatment, and more specifically during composting. How long does it take these materials to degrade? What are the conditions for degradation, and ultimately, for obtaining plastic-free compost products? To answer these questions, we selected relevant materials, including compostable serviceware, biodegradable plastic bags used for organic waste collection, and biodegradable agricultural mulch films. Composting experiments were performed both at lab-scale (1.5 L containers with externally applied heating) and larger scale (in 140 L insulated compost tumblers, with natural heating from the composting processes, continuously monitored). The endpoints studied were recovery, mass loss, changes in morphology and composition, and microbial analysis of the various composts. In addition, we assessed the applicability of chemical digestion methods used for sample pretreatment of environmental samples containing conventional plastics to biodegradable plastics. Biodegradable plastics is an umbrella term covering materials with diverse polymeric compositions and thus material properties. This was well demonstrated by our selected materials, which displayed distinct degradation behaviors under similar controlled conditions. The time-course of degradation during composting will be presented for all selected materials, together with the main parameters influencing their degradation rates. In addition, some methodological challenges in this research field will be discussed. Finally, experience from a municipal composting facility receiving biodegradable plastic waste will also be presented to put our laboratory-based results into perspective.
Authors
Emil Engelund Thybring Ramūnas Digaitis Thomas Nord-Larsen Greeley Beck Maria FredrikssonAbstract
Wood is a porous, hygroscopic material with engineering properties that depend significantly on the amount of water (moisture) in the material. Water in wood can be present in both cell walls and the porous void-structure of the material, but it is only water in cell walls that affects the engineering properties. An important characteristic of wood is therefore the capacity for water of its solid cell walls, i.e. the maximum cell wall moisture content. However, this quantity is not straight-forward to determine experimentally, and the measured value may depend on the experimental technique used. In this study, we used a triangulation approach to determine the maximum cell wall moisture content by using three experimental techniques based on different measurement principles: low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LFNMR) relaxometry, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the solute exclusion technique (SET). The LFNMR data were furthermore analysed by two varieties of exponential decay analysis. These techniques were used to determine the maximum cell wall moisture contents of nine different wood species, covering a wide range of densities. The results from statistical analysis showed that LFNMR yielded lower cell wall moisture contents than DSC and SET, which were fairly similar. Both of the latter methods include factors that could either under-estimate or over-estimate the measured cell wall moisture content. Because of this and the fact that the DSC and SET methods are based on different measurement principles, it is likely that they provide realistic values of the cell wall moisture content in the water-saturated state.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Tomasz Leszek WoznickiAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Tomasz Leszek WoznickiAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Tomasz Leszek WoznickiAbstract
No abstract has been registered