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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.

2026

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Abstract

Background Drought intensity and frequency are increasing under global warming in the boreal forests, and breeding for drought resistance will facilitate adaptation of new planting material to changing climate conditions. We used a tree-ring dataset of 559 individuals to study Scots pine genetic variation and the efficiency of genomic selection of drought-response traits (drought resistance, recovery and resilience), for the first time. From genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), 31,101 SNPs were generated and used for the study. Results Significant genetic variation was detected for drought-response and other growth, wood-anatomy and wood density traits. Heritability estimates for wood-anatomical traits were higher than those for drought-response and growth traits. Genetic correlations between drought-response and wood-anatomical traits were generally high but mostly nonsignificant. In contrast, drought resistance and recovery showed positive and significant correlations with basal area increment and height. We found that the predictive ability and accuracy for drought-response traits were lower than those for wood-anatomical traits, and were comparable between GBLUP and ABLUP. Greater genetic gain per year can be achieved through genomic selection relative to pedigree-based selection if the generation interval is reduced. Conclusions The positive genetic correlation between drought-response and growth traits will enable simultaneous selection for improved growth and increased drought resistant trees in Scots pine breeding through either pedigreed-based and genomic selection.

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Abstract

No abstract has been registered

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Abstract

Aim Animal movements are a fundamental process affecting communities and ecosystems. Quantifying habitat selection across species and habitats is key for understanding how animals respond to environmental change. Currently, we lack comparative studies that examine how habitat selection varies across species traits and landscapes. We aim to quantify global patterns of habitat selection to help understand the fundamental drivers of movement behaviour. Location Global. Time Period Contemporary. Major Taxa Studied Terrestrial mammals. Methods We estimated selection coefficients for terrain ruggedness, vegetation productivity, human population density and distance to roads of individual terrestrial mammals through step‐selection analysis of 1344 GPS tracks across 48 species. We quantified intra‐ and interspecific variation and tested whether selection coefficients were associated with species traits and habitat availability. Results We observe an overall avoidance of roads and areas of high human population density as well as rugged terrain, with a large proportion of individuals selecting for areas of intermediate NDVI. However, we also found large intraspecific variation in habitat selection and show that this variation is predicted by local and landscape‐level environmental conditions rather than species traits. Individuals in more remote areas exhibited weaker functional responses to human presence than those in more disturbed areas. Avoidance of rugged terrain is also context‐dependent, with stronger avoidance when local ruggedness is high. The only exception to the observed intraspecific variability is consistent species‐level responses to road proximity. Main Conclusions Our findings contribute to the understanding of habitat selection by terrestrial mammals, showing that selection is largely shaped by environmental conditions and that animals exhibit high plasticity in their responses. Our results also provide further evidence for the significant impact of roads on animal movement. These insights can help us to understand the potential effects of environmental change on the behaviour of mammal species around the world.

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This study investigates the moisture-induced recovery of temporary property changes in thermo-mechanically densified (TMD) birch and aspen wood, compared to thermally modified (TM) wood. Both treatments were prepared under identical thermal conditions, differing only by compression in TMD. Dimensional stability, water vapour sorption, and Brinell hardness were assessed before and after repeated wetting and drying cycles to evaluate the effect of stress storage in the polymer matrix and its recovery during moisture exposure. The results indicate that both TMD and TM treatments induce a temporary reduction in moisture uptake, consistent with the formation of an annealed polymer structure. Water saturation and subsequent drying restored higher moisture content and reduced Brinell hardness in TMD wood, highlighting a moisture-driven recovery of the annealed polymer conformation. Notably, the decrease in hardness could not be attributed solely to the reduction in bulk density, indicating additional effects of polymer plasticisation. The presence of compression stresses during TMD appeared to enhance stress storage, thereby influencing the recovery of moisture-induced properties. Initial wood moisture content before TMD had little effect on the temporary reduction in moisture content, suggesting that annealing also occurs in dry states. These findings emphasise the need to account for moisture cycling in TMD wood’s service life. Future work should focus on the interplay between compression stresses and the annealing effect to reduce the temporary nature of the property improvements by TMD.

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Abstract

Wood has many attractive material qualities, but it is susceptible to biological degradation by wood-decaying fungi. Moisture is one of the critical requirements for wood decay, but much remains unknown about moisture dynamics in decaying wood. To fill this knowledge gap, this study investigated moisture in Scots pine sapwood during decay caused by the brown rot fungus Coniophora puteana. Samples were exposed to decay in two time-series experiments; mass loss and moisture content were recorded over the course of decay, and the bound and free water populations in the samples were analysed using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LFNMR) relaxometry in both the decaying state and at full water saturation. Selected samples were also used for water vapour sorption measurements. The time-series decay tests showed that moisture content initially increased due to fungal activity but decreased over time when corrected for mass loss, contrary to the general belief that moisture content increases with decay. LFNMR revealed that bound water content increased on a decayed-mass basis in the decaying state and at saturation, but no increase was seen after correction for mass loss. Free water content followed gravimetric moisture content in the decaying state, but the saturated state measurements revealed an initial increase and subsequent decrease with mass loss. Degradation caused changes in hygroscopicity, but our data show that overall moisture content is regulated by fungal activity rather than by material properties. These findings highlight the complexity of water interactions during fungal degradation, offering valuable new insights into wood degradation mechanisms.