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
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Authors
Priit Tammeorg Ana Catarina Bastos Simon Jeffery Frédéric Rees Jürgen Kern Ellen R. Graber Maurizio Ventura Mark Kibblewhite António Amaro Alice Budai Cláudia M.d.S. Cordovil Xavier Domene Ciro Gardi Gabriel Gascó Jan Horak Claudia Kammann Elena Kondrlova David Laird Susana Loureiro Martinho A.S. Martins Pietro Panzacchi Munoo Prasad Marija Prodana Aline Peregrina Puga Greet Ruysschaert Lidia Sas-Paszt Flávio C. Silva Wenceslau Geraldes Teixeira Giustino Tonon Gemini Delle Vedove Costanza Zavalloni Bruno Glaser Frank G. A. VerheijenAbstract
Key priorities in biochar research for future guidance of sustainable policy development have been identified by expert assessment within the COST Action TD1107. The current level of scientific understanding (LOSU) regarding the consequences of biochar application to soil were explored. Five broad thematic areas of biochar research were addressed: soil biodiversity and ecotoxicology, soil organic matter and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil physical properties, nutrient cycles and crop production, and soil remediation. The highest future research priorities regarding biochar’s effects in soils were: functional redundancy within soil microbial communities, bioavailability of biochar’s contaminants to soil biota, soil organic matter stability, GHG emissions, soil formation, soil hydrology, nutrient cycling due to microbial priming as well as altered rhizosphere ecology, and soil pH buffering capacity. Methodological and other constraints to achieve the required LOSU are discussed and options for efficient progress of biochar research and sustainable application to soil are presented.
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submittedVersion
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Background: Many wingless ectoparasites have a limited capacity for active movement and are therefore primarily dependent on hitchhiking on their hosts for transportation. The distribution of the tick Ixodes ricinus is expected to depend mainly on transportation by hosts and tick subsequent survival in areas where they drop off. In Europe, the most important hosts of adult female I. ricinus are cervids. The extensive space use of large hosts provides a much larger dispersal potential for I. ricinus than that of smaller mammalian hosts. We aim to determine the contribution of red deer (Cervus elaphus) space use on the spatial distribution of I. ricinus, after accounting for landscape factors. Methods: We analysed the spatial distribution of I. ricinus with generalised mixed effects models (GLMMs) based on data from extensive field surveys of questing density in two coastal regions in Norway, from which home range data from 73 red deer with GPS collars were available. Red deer home ranges were derived using the kernel method to identify areas most frequently used by deer. We first fitted a baseline model with tick questing densities relative to landscape features that are likely to affect local climate conditions and hence, survival. We then added deer space use variables to the baseline model with only landscape variables to test whether areas more frequently used by red deer had higher questing tick densities. Results: Questing I. ricinus density was predicted by several landscape features, such as elevation, distance to the fjord and topographic slope. In addition, we found that areas more heavily used within the red deer home ranges, correlated with higher questing tick densities. Increased effects of deer space use were additive to the landscape model, suggesting that correlations were more than just shared landscape preferences between deer and ticks. Conclusions: Our results imply that the distribution of I. ricinus is controlled by a complex set of factors that include both local conditions related to landscape properties that affect survival and how the large host population redistributes ticks. In particular, we have provided evidence that the local distribution of large hosts, with their extensive space use, redistributes ticks at the local scale.
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Authors
Li Lai Xianjin Huang Hong Yang Xiaowei Chuai Mei Zhang Taiyang Zhong Zhigang Chen Yi Chen Xiao Wang Julian R. ThompsonAbstract
China has experienced enormous changes in land use in recent decades, which are largely driven by its unparalleled economic development. We analyze changes in vegetation and soil carbon storage between 1990 and 2010 resulting from combinations of land-use category conversion and management. Results demonstrate a major decline in grasslands (−6.85%; 20.83 × 106 ha) and large increases in urban areas (+43.73%; 6.87 × 106 ha), farmlands (+0.84%; 1.48 × 106 ha), and forests (+0.67%; 1.52 × 106 ha). The total soil organic carbon pool has been reduced by approximately 11.5 Tg of carbon (TgC) year−1, whereas 13.2 TgC year−1 has accumulated in the biomass carbon pool because of land-use category change. Large carbon losses (approximately 101.8 TgC year−1) have resulted from land management failures, including forest fires and insect pests. Overall land-use change and land management have contributed about 1.45 Pg of carbon to the total carbon released from 1990 to 2010. Our results highlight the importance of improving land-use management, especially in view of the recently proposed expansion of urban areas in China.
Authors
Ketil HaarstadAbstract
No abstract has been registered