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
Authors
Christian PedersenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Christian Pedersen Svein Olav Krøgli Shivesh Karan Svein Dale Grete Stokstad Diress Tsegaye AlemuAbstract
Over recent decades, farmland and meadow-breeding bird populations in Europe have markedly declined, attributed to factors like agricultural intensification and land abandonment. Parts of the Norwegian Monitoring Programme for Agricultural Landscapes explore the correlation between land use and bird species, aiming to understand how spatial heterogeneity and land use diversity affect the richness, abundance, and distribution of farmland birds. Between 2000 and 2023, we saw declining populations and reduced distributions of several farmland bird species within the monitoring squares. Additionally, we found that both spatial heterogeneity of land use and high land type diversity positively influenced farmland birds. This gives important insight on how to design biodiverse agricultural landscapes. We also examined the impact of agricultural intensity on 25 farmland bird species, using livestock density and pasture size as indicators. Larger pastures generally benefited a wide range of farmland bird species. Different bird species responded variably to livestock numbers, but high livestock density led to a decrease in overall farmland bird abundance. Many countries subsidize sustainable farming to protect biodiversity. We studied Norwegian agri-environmental schemes' impact on farmland and meadow-breeding birds. We found that bird observations rose when these measures were in place but often declined once the support ended. Furthermore, the schemes were geographically limited and relatively few farmers participated. While short-term benefits were evident, long-term effects remain uncertain, highlighting the need for improved conservation strategies. Emphasizing the importance of spatially heterogeneous agricultural landscapes with high land type diversity and natural areas, the study indicates the type of agricultural landscapes we should be aiming for to maintain and restore biodiversity.
Abstract
Presenting the status and preliminary results of the nitrate transport modelling for the Zelivka and Himmerland catchments using the SWAT+ model
Abstract
SWAT+ modelling and scenario results for changes in nitrate leaching to shallow groundwater in the Himmerland catchment, Denmark, with afforestation, set aside and fertilization reduction. Results are calculated for present and future climate conditions.
Authors
Ana Aza Baders, Endijs García-Gil, M Rosario Kniivilä, Matleena Ling, Erik Lukmine, Diana Mustonen, Mika Rautio, Pasi Svensson, Johan Tolvanen, Anne Knut ØistadAbstract
Key messages: Multifunctionality should serve as a guiding principle for forest governance and investment, complementing production and conservation objectives. To operationalise this vision, three guiding principles should inform EU and national policies: • Plan and manage at the landscape level balancing production, biodiversity, climate adaptation and social needs in complementary ways. Policies should support a diversity of management practices. • Align sectoral policies to ensure coherence between forestry, energy, biodiversity, climate and social objectives. • Reward and support multifunctionality explicitly through advisory programmes, certification systems, and financial mechanisms that recognise and support diverse management practices.
Authors
Eirik Gottschalk BalloAbstract
One of the key challenges we face today is the changing climate and its environmental impacts, affecting all life on Earth. Examining historical human responses to climate crises provides insights into resilience and adaptability. Robust data is essential for studying past climate and environmental changes effectively. European climate records covering the past 2000 years reveal a prolonged cooling period, known as the Dark Ages Cooling Period (c. 300–800 CE), punctuated by a pronounced cooling in the mid-6th century. Studies show that these cold intervals are more complex and regionally varied than previously believed. In the 6th century in Norway, archaeological evidence points to crop failures, famine, farm abandonment and changes in social organization in some regions, while others experienced minimal impact during these cold periods. However, southeastern Norway lacks detailed high-resolution paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstructions, limiting our ability to fully understand these events. This thesis aims to enhance understanding of climate, environmental, and societal dynamics in southeastern Norway over the past 2000 years, focusing on the Dark Ages Cold Period (c. 300–800 CE), through sediment analysis from Lake Sagtjernet and Lake Ljøgottjern in southeastern Norway. We introduce a μCT scan method for varve counting for Lake Sagtjernet, establishing the first varve chronology from a Norwegian lake, covering c. 4023 years. This chronology enables the first paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstruction from Norwegian varved lake sediments. This reconstruction reveals 2000 years of temperature variability, highlighting a major cooling event—the largest in 2000 years—that aligns with the 6th century cooling event. However, sparse settlements in the first millennium complicate climate impact interpretation at Lake Sagtjernet, while the last millennium shows increased human activities during both warm and cold periods. Reconstructed temperatures between 200 and 1300 CE from Lake Ljøgottjern indicate a notably colder period from 300 to 800 CE, compared to the periods before (200–300 CE) and after (800–1300 CE), identified as the Dark Ages Cold Period. Temperature fluctuations within this cold period significantly influenced agricultural strategies at the more populated Lake Ljøgottjern. Warmer intervals favoring crop cultivation and colder intervals prompting a shift towards livestock farming, illustrating the impact of climatic conditions on societal development.
Authors
Karin Juul Hesselsøe Anne Friederike Borchert Trond Olav Pettersen Kristoffer Herland Hellton Trygve S. AamlidAbstract
Abstract Ice encasement (IE) is one of the big challenges in winter stress management on golf course putting greens in Northern Scandinavia. The turfgrass is damaged due to lack of oxygen (hypoxia or anoxia) and accumulation of toxic by‐products of anaerobic respiration. Breeding IE‐tolerant turfgrass species and varieties is the best defense against these challenges. A method to simulate ice encasement was tested to screen selected varieties of winter‐hardy bentgrass species and red fescue subspecies. Note that 32 varieties were chosen from the SCANGREEN trial seeded at NIBIO Landvik, Norway, in 2019. Samples were taken in December 2020, 2021, and 2022, vacuum sealed in plastic, and stored in darkness at 0.5°C for up to 77 days to test them for their tolerance to simulated ice encasement (SIE). Samples were incubated at different intervals; plants were potted, and tiller survival was tested after 4 weeks of regrowth. Lethal duration of ice encasement (LD 50 ) that is, the number of days under anoxia that kills 50% of the plant population for each species and variety was calculated. The results showed that the ranking of cool season turfgrass species for tolerance to SIE was velvet bentgrass > Chewings fescue > slender creeping red fescue = colonial bentgrass > creeping bentgrass. This ranking does not fully reflect the ranking found in field tests where velvet bentgrass was superior together with creeping bentgrass. SIE caused a more rapid development of anoxia than IE in the field, and we hypothesize that creeping bentgrass is less tolerant to these conditions compared to the other species tested. To make the SIE method more representative for IE in field, it should be further adapted with incubation at lower temperatures, and with acclimation conditions to be standardized prior to sampling. Within species, the best tolerance to IE was found in velvet bentgrass Nordlys, creeping bentgrass Penncross, Chewings fescue Lykke, and slender creeping red fescue Cezanne.
Abstract
Abstract The primary benefits of turfgrass sod include rapid greenery and soil coverage, but its production causes concerns about soil losses at production sites. Soil adheres to the grass root system during harvesting and is removed from the sod farm, which in the long run might lead to soil degradation on the sod farm. In this study, we investigated sod thickness and the removal of organic and mineral matter when harvesting 24 fields representing 12 Norwegian sod farms in 2022 and 2023. On each field, 10 sod strips were randomly chosen, and five sod plugs were collected from each strip. Sod thickness was measured using a sliding gauge. Sod mineral matter (SMM: soil and thatch mineral matter) and sod organic matter (SOM: soil and thatch organic matter) contents were quantified by loss on ignition at 550°C. Management and field properties were also documented. Results showed an average amount of mineral matter in the sod strips of 36 Mg ha −1 for all fields but with significant variation among fields ( p < 0.001). The average SOM content was 10 Mg ha −1 . Mean sod thickness was 15.4 mm and had a strong correlation with SOM ( r = 0.8) but only a moderate correlation with SMM ( r = 0.6). Soil water content and surface hardness at harvest affected sod thickness and SMM only slightly. Sod harvesters with twin heads harvested significantly thicker sod strips and removed more mineral matter than harvesters with single cutting heads. Soil texture did not have a significant impact on sod thickness or mineral matter removal.
Other presentation – Project ‘PresiHøstkorn’ (Precision spraying in winter wheat)
Therese With Berge
Authors
Therese With BergeAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The study focuses on ecosystem services, historical aspects, and natural diversity. Specifically, it assesses possible proxies for investigating a set of cultural ecosystem services from the Norwegian agricultural landscape. Agricultural areas on the Norwegian land cover map surrounded by a 100 m wide buffer zone were analyzed for recorded historical buildings, cultural heritage sites, red-listed vascular plant species (defined as being at varying degrees at risk of extinction), and red-listed nature types (defined as endangered or vulnerable). The results indicate significant contributions from agricultural landscapes with respect to historical buildings, cultural heritage sites, and red-listed plant species. Regarding red-listed nature types, the contributions were diverse. The ecosystem proxies investigated showed increasing distribution trends with increasing proportions of agricultural landscapes in the spatial units, with a sharp increase with smaller area sizes. However, for cultural heritage sites the trend was different when the proportion of the agricultural landscape was below 25%; it showed a very slow increase. In conclusion, the study highlights the agricultural landscape’s diverse contributions to the investigated ecosystem services in Norway, prompting the need for further research on additional ecosystem services to ensure the continued delivery of environmental and social well-being.