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.
2024
Authors
Marco Ferretti Arthur Gessler Nathalie Cools Stefan Fleck Rossella Guerrieri Tamara Jakovljević Manuel Nicolas Tiina M. Nieminen Diana Pitar Nenad Potočić Stephan Raspe Marcus Schaub Kai Schwärzel Volkmar Timmermann Monika Vejpustková Lars Vesterdal Petteri Vanninen Peter Waldner Lothar Zimmermann Tanja GM SandersAbstract
Forests are increasingly affected by global change. Building resilient forests requires – amongst others - leveraging the wealth of knowledge from existing ground-based, field inventory and monitoring programs as well as Earth Observation systems to better assess the status, detect changes, understand processes, predict future dynamics, and guide forest management. A proposal from the European Commission for a new forest monitoring framework at the European level aims in this direction but lacks the integration of some crucial and readily available resources and infrastructures. For this reason, the proposal risks to be a missed opportunity rather than a step forward. Here we provide suggestions to help reconciling the proposal with its objectives and a more comprehensive monitoring vision.
Abstract
Phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins can be impregnated and cured in situ to improve the woods dimensional stability and decay resistance. In search of renewable alternatives, the substitution of phenol by lignin cleavage products (LCP) has been discussed. However, the different chemical nature may affect the performance of the resin against fungal decay, formaldehyde emission, and equilibrium moisture content. In this study, 30 % (w/w) of the phenol in PF resins were substituted by LCP obtained from microwave-assisted pyrolysis. Scots pine sapwood was modified with the resin. The decay resistance against Rhodonia placenta, Gloeophyllum trabeum, and Trametes versicolor was determined. Additionally, effects of specimen organisation within the Petri dish, different substrates, length of leaching, and type of inoculum were studied. Further, the materials water vapor sorption properties and formaldehyde emission were determined. All modifications effectively reduced fungal decay. With 10 % weight percent gain (WPG), initial decay was detected, while 20 % WPG and 30 % WPG provided efficient protection. The substitution of phenol increases the formaldehyde emission. While further reduction in formaldehyde in the resin admixture or formaldehyde scavengers may be required, the method described herein can be used to partly replace fossil-based phenol, while maintaining good fungal resistance.
Abstract
Hurdal (NO-Hur) is a recently labelled ICOS class 2 station in Southeast Norway. It represents a typical southern boreal forest of medium productivity, dominated by old Norway spruce (average tree height: 25 m, ages: up to 100 years) with some pine and broadleaved trees. The eddy covariance technique is used to measure CO2 fluxes on a 42 m tower since 2021 . The measurements have an average footprint area of approximately 63 ha. In 2023, the region experienced an unusual dry spring and then an extraordinary flood in August. Both events showed significant impact on the Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) and heat fluxes. The station is also equipped with automatic dendrometers and sap flow devices on the dominant spruce trees, allowing us to investigate the impact of these events at the individual tree scale. We will present tree growth and transpiration flux at different temporal scales (from sub-daily to seasonal), and relate these single tree observations with environmental variables, ecosystem-level NEE and evapotranspiration using phase synchronization analysis. These observational data will yield insights into carbon and water processes of a boreal forest at different scales in response to multiple disturbances.
Abstract
Seaweed extracts are proven to be potent biostimulants due to the presence of wide range of nutrients including mineral like potassium and other macro-micronutrients, plant growth hormones, amino acids, vitamins, glycine betaines and quaternary ammonium compounds in them. In the present study, potassium-rich powders were obtained from some commercially important tropical red seaweeds viz. Kappaphycus alvarezii, Gracilaria salicornia, G. edulis, G. firma and G. heteroclada and Eucheuma spinosum and checked for their biostimulant effect through green gram seedling bioassay study on in vitro using WinRhizo software, and we found that extracts of all species increased the root development at significant level (p < 0.05) as compared to standard nutrient medium. G. salicornia of Indian origin which is naturally available on a commercial level (>1000 t dry per year) was taken for further studies and manufactured 3 variants of potassium-rich biostimulants, viz. concentrated seaweed extract (CSE), potassium-rich water-soluble powder (PSP) and seaweed fortified granule (SFG), and tested their biostimulant activity on cassava root at farmer’s field and found to increase the tuber yield to 17.40%, 20.09% and 22.19%, respectively, with high starch content, less incidence of cassava brown streak virus disease (CBSD) and increased nutrient use efficiency over control plants. Based on the results of present study, potassium-rich biostimulant obtained from G. salicornia can be applied to cassava for yield and quality improvement.
Abstract
Biochar modification is an effective approach to enhance its ability to promote anaerobic digestion (AD). Focusing on the physical properties of biochar, the impact of different particle sizes of biochar on AD of food waste (FW) at high organic loading rate (OLR) was investigated. Four biochar with different sizes (40–200 mesh) were prepared and used in AD systems at OLR 30 g VS/L. The research results found that biochar with a volume particle size of 102 μm (RBC-P140) had top-performance in promoting cumulative methane production, increasing by 13.20% compared to the control group. The analysis results of the variety in volatile acids and alkalinity in the system did not show a correlation with the size of biochar, but small size has the potential to improve the environmental tolerance of the system to high acidity. Microbial community analysis showed that the abundance of aceticlastic methanogen and the composition of zoogloea were optimized through relatively small-sized biochar. Through revealing the effect of biochar particle size on AD system at high OLR, this work provided theoretical guidance for regulating fermentation systems using biochar.
Abstract
Purpose The impact of winter moisture on root metabolism and root integrity has potential consequences for the geographical distribution of drought-adapted succulent species and for their long-term performance on green roofs. The interacting effects of soil characteristics and precipitation frequency on root mortality under winter conditions and the potential to grow new roots in spring were evaluated for six Sedum species under controlled conditions. Methods To test for the impact of soil moisture during winter on root regrowth potential in six Sedum species, we used a combination of two substrates with differing water-holding capacity and four contrasting watering regimes. Specially, for the fine and coarse substrates, total pore volume was 42 and 46 %, respectively, and maximum water-holding capacity (i.e. field capacity) was 0.50 and 0.33 kg water per L, respectively. The four watering treatments involved overhead watering to runoff (approx. 10 mm): once every second week, once a week, three times per week and three times per week with 1 cm standing water in trays from January to March 2019. Results It was found that winter soil moisture had no major impact on root mortality or root regrowth potential in spring. Root mortality was not affected by watering frequency and regrowth potential showed no directional response to increased watering frequency, although species-specific responses were involved. Root diameter did not differ between the substrates, but there were some differences between the species. Sedum rupestre had on average the thickest roots (0.17 mm), followed by S. acre, S. anglicum and S. sexangulare (0.15–0.16 mm), while S. album and S. hispanicum had the thinnest roots (0.12–0.13 mm). Moreover, effects of watering frequency on root mortality and regrowth potential were not influenced by soil water-holding capacity across species. We concluded that winter soil moisture had no negative effects on root performance within the range of treatments tested here. Conclusions Root response to transient waterlogging or moist but unsaturated soil may not be an important mechanism for determining the survival and distribution of temperate Sedum species during winter.
Authors
Simon WeldonAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Ilona Knollová Milan Chytrý Helge Bruelheide Stefan Dullinger Jutta Kapfer Franz Essl John-Arvid Grytnes Vigdis VandvikAbstract
Aims We introduce ReSurveyEurope — a new data source of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe, compiled by a collaborative network of vegetation scientists. We describe the scope of this initiative, provide an overview of currently available data, governance, data contribution rules, and accessibility. In addition, we outline further steps, including potential research questions. Results ReSurveyEurope includes resurveyed vegetation plots from all habitats. Version 1.0 of ReSurveyEurope contains 283,135 observations (i.e., individual surveys of each plot) from 79,190 plots sampled in 449 independent resurvey projects. Of these, 62,139 (78%) are permanent plots, that is, marked in situ, or located with GPS, which allow for high spatial accuracy in resurvey. The remaining 17,051 (22%) plots are from studies in which plots from the initial survey could not be exactly relocated. Four data sets, which together account for 28,470 (36%) plots, provide only presence/absence information on plant species, while the remaining 50,720 (64%) plots contain abundance information (e.g., percentage cover or cover–abundance classes such as variants of the Braun-Blanquet scale). The oldest plots were sampled in 1911 in the Swiss Alps, while most plots were sampled between 1950 and 2020. Conclusions ReSurveyEurope is a new resource to address a wide range of research questions on fine-scale changes in European vegetation. The initiative is devoted to an inclusive and transparent governance and data usage approach, based on slightly adapted rules of the well-established European Vegetation Archive (EVA). ReSurveyEurope data are ready for use, and proposals for analyses of the data set can be submitted at any time to the coordinators. Still, further data contributions are highly welcome.
Abstract
Introduction: Production of strawberries in greenhouses and polytunnels is gaining popularity worldwide. This study investigated the effect of reuse of coir and peat, two substrates commonly adapted to soilless strawberry production, as well as stand-alone wood fiber from Norway spruce, a promising substrate candidate. Methods: The experiment was performed in a polytunnel at NIBIO Apelsvoll, Norway, and evaluated both virgin substrates, as well as spent materials that were used in one or two years. Yield, berry quality and plant architecture of the strawberry cultivar ‘Malling Centenary’ were registered. In addition, chemical and physical properties of virgin and reused substrates were investigated. Results: While plants grown in peat and wood fiber had highest yield in the first year of production, the berry yield was slightly reduced when these substrates were utilized for the second and third time. However, yield was comparable to the yield level attained in new and reused coir. Interestingly, berries grown in wood fiber had a tendency to a higher sugar accumulation. This substrate also produced the highest plants. Stand-alone wood fiber was the substrate with the highest accumulation of nitrogen during the three consecutive production cycles. All three investigated materials revealed a trend for decreased potassium accumulation. Wood fiber is characterized by the highest percentage of cellulose, however after three years of production the cellulose content was reducedto the same levels as for coir and peat. Discussion: Implementation of wood fiber as a growing medium, as well as general practice of substrate reuse can be therefore an achievable strategy for more sustainable berry production.
Authors
Knut ØistadAbstract
No abstract has been registered