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.
2025
Abstract
Climatic drought and changes in precipitation patterns are key features of the ongoing and predicted climatic changes in northern latitudes such as the boreal forest of Norway. Recent droughts highlight on the possible difficult future of spruce forests in southern Norway. To better understand and monitor these forests under a more extreme climate, it is crucial to gain a better understanding of the water relations of spruce trees across forest stands. Sap flow sensors are typically used for directly measuring the water demands for transpiration in individual trees. There are however limitations to their use in examining the hydraulic and physiological responses to extreme water supply variability: i) manufactured high-resolution sensors such as those following the Heat Ratio Method (HRM) or Heat Field Deformation (HFD) are expensive, limiting their deployment to a few trees in a stand, and ii) the sap flow sensors only measure the movement of water within the active sapwood, not accessing other physiological mechanisms and responses (radial growth, water storage) associated with stress response. Point dendrometers have become increasingly used, monitoring sub-daily stem size fluctuations resulting from both seasonal patterns of radial growth increment and the dynamics of plant tissue water balance. Manufactured point dendrometers are much cheaper to buy and easier to install and maintain than manufactured sap flow sensors. They can therefore be much more extensively deployed across forest stands. We aimed to analyse the relationship between sub-daily stem diameter changes and sap flow using point dendrometers and HRM sap flow sensors installed in a Norway spruce forest located 50 km north of Oslo, Norway. We linked these relationships with individual tree physical attributes, meteorology and soil climate over two growing seasons in 2022 and 2023. Our goal was to assess whether a predictive model of sap flow could be built from measured diameter changes, tree properties and climate, to ultimately reduce the uncertainty of stand level transpiration estimation at the daily resolution across entire forest stands.
Abstract
Intensification of forest management is seen as one important measure to increase carbon sequestration and contribute to balance CO2 emissions and mitigate climate change. Potential measures for forest management intensification include increasing the percentage of the area that is actively reforested after felling, planting at higher densities and with genetically improved material, nitrogen fertilization, and pre-commercial thinning. Here we assessed the mitigation potential of these practices in Norwegian forests from 2018 until the end of the 21st century. As a result, when these management practices were intensified, separately and simultaneously, carbon sequestration over the 80-year simulation period was larger than under current practices. Pre-commercial thinning gave the largest additional 80-year carbon dioxide removal increment and fertilization the smallest. The largest accumulated carbon dioxide removal potential occurred when intensifying all the proposed measures in one scenario and was estimated to be around 329.9 Tg CO2 by the end of the century, corresponding to offset more than six times Norway's total GHG emissions in 2022. If the intensification of these practices is considered separately, our results suggested that pre-commercial thinning and active reforestation after felling, in that order, should be prioritized as climate change mitigation measures, followed by genetic improvement, planting density and fertilization.
Authors
Heikki Korpunen Yrjö Nuutinen Paula Jylhä Lars Eliasson Aksel Granhus Juha Laitila Stephan Hoffmann Timo MuhonenAbstract
• Overall forest management objectives and stand properties set the requirements and possibilities for harvesting in continuous cover forestry (CCF). • Harvester and forwarder operators play a key role in successful CCF harvesting, as both productivity and quality of work are essential factors in harvesting operations. • Optimal stand conditions improve work productivity on selection harvesting sites; harvested stem volume correlates well with work productivity in cutting, and density of remaining trees does not signifcantly reduce work productivity in forwarding. • Carefully executed group cutting and shelterwood harvesting can reduce the number of damaged remaining trees, which is benefcial for future tree generations. • Research-based information is needed about work productivity in harvesting, damage caused by harvesting, and optimisation of strip road and forest road networks for CCF.
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Authors
Lennart Noordermeer Terje Gobakken Johannes Breidenbach Rune Eriksen Erik Næsset Hans Ole Ørka Ole Martin BollandsåsAbstract
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Authors
Seija Tuulentie Therese Bjärstig Inger Hansen Unni Støbet Lande Paul McLean Jani Pellikka Rainer Peltola Jasmine ZhangAbstract
• Sustainable forest management approaches, regardless of whether they involve continuous cover forestry (CCF) or rotation forestry (RF), require a holistic landscape perspective that acknowledges the multiple interests, values, and uses that depend on the locally relevant economic, ecological, and socio-cultural circumstances. These must be considered alongside the use of forests and forest landscapes as a resource for rural development. • Forests provide a wide range of goods and services. Those addressed here (i.e. tourism, recreation, health, grazing, non-timber forest products, and societal protection from natural hazards) are a subset of all of those potential services that are already considered to be of special signifcance for the Nordic region. • Most recreational users consider variation in the forest landscape and longdistance views as visually attractive but think that clearcuttings and soil tilling are harmful. • In general, CCF favours bilberries, while lingonberries and some mushrooms benefit from even-aged forestry. • Owing to the many and varied demands relating to forests and forest landscapes in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, CCF-supported multiple-use strategies and planning will need to consider stakeholder requirements more, now and in the future, than is currently the case.
Abstract
Based on data from 58 stands located in three different regions within Norway, this study presents new models for quantifying growth characteristics of young, planted trees of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst), a species that forms the backbone of the Norwegian forestry sector. The study focused on well-established, sufficiently stocked plantations to capture their inherent growth patterns. The presented models predict total tree height and the number of years required to reach a diameter at breast height of 5 cm for dominant and average-sized individuals, using common tree- and stand-level metrics. The study’s findings indicate enhanced growth of young spruce stands compared to growth dynamics observed in the 1960–1970s, likely due to improved growing conditions. The models presented here are an improvement over existing similar models and can be used in future forest growth and yield simulations. The study also aimed to provide a means to predict diameter distributions of young spruce plantations. While the results suggested significant differences between observed and predicted distributions, this still represents progress as there are currently no tools to estimate diameter distributions of young spruce plantations in Norway. Further research is recommended to corroborate the findings across a larger number of sites and to consider larger sample plots for potentially more accurate diameter distribution predictions.
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No abstract has been registered