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.
2017
Authors
Melissa Magerøy Sharon Jancsik Macaire Man Saint Yuen Michael Fischer Stephen G. Withers Christian Paetz Bernd Schneider John Mackay Joerg BohlmannAbstract
Acetophenones are phenolic compounds involved in the resistance of white spruce (Picea glauca) against spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferiana), a major forest pest in North America. The acetophenones pungenol and piceol commonly accumulate in spruce foliage in the form of the corresponding glycosides, pungenin and picein. These glycosides appear to be inactive against the insect but can be cleaved by a spruce b-glucosidase, PgbGLU-1, which releases the active aglycons. The reverse glycosylation reaction was hypothesized to involve a family 1 UDP-sugar dependent glycosyltransferase (UGT) to facilitate acetophenone accumulation in the plant. Metabolite and transcriptome profiling over a developmental time course of white spruce bud burst and shoot growth revealed two UGTs, PgUGT5 and PgUGT5b, that glycosylate pungenol. Recombinant PgUGT5b enzyme produced mostly pungenin, while PgUGT5 produced mostly isopungenin. Both UGTs also were active in vitro on select flavonoids. However, the context of transcript and metabolite accumulation did not support a biological role in flavonoid metabolism but correlated with the formation of pungenin in growing shoots. Transcript levels of PgUGT5b were higher than those of PgUGT5 in needles across different genotypes of white spruce. These results support a role of PgUGT5b in the biosynthesis of the glycosylated acetophenone pungenin in white spruce.
Authors
José Ramón González-Olabarria Jordi Garcia-Gonzalo Blas Mola-Yudego Timo PukkalaAbstract
& Key message We generate flexible management rules for black pine stands, adaptable to alternative stand management situations and entailing thinnings, final-felling, and salvage cuts, based on the results on 270 stand level optimizations. & Context Forest management instructions often rely on the anticipated prediction of the stand development, which poses a challenge on variable economic and environmental conditions. Instead, an alternative approach to better adapt forest management decisions to changing conditions is defining flexible rules based on thresholds that trigger management operations. & Aims This article develops rules for the adaptive management of P. nigra stands in Catalonia (Spain) addressing the risk of fire and post-fire forest management. & Methods The stochastic version of the simulationoptimization system RODAL was used to optimize the management of forest stands in three sites under different fire probability levels. A total of 270 optimizations were done varying site fertility, fire probability, and economic factors. The results of the optimizations were used as the basis of flexible forest management rules for adaptive stand management. & Results The developed management rules defined the basal area limit for thinning, the thinning intensity, the mean tree diameter at which regeneration cuttings should start, and the basal area below which a salvage cutting should be done. Fire risk was not a significant predictor of the models for thinning and final cutting rules. & Conclusion The presented rules provide a flexible tool for forest management during the stand development and under changing conditions when the management objective is to maximize economic profitability of timber production.
Authors
Marek Marian Pierzchala Knut Kvaal Karl Stampfer Bruce TalbotAbstract
Cable yarding is a semi-mechanized timber harvesting system that relies on human machine interaction where a considerable share of the work is done by forest workers. The system is used in mountain forests around the world. Automation of one or more functions could contribute to increased productivity, reduced physical workloads and improved safety conditions. This paper presents a method for sensor data fusion in order to automatically distinguish work phases using Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). The Robot Operation System (ROS) is implemented to allow for real-time data processing with a maximum latency of 0.16 s. Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and camera integration provided a robust solution for 78% correct process segmentation. These results provide a basis for further development from which there is a possibility of expanding this approach for semi-automation, remote control, and autonomous operation.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Elli A. Koskela Takeshi Kurokura Tuomas Toivainen Anita Sønsteby Ola M Heide Daniel J. Sargent Sachiko Isobe Laura Jaakola Hrannar Hilmarsson Paula Elomaa Timo HytönenAbstract
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Koskela, E.A., Kurokura, T., Toivainen, T., Sønsteby, A., Heide, O.M., Sargent, D.J., ... Hytönen, T. (2017). Altered regulation of TERMINAL FLOWER 1 causes the unique vernalisation response in an arctic woodland strawberry accession. <i>New Phytologist</i>, 216(3), 841-853. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14734, which has been published in final form at <a href=https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14734> https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14734</a>. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
Abstract
The use of digital aerial photogrammetry (DAP) for forest inventory purposes has been widely studied and can produce comparable accuracy compared with airborne laser scanning (ALS) in small, homogeneous areas. However, the accuracy of DAP for large scale applications with heterogeneous terrain and forest vegetation has not yet been reported. In this study we examined the accuracy of timber volume, biomass and basal area prediction models based on DAP and national forest inventory (NFI) data on a large area in central Norway. Two separate point clouds were derived from aerial image acquisitions of 2010 and 2013. Vegetation heights were extracted by subtracting terrain elevation derived from ALS. A large number of NFI sample plots (483) measured between 2010 and 2014 were used as reference data to fit linear models for timber volume, biomass and basal area with height metrics derived from the DAP data as explanatory variables. Variables describing the heterogeneous environmental and image acquisition conditions were calculated and their influence on the model accuracy was tested. The results showed that forest parameter prediction using DAP works well when applied to a large area. The model fits of the timber volume, biomass and basal area models were good with R2 of 0.80, 0.81, 0.81 and RMSEs of 41.43 m3 ha−1 (55% of the mean observed value), 32.49 t ha−1 (47%), 5.19 m2 ha−1 (41%), respectively. Only a small proportion of the variation could be attributed to the heterogeneous conditions. The inclusion of the relative sun inclination led to an improvement of the model RMSEs by 2% of the mean observed values. The relatively low cost and stability across large areas make DAP an attractive source of auxiliary information for large scale forest inventories.
Abstract
Angiostoma norvegicum n. sp. (Angiostomatidae) is described from the oesophagus, crop and the buccal mass of five species of slugs of the family Arionidae, Arion vulgaris (Moquin-Tandon), Arion ater (L.), Arion fasciatus (Nilsson), Arion fuscus (Müller) and Arion rufus/Arion ater hybrid), collected throughout Norway. Angiostoma norvegicum n. sp. was found parasitising arionids at seven of the 30 sample sites examined (23.3%), and 9.9% of all Arion spp. were infected with this nematode. The new species is characterised by its large size (4.0–8.6 mm long) and in having: lateral alae; 6 + 6 papillae at the cephalic end; a large circular mouth aperture; a spacious stoma; a pharyngeal basal bulb without valvular apparatus; an excretory pore near the base of bulb; a distal part of posterior ovary always outstretched; an anterior ovary distally nearly always outstretched; a vulva situated anterior to mid-body; long, nearly straight spicules and a small gubernaculum; three circumcloacal papillae and caudal genital papillae (GP) arranged in a pattern 1+2/3+3 with GP 5 and GP 8 opened on dorsal side of narrow bursa not reaching tail tip; short conical tails in both sexes with tips supplied by 4 short, unequal denticles. Morphologically, A. norvegicum n. sp. is similar to Angiostoma limacis Dujardin, 1845, which diagnostic characteristics are given based on examination of specimens from Norway and the UK. Conversely, the phylogenetic analyses based on D2D3 large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene sequences performed in the present study did not support the morphological affinity of these two species. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that although Angiostoma spp. cluster together, A. norvegicum n. sp. forms a tight monophyletic clade with the milacid nematode parasites Angiostoma margaretae Ross, Malan & Ivanova, 2011 and Angiostoma milacis Ivanova & Wilson, 2009.
Abstract
REDD+, a climate change mitigation mechanism that values carbon in tropical forests, is expected to provide Africa with a range of environmental and socio-economic benefits. Drawing on a vast array of literature and personal experiences, this review analyzed particular features and challenges that REDD+ implementation has faced on the continent. The distinct contexts and major challenges regarding governance, finance and technical capacities are discussed, and mechanisms to fill these gaps are suggested. Radical land tenure reform and a perfect safeguard mechanism that transfers forest land and carbon to the communities are unlikely. REDD+ should rather look for systems that respect local institutional arrangements, and allow forest-based communities to participate in decision-making and benefit sharing, particularly benefits from emerging REDD+. Finances for REDD+ infrastructure and the results-based payment are in short supply. While negotiating for potential external sources in the short term, Africa should generate domestic financial resources and look for additional payments for ecosystem services. Africa should also negotiate for forest monitoring capacity building, while strengthening local community forest monitoring. This review contributes to an improved understanding of the contexts and challenges to consider in the capacity and policy development for REDD+ implementation.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Ola Stedje Hanserud Kari-Anne Lyng Jerke W. de Vries Anne K. Falk Øgaard Helge BrattebøAbstract
©2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open accessarticle distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).