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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.

2022

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Abstract

The City of Bristol has a long history and well-established practices in urban farming and city food system planning. Farms apply different urban business models that take advantage of the proximity to the city by providing food to city dwellers. Dedicated retailers and restaurants specialize in local food, and a variety of organisations facilitate and promote a resilient and sustainable urban food system.

Abstract

Background: Tardigrades are common in most habitats, however few studies have focusedon large faunistic survey, specifically on tardigrade diversity in forests. Up to now, only 61 species have been recorded in different types of forest in Norway with an additional 25 found in limnic environments in forests. Although little is known about the ecological preferences of many species, previous studies have found that tardigrade diversity and community composition are significantly affected by ecological variables. In this study we associate georeferenced tardigrade species records with forest type, substrate type and substrate composition in order to see if tardigrade diversity and species communities can be associated with ecological characteristics of Norwegian forests. Methods: In total 390 moss, lichen and litter samples were collected from 12 forests in central and southern Norway in the summers of 2017 and 2018 and later stored in paper envelopes. For the identification modern literature and keys for specific genera and groups of species were used. For statistical analyses, moss and lichen substrate of each sample was classified according to the main species, life form, growth forms and habitat of substrate and associated with each tardigrade identification and sample metadata. Results: A total of 17 407 specimens were identified, encompassing in total 132 species (including some new species). Species richness increases with precipitation, but does not change with temperature or precipitation seasonality. The distribution of species richness between life forms and forest types showed considerable variation within and among the variables. Disregarding variables with low sample numbers, among life forms only acrocarpous moss samples appeared to deviate with respect to species richness, containing less species than substrates with other life forms. Conclusions: Tardigrades in Norwegian forest are extremely abundant, frequent and diverse. Moreover, it appears that that certain species and/or entire communities prefer specific microhabitats.

Abstract

Aim Grasslands of varying land-use intensity and history were studied to describe and test species richness and compositional patterns and their relationships with the physical environment, land cover of the surrounding landscape, patch geometry, and grazing. Location The mainland of Norway. Methods We utilized data from the Norwegian Monitoring Programme for Agricultural Landscapes, which recorded vascular plants from 569 plots, placed within 97 monitoring squares systematically distributed throughout agricultural land on the Norwegian mainland. We identified four grassland types: (i) moderately fertilized, moist meadows; (ii) overgrown agricultural land; (iii) cultivated pastures and disturbed ground; and (iv) natural/unfertilized and outfield pastures. Results Soil moisture and grazing measures were found to be important in explaining species compositional variation in all grassland types. Richness patterns were best explained by complex and differing combinations of environmental indicators. Nevertheless, negative (nitrogen and light level) or unimodal (pH) responses were similar across grassland types. Vegetation plots adjacent to areas historically and/or currently dominated by mires, forests, or pastures, as well as abandoned and overgrown grasslands, had a slightly higher species richness. Larger grasslands surrounding the vegetation plots had slightly less species than smaller grasslands. Conclusions This study demonstrates that data from a national monitoring programme on agricultural grasslands can be used for plant ecological research. The results indicate that climate-change-related shifts along moisture and nutrient gradients (increases) may alter both species composition and species richness in the studied grasslands. It is likely that large and contiguous managed (grass)land might affect areas perceived as remnants, probably caused by the transformation to homogeneous (agri)cultural landscapes reducing edge zones, which in turn may threaten the species pool and richness. The importance of land use and land-cover composition should be considered when planning management actions in extensively used high-latitude grasslands.

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Abstract

Sorption to cheap sorbents can be used to concentrate nutrients from liquid waste streams and make them into fertilisers. In this study we assess how plant available is ammonium nitrogen (N) sorbed to three sorbents, and if the potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions after a non-growing season is affected by sorption. Ammonium-N labelled with N15 was sorbed to biochar, bentonite and zeolite. Treatments where N was sorbed and where N and sorbents were applied separately were tested in a pot experiment with wheat, and soil samples were then frozen and dried to simulate non-growing seasons. After thawing and re-wetting, GHG emissions from the soil were assessed. There was no difference between sorption treatments in biomass or N uptake or fertiliser N left in the soil, and little difference between sorption treatments in gas emissions after the non-growing seasons was seen. We conclude that ammonium applied sorbed to these sorbents is as plant available as ammonium applied the conventional way. GHG emissions at the beginning of the next season are also not affected by ammonium applied sorbed.

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of shoot age on the biological and chemical properties of 13 black currant cultivars with different origins and ripening times. Phenological observations together with examined pomological and chemical characteristics were studied in two consecutive years at the experimental field near Belgrade, Serbia. The total content of phenols was estimated spectrophotometrically by the Folin-Ciocalteu method, while quantitative analysis of anthocyanin and flavonols aglycones was performed using a high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method. Principal component analysis was performed to establish differences in biological and chemical properties of black currants. Three-year-old shoots had an earlier start of all examined phenological stages, better generative potential, higher yields, while clusters and berries from 2-year-old shoots had significantly higher values for physical properties, total phenols, anthocyanin and flavanols aglycones and antiradical capacity. Late ripening cultivars had higher contents of all chemical compounds. The berries on 2-year-old shoots had total phenolics that ranged between 123.0 (‘Titania’) and 298.3 mg/100 g fresh weight (FW) (‘Ometa’), while total anthocyanins ranged between 398.5 (’Ojebyn’) and 1160.8 mg/kg FW (’Ometa’). According to the obtained results, cultivars ‘Ometa’, ‘Ben Lomond’, ‘Tsema’ and ‘Malling Juel’ can be recommended as the most promising for growing in the continental climate because they stood out with higher generative potential and yield, physical traits of cluster and berry, higher level of primary and secondary metabolites and DPPH activity in their berries.