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
Assessing forest vulnerability to disturbances at a high spatial resolution and for regional and national scales has become attainable with the combination of remote sensing-derived high-resolution forest maps and mechanistic risk models. This study demonstrated large-scale and high-resolution modelling of wind damage vulnerability in Norway. The hybrid mechanistic wind damage model, ForestGALES, was adapted to map the critical wind speeds (CWS) of damage across Norway using a national forest attribute map at a 16 m × 16 m spatial resolution. Parametrization of the model for the Norwegian context was done using the literature and the National Forest Inventory data. This new parametrization of the model for Norwegian forests yielded estimates of CWS significantly different from the default parametrization. Both parametrizations fell short of providing acceptable discrimination of the damaged area following the storm of November 19, 2021 in the central southern region of Norway when using unadjusted CWS. After adjusting the CWS and the storm wind speeds by a constant factor, the Norwegian parametrization provided acceptable discrimination and was thus defined as suitable to use in future studies, despite the lack of field- and laboratory experiments to directly derive parameters for Norwegian forests. The windstorm event used for model validation in this study highlighted the challenges of predicting wind damage to forests in landscapes with complex topography. Future studies should focus on further developing ForestGALES and new datasets describing extreme wind climates to better represent the wind and tree interactions in complex topography, and predict the level of risk in order to develop local climate-smart forest management strategies.
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Authors
Jorunn BørveAbstract
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Northern Norway’s unique conditions support large-scale cultivation of root brassicas despite short seasons and low temperatures. However, climate change, pest problems, and logistical hurdles present challenges.
Abstract
The new European organic regulation claims that cultivation must occur directly in soil in greenhouses. Cultivation practices in accordance with organic principles require the use of sustainable growing media and the addition of compost for soil improvement, preferably local resources. Soil improvement aims to achieve good soil health, including biological soil activity, nutrient availability, and favourable physical properties. However, only a few studies have been conducted on biological soil health in greenhouses. Biological soil activity was monitored in a greenhouse cucumber experiment on organic soil enriched with biochar and supplemented with local 1) compost, 2) solid digestate from biogas production, or 3) imported peat. The effects of silage mulching were also tested. Biological activity was measured in the soil using different indicators, while plant growth was monitored above soil. Results indicated that the mixture with compost contained more organic matter than other mixtures. Biological activity in the compost mixture was lower and started later than in the other mixtures. Silage mulch increased biological activity in all mixtures. Respiration rates and fungi content classified all three mixtures as stable growing media. At the start of the experiment, nitrogen content and pH levels in all three mixtures were similar. The peat mixture required the most mineral amendments, phosphorous content was highest in solid digestate and lowest in peat. Plant nutrient turnover to the plants was appropriate, although a lack of micronutrients was observed. Yields performed well. Our results show that biological activity in compost starts later in compost compared to the other mixtures. Anyhow compost is considered a key component of soil health. Fungi:bacteria balance was similar and comparable to measurements in Norwegian organically managed soil. Indicators were useful at farm level; they could be diversified further. Local compost and digestate performed as good as peat.
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Authors
Volkmar Timmermann Nenad Potočić Anne-Katrin Prescher Alexa Michel Katrin Haggenmüller Till KirchnerAbstract
In 2024, our sample remained stable with 27 participating countries and the largest number of assessed plots since 2019. We witnessed a very slight increase of 0.2 percentage points (%p) in mean defoliation as compared to 2023, mainly due to an increase of 0.5%p for broadleaves, while defoliation of conifers remained almost unchanged (0.1%p decrease). The strongest increase in defoliation occurred in deciduous (sub-) Mediterranean oaks (+2.1%p), while the strongest decrease was recorded in Norway spruce (-0.8%p). Deciduous temperate oaks had the highest (29.7%) and Norway spruce the lowest (22.4%) mean defoliation. Trend analyses show a considerable increase in defoliation of evergreen oaks (7.1%p), common beech (6%p), Norway spruce (5.5%p), and deciduous temperate oaks (5%p) over the past 20 years. The increase in defoliation for Scots pine and Mediterranean lowland pines (3.7 and 3.3%p, respectively) was more moderate. The results of the trend analyses were not significant for deciduous (sub-) Mediterranean oaks and Austrian pine. The percentage of trees with damage symptoms (48.6%) was almost the same as in 2023 (-0.5%p). As in previous years, the number of damage symptoms per assessed tree was substantially higher for broadleaves than for conifers (0.86 vs. 0.55, respectively). Insects, abiotic causes, and fungi were the most common damage agent groups for all species, comprising altogether more than half of all damage records. Tree mortality in 2024 was 1.1% (1 145 trees), i.e. at the same level as in the year before. While mortality rates for the main species and species groups ranged from 0.6 to 1.6%, mortality of Betula spp. and European ash was higher with 2.4% and 7% respectively.
Authors
Volkmar TimmermannAbstract
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Authors
Martha Kandziora Christian Brochmann Abel Gizaw Seid A Lovisa S Gustafsson Desalegn Chala GeleteAbstract
No abstract has been registered