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.
2016
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Hanna Marika Silvennoinen Teresa Gómez de la Bárcena Christophe Moni Marcin Szychowski Paulina Rajewicz Daniel RasseAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Paal KrokeneAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Li Lai Xianjin Huang Hong Yang Xiaowei Chuai Mei Zhang Taiyang Zhong Zhigang Chen Yi Chen Xiao Wang Julian R. ThompsonAbstract
China has experienced enormous changes in land use in recent decades, which are largely driven by its unparalleled economic development. We analyze changes in vegetation and soil carbon storage between 1990 and 2010 resulting from combinations of land-use category conversion and management. Results demonstrate a major decline in grasslands (−6.85%; 20.83 × 106 ha) and large increases in urban areas (+43.73%; 6.87 × 106 ha), farmlands (+0.84%; 1.48 × 106 ha), and forests (+0.67%; 1.52 × 106 ha). The total soil organic carbon pool has been reduced by approximately 11.5 Tg of carbon (TgC) year−1, whereas 13.2 TgC year−1 has accumulated in the biomass carbon pool because of land-use category change. Large carbon losses (approximately 101.8 TgC year−1) have resulted from land management failures, including forest fires and insect pests. Overall land-use change and land management have contributed about 1.45 Pg of carbon to the total carbon released from 1990 to 2010. Our results highlight the importance of improving land-use management, especially in view of the recently proposed expansion of urban areas in China.
Authors
Holger LangeAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Katja Karppinen Laura Zoratti Marian Sarala Elisabete Carvalho Jenni Hirsimäki Helmi Mentula Stefan Martens Hely Häggman Laura JaakolaAbstract
Background: Carotenoids are important pigments and precursors for central signaling molecules associated in fruit development and ripening. Carotenoid metabolism has been studied especially in the climacteric tomato fruit but the content of carotenoids and the regulation of their metabolism have been shown to be highly variable between fruit species. Non-climacteric berries of the genus Vaccinium are among the best natural sources of health-beneficial flavonoids but not studied previously for carotenoid biosynthesis. Results: In this study, carotenoid biosynthetic genes, PSY, PDS, ZDS, CRTISO, LCYB, LCYE, BCH and CYP450-BCH, as well as a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase CCD1 were identified from bilberry (V. myrtillus L.) fruit and their expression was studied along with carotenoid composition during fruit development under different photoperiod and light quality conditions. Bilberry was found to be a good source of carotenoids among fruits and berries. The most abundant carotenoids throughout the berry development were lutein and β-carotene, which were accompanied by lower amounts of 9Z-β-carotene, violaxanthin, neoxanthin, zeaxanthin, antheraxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin. The expression patterns of the biosynthetic genes in ripening fruits indicated a metabolic flux towards β-branch of the carotenoid pathway. However, the carotenoid levels decreased in both the β-branch and ε,β-branch towards bilberry fruit ripening along with increased VmCCD1 expression, similarly to VmNCED1, indicating enzymatic carotenoid cleavage and degradation. Intense white light conditions increased the expression of the carotenoid biosynthetic genes but also the expression of the cleavage genes VmCCD1 and VmNCED1, especially in unripe fruits. Instead, mature bilberry fruits responded specifically to red/far-red light wavelengths by inducing the expression of both the carotenoid biosynthetic and the cleavage genes indicating tissue and developmental stage specific regulation of apocarotenoid formation by light quality. Conclusions: This is the first report of carotenoid biosynthesis in Vaccinium berries. Our results indicate that both transcriptional regulation of the key biosynthetic genes and the enzymatic degradation of the produced carotenoids to apocarotenoids have significant roles in the determination of the carotenoid content and have overall effect on the metabolism during the bilberry fruit ripening.
Abstract
Convergent Cross Mapping (CCM) has recently been introduced by Sugihara et al. for the identification and quantification of causal relationships among ecosystem variables. In particular, the method allows to decide on the direction of causality; in some cases, the causality might be bidirectional, indicating a network structure. We extend this approach by introducing a method of surrogate data to obtain confidence intervals for CCM results. We then apply this method to time series from stream water chemistry. Specifically, we analyze a set of eight dissolved major ions from three different catchments belonging to the hydrological monitoring system at the Bramke valley in the Harz Mountains, Germany. Our results demonstrate the potentials and limits of CCM as a monitoring instrument in forestry and hydrology or as a tool to identify processes in ecosystem research. While some networks of causally linked ions can be associated with simple physical and chemical processes, other results illustrate peculiarities of the three studied catchments, which are explained in the context of their special history.
Authors
Till SeehusenAbstract
No abstract has been registered