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.
2021
Authors
Ivan PaponovAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme events in northern ecosystems. The outcome of these events across the landscape, might be mediated by species effects, such as niche construction, with likely consequences on vegetation resilience. To test this hypothesis, we simulated an extreme event by removing aboveground vegetation in tundra heathlands dominated by the allelopathic dwarf shrub Empetrum nigrum, a strong niche constructor. We tested the hypothesis under different climate regimes along a 200-km long gradient from oceanic to continental climate in Northern Norway. We studied the vegetation recovery process over ten years along the climatic gradient. The recovery of E. nigrum and subordinate species was low and flattened out after five years at all locations along the climatic gradient, causing low vegetation cover at the end of the study in extreme event plots. Natural seed recruitment was low at all sites, however, the addition of seeds from faster growing species did not promote vegetation recovery. A soil bioassay from 8 years after the vegetation was removed, suggested the allelopathic effect of E. nigrum was still present in the soil environment. Our results provide evidence of how a common niche constructor species can dramatically affect ecosystem recovery along a climatic gradient after extreme events in habitats where it is dominant. By its extremely slow regrowth and it preventing establishment of faster growing species, this study increases our knowledge on the possible outcomes when extreme events harm niche constructors in the tundra.
Abstract
Continuous light (CL) or a predominant nitrogen supply as ammonium (NH4+) can induce leaf chlorosis and inhibit plant growth. The similarity in injuries caused by CL and NH4+ suggests involvement of overlapping mechanisms in plant responses to these conditions; however, these mechanisms are poorly understood. We addressed this topic by conducting full factorial experiments with tomato plants to investigate the effects of NO3− or NH4+ supply under diurnal light (DL) or CL. We used plants at ages of 26 and 15 days after sowing to initiate the treatments, and we modulated the intensity of the stress induced by CL and an exclusive NH4+ supply from mild to strong. Under DL, we also studied the effect of nitrogen (N) deficiency and mixed application of NO3− and NH4+. Under strong stress, CL and exclusive NH4+ supply synergistically inhibited plant growth and reduced chlorophyll content. Under mild stress, when no synergetic effect between CL and NH4+ was apparent on plant growth and chlorophyll content, we found a synergetic effect of CL and NH4+ on the accumulation of several plant stress hormones, with an especially strong effect for jasmonic acid (JA) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), the immediate precursor of ethylene, in xylem sap. This modulation of the hormonal composition suggests a potential role for these plant hormones in plant growth responses to the combined application of CL and NH4+. No synergetic effect was observed between CL and NH4+ for the accumulation of soluble carbohydrates or of mineral ions, indicating that these plant traits are less sensitive than the modulation of hormonal composition in xylem sap to the combined CL and NH4+ application. Under diurnal light, NH4+ did not affect the hormonal composition of xylem sap; however, N deficiency strongly increased the concentrations of phaseic acid (PA), JA, and salicylic acid (SA), indicating that decreased N concentration rather than the presence of NO3− or NH4+ in the nutrient solution drives the hormone composition of the xylem sap. In conclusion, N deficiency or a combined application of CL and NH4+ induced the accumulation of JA in xylem sap. This accumulation, in combination with other plant hormones, defines the specific plant response to stress conditions.
Authors
Yagut Allahverdiyeva Eva-Mari Aro Bert van Bavel Carlos Escudero-Oñate Christiane Funk Jarna Heinonen Lars Herfindal Peter Lindblad Sari Makinen Merja Penttilä Kaarina Sivonen Matilde Skogen Chauton Hanne Skomedal Jorunn SkjermoAbstract
NordAqua is a multidisciplinary Nordic Center of Excellence funded by NordForsk Bioeconomy program (2017–2022). The research center promotes Blue Bioeconomy and endeavours to reform the use of natural resources in a environmentally sustainable way. In this short communication, we summarize particular outcomes of the consortium. The key research progress of NordAqua includes (1) improving of photosynthetisis, (2) developing novel photosynthetic cell factories that function in a “solar-driven direct CO2 capture to target bioproducts” mode, (3) promoting the diversity of Nordic cyanobacteria and algae as an abundant and resilient alternative for less sustainable forest biomass and for innovative production of biochemicals, and (4) improving the bio-based wastewater purification and nutrient recycling technologies to provide new tools for integrative circular economy platforms.
Authors
Jeremy C. Andersen Nathan P. Havill Brian P. Griffin Jane U. Jepsen Snorre Hagen Tero Klemola Isabel C. Barrio Sofie A. Kjeldgaard Toke T. Høye John Murlis Yuri N. Baranchikov Andrey V. Selikhovkin Ole Petter Laksforsmo Vindstad Adalgisa Caccone Joseph S. ElkintonAbstract
The frequency and severity of outbreaks by pestiferous insects is increasing globally, likely as a result of human-mediated introductions of non-native organisms. However, it is not always apparent whether an outbreak is the result of a recent introduction of an evolutionarily naïve population, or of recent disturbance acting on an existing population that arrived previously during natural range expansion. Here we use approximate Bayesian computation to infer the colonization history of a pestiferous insect, the winter moth, Operophtera brumata L. (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), which has caused widespread defoliation in northern Fennoscandia. We generated genotypes using a suite of 24 microsatellite loci and find that populations of winter moth in northern Europe can be assigned to five genetically distinct clusters that correspond with 1) Iceland, 2) the British Isles, 3) Central Europe and southern Fennoscandia, 4) Eastern Europe, and 5) northern Fennoscandia. We find that the northern Fennoscandia winter moth cluster is most closely related to a population presently found in the British Isles, and that these populations likely diverged around 2,900 years ago. This result suggests that current outbreaks are not the result of a recent introduction, but rather that recent climate or habitat disturbance is acting on existing populations that may have arrived to northern Fennoscandia via pre-Roman traders from the British Isles, and/or by natural dispersal across the North Sea likely using the Orkney Islands of northern Scotland as a stepping-stone before dispersing up the Norwegian coast. approximate bayesian computation, Quaternary climatic oscillations, Lepidoptera, population genetics
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Jing Zhang Zilan Du Liqin Fu Yongming Han Wei Zheng Fuhua Yu Huimin Chen Lu Feng Yeqing Li Weiying PingAbstract
With the development of the world economy and society, the living standards of residents have been improved, along with a large amount of food waste and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In the face of global warming and energy shortages, food waste can be used as high-value bio-energy raw materials which is also an effective way to reduce CO2 emissions. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel anaerobic digestion and CO2 emissions efficiency analysis based on a Slacks-Based Measure integrating Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM-DEA) model to evaluate and optimize the process structure of anaerobic treatment of food waste. The total feed volume and the discharge volume of liquid digestate are taken as inputs, and the total methane (CH4) production volume is taken as the desirable output and CO2 emissions are regarded as the undesirable output to build the biogas production and CO2 emissions evaluation model during the anaerobic digestion process. Finally, the proposed method is used in the actual anaerobic digestion process. The results show that the overall efficiency values in January, April, May, and June in 2020 are higher than those in other months. At the same time, due to the optimal allocation of slack variables of inputs and undesirable outputs, the efficiency values of other inefficient anaerobic digestion days can be improved.
Abstract
In this study, the nutrient dynamic and growth performance of lettuce in a closed recirculating hydroponic system were investigated. Lettuce was grown in three parallel nutrient film technique (NFT) units, illuminated with LED-light. A balanced standard nutrient solution (NS) was used, and the electrical conductivity (EC) and pH were adjusted regularly to constant average values of 1.16 mS cm‑1 and 6.2 with standard deviations of ±0.12 and ±0.5, respectively. The volume of NS in each unit was kept at 20 L by adding refill solution to replace nutrient uptake and transpiration. Lettuce growth during the first six weeks in the NFT-system was normal and stable. After six weeks, a decrease in concentrations of N, P, and K was observed, with a corresponding decline in yield of lettuce. After ten weeks, lettuce weight at harvest was reduced by 56% in average compared to the control, and the concentrations of N, P and K in the NS were reduced by 54.5, 90.5 and 96.6%, respectively. Contrarily, more slowly absorbed nutrients like Ca, S, Zn, Cu, and B experienced increases by factors of 2.2, 2.9, 6.6, 4.9 and 2.5, respectively. The depletion and accumulation of nutrients in the NS were reflected in corresponding deficiency and excess levels of nutrients in leaf tissue compared to norm-values of healthy lettuce. The study showed that after six weeks, corresponding to a yield of 1 kg lettuce per 10 L tank volume of NS, the reduced growth implied that the recirculated NS should have been discharged and replaced, or a “tailor-made” refill solution should have been used to avoid depletion of some nutrients. Based on the foliar analysis and calculations of actual nutrient absorption rates, the composition of such a refill NS was suggested.
Authors
Vlado Licina Tore Krogstad Aleksandar Simić Milica Fotirić Akšić Mekjell MelandAbstract
Denne rapporten gjev eit litteraturoversyn ved ulike sider av næringsopptaket av ulike mineral og tilførsel til epletre. Det er omtalt dei fysiologiske sidene av næringsopptaket hjå grunnstammer og sjølve sorten, transporten gjennom sil- og vedvev og funksjonen til dei ulike minerala i epletreet. Bladanalysar er eit viktig diagnoseverktøy for vurdering av næringsstatusen i treet. Terskelverdiar for dei ulike minerala er vurderte og tiltak for å retta opp eventuelle mangelsymptom ved hjelp av eit bladgjødslingsprogram. Tilsvarande er eigenskapar ved jorda vurderte, normer for jordanalysar omtalte og tilråding om kalking. Siste bolken omhandlar ulike måtar og mengder for å tilføra gjødsel til frukthagen. Dette gjeld gjødsling til jorda, gjødselvatning i dropevatningsystemet i trerekkja og bladgjødsling.