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.
2012
Abstract
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Authors
Arne GrønlundAbstract
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Authors
Hild-Marte Bjørnsen Ashok K. MishraAbstract
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Authors
Arne GrønlundAbstract
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Abstract
Landscapes reflect both historic and current cultural and socio-economic activities of human societies. Accordingly, as human societies change, the landscape changes as well. Agriculture is the main driver of landscape changes in the Czech Republic. Therefore, it is necessary to devote special attention to agricultural practices and define simple but effective steps to improve landscape mosaics towards a sustainable development. In this study, regional information about historic changes in landscape structure was studied to (1) identify the trends in land use/cover development since 1940 to 2010 and (2) determine the impact of land use change on the resulting heterogeneity of the landscape. The overall purpose was to find areas of compromise which would allow strengthening of landscape structure and thus stabilize its functions. We specified trends of land use/cover development in 15 catchments with varying agriculture intensity. We digitalized aerial photographs from 1940, 1960, and 1990 and orthophotomaps from 2010. Then, we used a heterogeneity index to define landscape heterogeneity in all catchments and time horizons. The results of our research confirmed increasing tillage effort in intensively cultivated areas, support of secondary succession processes in marginalized areas, and overall increase in forest area. Our study found that simplification and homogenization of the landscape mosaic took place in all studied areas, with the steepest decline found in areas with high agriculture intensity. However, linear vegetation proved to be a suitable starting point for a targeted effort to increase heterogeneity and thus seemed to be crucial for sustainable development of landscape functions in agroecosystems.
Abstract
The development of new tools able to select specific plant tissue is crucial for gene expression studies. During the last years, the use of laser microdissection, mainly tested on herbaceous plant tissue, has been found to be a useful technique for these purposes. This method is poorly tested on woody species, and so far no studies of gene expression have been applied on forest trees. For this reason the present work proposes the optimization of a functional protocol using laser microdissection pressure catapulting (LMPC) and real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in bark stem tissue of Norway spruce (Picea abies). Bark tissue fragments were collected from Norway spruce trees and sliced with a cryostat. RNA was extracted from both whole cross-sections and microdissected bark cells. The feasibility of the method was confirmed by the amplification of the α-tubulin, an endogenous gene of P. abies, with efficiency comparable to that obtained from non-microdissected tissue. The proposed protocol, here adapted for bark tissue of woody species, represents a useful tool in a wide range of hosts that, unlike herbaceous plants, have scarcely been considered up to now.
Authors
Nicola Luchi Paolo Capretti Carl Gunnar Fossdal Mario Pazzagli Pamela PinzaniAbstract
The development of new tools able to select specific plant tissue is crucial for gene expression studies. During the last years, the use of laser microdissection, mainly tested on herbaceous plant tissue, has been found to be a useful technique for these purposes. This method is poorly tested on woody species, and so far no studies of gene expression have been applied on forest trees.For this reason the present work proposes the optimization of a functional protocol using laser microdissection pressure catapulting (LMPC) and real-time reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in bark stem tissue of Norway spruce (Picea abies). Bark tissue fragments were collected from Norway spruce trees and sliced with a cryostat. RNA was extracted from both whole cross-sections and microdissected bark cells.The feasibility of the method was confirmed by the amplification of the -tubulin, an endogenous gene of P. abies, with efficiency comparable to that obtained from non-microdissected tissue. The proposed protocol, here adapted for bark tissue of woody species, represents a useful tool in a wide range of hosts that, unlike herbaceous plants, have scarcely been considered up to now.
Authors
Ingeborg KlingenAbstract
No abstract has been registered