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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.

2024

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Sammendrag

Since 2005, the population of the trans-border brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Trilateral Park Pasvik-Inari (Norway-Finland-Russia) has been monitored by using genetic analyses of hair and faeces collected randomly in the field. A more systematic method using hair traps every fourth year was initiated in 2007 to collect brown bear hairs for genetic analysis. The method consisted of 56 hair traps in Norway, Finland and Russia in a 5 x 5 km2 grid cell system (ca 1400 km2). The project was repeated in 2011, 2015, 2019 and now in 2023. This season’s sampling was carried out in Pasvik (Norway) - Inari (Finland) area (43 squares, 1075 km2), using the same methodology as in the previous studies. A total of 97 samples were collected, where 45 samples came from Finland and 52 samples from Norway. In the bear specific analysis, 71 (73 %) of the 97 hair samples were positive. A complete DNA profile could be determined for 63 of the positive samples. In total, 22 different bear individuals were detected (10 females and 12 males). Of these 22 bears, 12 bears were detected in previous years, while 10 were previously unknown bears. In total, 13 bears were detected in Finland and 11 bears in Norway. This year’s sampling has the 2nd highest success rate in number of individuals detected per grid square, with 0,51 individual per grid square compared to 0,81 individuals in 2019 (highest success rate), 0,49 in 2015, 0,35 in 2011 and 0,42 in 2009. Our results showed that even with a smaller study area, the hair trap project every 4th year provides valuable information on the brown bear individuals in addition to a random sampling in the field (The National Monitoring Program for brown bears in Norway).

Sammendrag

Since the 1950s, the use of plastics in agriculture has helped solving many challenges related to food production, while its persistence and mismanagement has led to the plastic pollution we face today. Soils are no exception and concentrations of polyethylene mulch debris up to 380 kg/ha have been reported in Chinese agricultural soils. A variety of biodegradable plastic products have thus been developed and marketed, with the aim to solve plastic pollution through complete degradation after use. But the environmental conditions for rapid and complete degradation are not always fulfilled, and the risk that biodegradable plastics could also contribute to plastic pollution must be evaluated. In this presentation, we want to share the knowledge gained through research projects on biodegradable plastics in agricultural soil, where we both studied the degradation of biodegradable mulch under Nordic soil conditions, and the fate of other biodegradable plastics in soil amendments such as compost and biogas digestate. A two-year field experiment with biodegradable mulch (PBAT-starch and PBAT-PLA) buried in soil in mesh bags showed that also under colder climatic conditions does degradation occur, involving fragmentation already after 2 months, but that complete degradation may take 3 to 9 years, depending on soil temperature and soil organic matter content (both correlate positively with degradation rate). Accumulation is therefore likely to happen when biodegradable mulch is repeatedly used every year. A full-scale experiment with compostable plastic cups (PLA) at an industrial composting plant, where we followed their fate and conducted metagenomic analysis over 13 weeks, demonstrated the major role played by fungi for a successful degradation of PLA. However, the successful management of biodegradable plastic products largely depends on existing waste management infrastructure. Most biodegradable plastic bags, labelled as compostable and used for food waste collection do not end up in industrial composting plants in Norway, but in biogas production plants. Here, we showed that these plastic bags (Mater-Bi®) are only marginally degraded (maximum 21-33 % mass loss) during biogas production, and likely to end up in biogas digestate and then in agricultural soils, unless digestate is treated to remove plastic residues.

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Sammendrag

Aim Effective management of non-indigenous species requires knowledge of their dispersal factors and founder events. We aim to identify the main environmental drivers favouring dispersal events along the invasion gradient and to characterize the spatial patterns of genetic diversity in feral populations of the non-native pink salmon within its epicentre of invasion in Norway. Location Mainland Norway and North Atlantic Basin. Methods We first conducted SDM using four modelling techniques with varying levels of complexity, which encompassed both regression-based and tree-based machine-learning algorithms, using climatic data from the present to 2050. Then, we used the triple-enzyme restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (3RADseq) approach to genotype over 30,000 high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms to elucidate the patterns of genetic diversity and gene flow within the pink salmon putative invasion hotspot. Results We discovered temperature- and precipitation-related variables drove pink salmon distributional shifts across its non-native ranges and that climate-induced favourable areas will remain stable for the next 30 years. In addition, all SDMs identified north-eastern Norway as the epicentre of the pink salmon invasion, and genomic data revealed that there was minimal variation in genetic diversity across the sampled populations at a genome-wide level in this region. While utilizing a specific group of ‘diagnostic’ SNPs, we observed a significant degree of genetic differentiation, ranging from moderate to substantial, and detected four hierarchical genetic clusters concordant with geography. Main Conclusions Our findings suggest that fluctuations in climate extreme events associated with ongoing climate change will likely maintain environmental favourability for the pink salmon outside its ‘native’/introduced ranges. Locally invaded rivers are themselves potential source populations of invaders in the ongoing secondary spread of pink salmon in Northern Norway. Our study shows that SDMs and genomic data can reveal species distribution determinants and provide indicators to aid in post-control measures and potentially inferences about their success.

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Adaptive divergence in response to environmental clines are expected to be common in species occupying heterogeneous environments. Despite numerous advances in techniques appropriate for non-model species, gene–environment association studies in elasmobranchs are still scarce. The bronze whaler or copper shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus) is a large coastal shark with a wide distribution and one of the most exploited elasmobranchs in southern Africa. Here, we assessed the distribution of neutral and adaptive genomic diversity in C. brachyurus across a highly heterogeneous environment in southern Africa based on genome-wide SNPs obtained through a restriction site-associated DNA method (3RAD). A combination of differentiation-based genome-scan (outflank) and genotype–environment analyses (redundancy analysis, latent factor mixed models) identified a total of 234 differentiation-based outlier and candidate SNPs associated with bioclimatic variables. Analysis of 26,299 putatively neutral SNPs revealed moderate and evenly distributed levels of genomic diversity across sites from the east coast of South Africa to Angola. Multivariate and clustering analyses demonstrated a high degree of gene flow with no significant population structuring among or within ocean basins. In contrast, the putatively adaptive SNPs demonstrated the presence of two clusters and deep divergence between Angola and all other individuals from Namibia and South Africa. These results provide evidence for adaptive divergence in response to a heterogeneous seascape in a large, mobile shark despite high levels of gene flow. These results are expected to inform management strategies and policy at the national and regional level for conservation of C. brachyurus populations.