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.
2016
Authors
Theo RuissenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Marit Almvik Marianne Stenrød Ole Martin Eklo Nina Holteberg Paulien Jakobje Mulder Roger Holten Roger RosethAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Marit AlmvikAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Large areas of cultivated grasslands are annually abandoned and no longer used for production in Norway. Such areas will over time be encroached by shrubs and trees. Knowing that access to spring and autumn pastures is a limiting factor for sheep farmers, we tested the effect of grazing abandoned grassland on sheep production. We also assessed herbage production by looking at plant community development, pasture production, herbage quality and pasture utilization by sheep and heifers. The experiment was run for two consecutive years; 2014 and 2015. The sheep production was assessed by studying one sheep flock with 83(88) ewes(lambs) in 2014 and 77(106) ewes(lambs) in 2015, which was assigned each year with respect to age of ewe and number of lambs born to three treatments: 1) control; common farm procedure with short spring grazing period before summer grazing on range pasture, 2) spring extended; 4 weeks extended spring grazing period on abandoned cultivated grassland before summer grazing on range pasture, 3) whole season grazing on abandoned grassland. Assessment of herbage production was done by sheep grazing the whole area for one month in spring and autumn. During the summer, the area was assigned to three replicated treatments: a) control with no management, b) grazing heifers and c) grazing sheep with offspring. The stocking rate was 1.8 LU/ha, in both b and c, for a duration of one month. Pasture production and herbage intake was estimated using grazing exclosure cages. Weight gain from birth to autumn as well as slaughter weight were significantly (P<0.05) higher in lambs assigned to treatment 2 with four weeks extended spring grazing period (259 g/day and 15.7 kg) compared to treatment 1 (238 g/day and 14.3 kg) and treatment 3 (216 g/day and 13.2 kg). Herbage consumed during the summer period was on average 211 g DM/m2 and the pasture utilization was 55%. The annual consumption and utilization was 336 g DM/m2 and 62% in the grazed treatments and 28 g DM/m2 and 15% in the control, respectively. Total annual pasture production was on average 72% higher in the grazed treatments compared to the control. There was no difference between the grazed treatments on annual herbage production, herbage intake or pasture utilization. The use of abandoned cultivated grassland for extended spring grazing improved weight gain and slaughter weight of lambs. Further, grazing stimulated herbage production
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Habtamu AlemAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Habtamu AlemAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Finding new ways to simultaneously account for monetary and non-monetary goals in ecosystem services is needed in order to establish a new modelling framework for the facilitation of trade-offs between competing stakeholder interests. The socioecological sustainability of an ecosystem service is dependent on the consent of the people in the area of the ESS. An important reason is that a given ecosystem service may have highly different value in different stakeholder cultures. In this aspect is also the understanding of disservices and hidden services. The kind and level of conflict tend to differ with location and the operational level of decision-making. It is crucial work to identify all linked subservices and organise them into a common framework for evaluation. In our research group (MULTIESS) we try to develop multi-criteria tools to assess the implications of prioritizing different interests on ecological, sociological and economic output. Similarly, changes in the human population and environment will interact and influence on the services and their values, demanding such parameters to be evaluated for the whole range of potential scenarios. We maintain that in order to make multi-criteria analyses (MCA) successful, service outputs and externalities must and can be measured in familiar terms (e.g. money, biomass) without the use of direct or stated pricing of non-commodities such as welfare, recreation or biodiversity.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered