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
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Laura Jaakola Katja Karppinen N. Nguyen S. Jokipii-LukkariAbstract
Fruit ripening is a highly coordinated and complex process determining a wide range of characteristics affecting the fruit quality, such as flavour, nutritional value, shelf-life, and processing properties. The fruit set occurs after fertilization, followed by first an active cell division and a later cell expansion phase leading to ripening, which coincides with seed maturation. The ripening phase is regulated by a signalling network of thousands of genes that orchestrate the softening, and the accumulation of the secondary compounds and sugars in ripe fruits. Plant hormones, especially ethylene and abscisic acid (ABA) have major roles in the control of the ripening processes. Based on the burst of respiration rate and ethylene production and/or the peak in ABA production at the onset of ripening, fruits are classified as climacteric or non-climacteric fruits, respectively. We have studied the regulation of ripening in bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.), traditionally classified as non-climacteric fruits, by analysing the role of the plant hormones, transcription factors, and the structural genes controlling the anthocyanin accumulation and the cell wall softening during the berry ripening. Our results have identified some upstream regulators of fruit ripening in bilberry and provided new knowledge on the R2R3 MYB and basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors, which are the key regulators of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Moreover, we have shown evidence of the role of ABA in controlling the ripening related anthocyanin accumulation in bilberry. Our recent results on metabolomic and proteomic profiling of bilberry indicate an increase in ethylene biosynthesis during bilberry fruit development coinciding with the ABA peak, raising a need for further studies and clearer determination between the classification of climacteric and non-climacteric fruits.
Abstract
limate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of natural disturbances. In Nordic conifer forests, damage caused by snow accumulation in the canopy is one of the most significant disturbance agents. This study investigates whether adaptive forest management can enhance resistance to snow damage, using a large forest property in southeastern Norway as a case study. To achieve this, we extended the existing scenario analysis tool, GAYA 2.0, integrating new functionality to analyze the risk of snow damage. We performed scenario simulations using a mechanistic critical snow load model to compare two alternative management strategies: standard management and an adapted management approach that reduces stand density in regeneration and tending phases. We analyzed and compared the management effects on snow damage resistance and probability, and on long-term forest production and income. The results indicate that reduced density management leads to a 2.02 % increase in critical snow load (from 74.19 Kg m-2 to 75.68 Kg m-2), and a 10.42 % reduction in yearly damage probability (from 0.345 % to 0.308 %). These findings suggest that adaptive management practices by reducing stand density can effectively enhance resistance and mitigate risks associated with snow damage in Nordic boreal forest ecosystems. The reduced stand density management does not have a significant impact on long-term production and income levels.
Authors
Stig Strandli GezeliusAbstract
How do provisions for administrative sanctioning affect the implementation of loose legal norms? To streamline regulation, governments have increased their penal capacity by authorizing administrative sanctioning, and they have decentralized regulatory responsibility by loosening legal norms. A case study of Norway's animal welfare governance shows how using administrative sanctions to enforce loose legal norms led to unpredictable sanctioning and, thereby, subverted regulatees' trust in law enforcement. Ensuing resistance from regulatees pressured inspectors to regain legitimacy by tightening loose legal norms and by backing down on administrative sanctioning. Inspectors thus reversed streamlining policies to protect the primary purpose of their profession: to motivate compliance with animal welfare law. The case highlights unintended consequences of streamlining regulation. It also illustrates how frontline workers may protect their primary purpose by disregarding policies they perceive as disruptive.
Abstract
The objective of this study was to demonstrate how height growth recalculated to periodic site index could be used to monitor and identify climatic drivers for growth variations. We used data from Norway’s National Forest Inventory (NFI), with attention to Norway spruce in the lowlands (<500 m a.s.l.) of southeastern Norway. We recalculated height growth to periodic site index and extracted a time series with annual values. We supplemented this with climatic data, i.e. monthly mean temperature, precipitation and deMartonne aridity index. The results showed that a characteristic two-peaked time series in volume growth in Norway 1994–2020 corresponded well to a time series of periodic site index for Norway spruce in the specific region mentioned above. Statistical analyses showed that for spruce, the periodic site index was higher in cold and moist summers than in warm and dry. Spruce mortality in this region tripled during 2012–22 when June temperature increased considerably, while periodic site index decreased. This corroborates warm and dry weather in June to be a main stress factor for spruce. In conclusion, periodic site index has a potential for being implemented for monitoring site productivity and for identification of climatic drivers.
Authors
Eirik Næsset Ramtvedt Ryan Bright Terje Gobakken Adrián Cidre-González Maja K. Sundqvist Zsofia R. Stangl Marie Charlotte Nilsson Daniel B. Metcalfe Michael J. GundaleAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Hans‐Peter Schmidt Samuel Abiven Annette Cowie Bruno Glaser Stephen Joseph Claudia Kammann Johannes Lehmann Jens Leifeld Genxing Pan Daniel Rasse Cornelia Rumpel Dominic Woolf Andrew R. Zimmerman Nikolas HagemannAbstract
ABSTRACT The application of biochar to soil is a highly durable nature‐based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) pathway. It provides certifiable climate‐change mitigation, with mean carbon residence times exceeding 1,000 years, and additional co‐benefits for soil health and fertility. Biochar persistence in soil depends on both intrinsic material properties and environmental factors. Its longevity is determined not only by the polyaromatic structure of the biochar itself but also by soil mineralogy, biological activity, and climatic conditions. Biochar aging involves both decomposition and stabilization processes. The complementary mechanisms of decomposition and stabilization include interactions of biochar with minerals and native organic matter, as well as aggregations with soil particles that maintain its long‐term persistence. Biochars and inertinite‐ranked fossil coals cannot be equated. Inertinite has been protected from biotic and abiotic oxidation for millions of years through burial in sediments and inclusion in minerals under high pressure and temperature. Biochar produced today in modern pyrolysis facilities is a fundamentally different material. No carbonaceous material is completely inert. Field and laboratory studies consistently show measurable, though small, mineralization across a wide range of biochar types. Declaring that soil‐applied biochar carbon persists at 100% over millennia is inconsistent with current scientific understanding. Analytical proxies indicate relative, but not absolute, biochar persistence. Policy definitions of biochar CDR should reflect climate‐relevant timescales. The degree of persistence should be estimated on the order of centuries rather than millennia, supported by registered material properties, traceable application data, conservative modeling, and continued long‐term field experiments for model validation.
Authors
Ingrid Vesterdal Tjessem Peter Horvath Inger Kristine Følling Volden Adam Eindride Naas Michal Torma Anders BrynAbstract
Background The global climate is warming, especially in northern regions due to high-latitude amplification. This high-latitude warming leads to range expansion with advancing tree- and forest-lines (TFLs) in the Northern Hemisphere. However, empirical studies can rarely provide a well-documented elevational expansion rate, especially for timescales longer than 40–50 years. This study provides a unique long-term dataset on TFL dynamics of Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovii in Norway, based on a combination of resampled historical data (n = 319) and new field registrations (n = 447). Our dataset includes a total of 766 registrations from five counties in Norway. In total, the dataset contains 439 treelines and 327 forest lines, most likely representing the highest recorded TFLs for the region at the given time. For all data, both resampled and new, locality, coordinates, elevation, aspect and spatial uncertainty and the resampling/sampling methods and definitions are provided. The entire material is stored and available for download through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) portal. New information This dataset includes newly-resampled TFLs, based on 57–127-year-old registrations. The entries provide elevational changes, georeferenced localities and potential sites for monitoring climate change effects. The entries enable regional analyses of TFL dynamics on intermediate timescales, including the effect of time lags. The material is available for modelling TFL range shifts along the boreal-alpine ecotone. This dataset most likely provides the highest registered Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovii locations within their specific regions, thus representing the contemporary ecophysiological range limits for the life-form tree. Additional high-elevation TFL sites and localities have been added to make the material suitable for future remapping and monitoring of climatic TFL dynamics.