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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.

2024

Abstract

Microbial source tracking (MST) has been recognised as an effective tool for determining the origins and sources of faecal contamination in various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Thus, it has been widely applied in environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys to define specific animal- and human-associated faecal eDNA. In this context, identification of and differentiation between anthropogenic and zoogenic faecal pollution origins and sources are pivotal for the evaluation of waterborne microbial contamination transport and the associated human, animal, and environmental health risks. These concerns are particularly pertinent to diverse nature-based solutions (NBS) that are being applied specifically to secure water safety and human and ecosystem well-being, for example, constructed wetlands (CWs) for water and wastewater treatment. The research in this area has undergone a constant evolution, and there is a solid foundation of publications available across the world. Hence, there is an early opportunity to synthesise valuable information and relevant knowledge on this specific topic, which will greatly benefit future work by improving NBS design and performance. By selecting 15 representative research reports published over 20 years, we review the current state of MST technology applied for faecal-associated contamination measures in NBS/CWs throughout the world.

2023

To document

Abstract

The H2020 OPTAIN project involves both, catchment-, and field-scale modelling of the transport of water and nutrients. The catchment-scale modelling is performed at fourteen case study catchments across Europe using the SWAT+ model. At seven OPTAIN case studies, field-scale modelling is applied using the SWAP model. The aim of the SWAP modelling is to provide data on soil water balance elements using a more detailed (at field-scale) soil hydrological model and to cross-validate this data with the relevant fields in SWAT+. As the official manual from the SWAP model developers is rather detailed and complex, the OPTAIN SWAP modelling protocol focuses on practical issues, without overwhelming the modellers with information unnecessary for their case-studies. It also describes new tools, such as rswap, developed within the OPTAIN project for reference data quality check, model calibration and visualisation of the model results.

To document

Abstract

Soil loss by erosion threatens food security and reduces the environmental quality of water bodies. Prolonged and extreme rainfalls are recognized as main drivers of soil erosion, and climate change predictions for large parts of the world foresee such increases in precipitation. Erosion rates are additionally affected by land use, which may change as a result of the shift from a fossil fuel-based economy to an economy relying on using renewable biomass, a “Bioeconomy”. In this study we aimed at investigating, through modelling, i) if future changes in land use, due to a bioeconomy, would increase the risk for soil loss and enhance suspended sediment yields in streams and ii) if these changes, when combined with climate change effects, would further aggravate suspended sediment conditions in a catchment. We used hydrological and bias adjusted climate models to compare the effect of seven land use pathways on discharge and sediment transport relative to a baseline scenario under present and future climate conditions. The study was carried out based on data from a small headwater stream, representative for cereal production areas of S-E Norway. By modelling our scenarios with the PERSiST and INCA-P models, we found that land use change had a greater influence on both future water discharge and sediment losses than a future climate. Changes from climate showed strongest differences on a seasonal basis. Out of the modelled land use pathways, a sustainable pathway manifested the least occurrence of extreme flood and sediment loss events under future climate; whereas a pathway geared towards self-sufficiency indicated the highest occurrence of such extreme events. Our findings show that careful attention must be placed on the land use and soil management in the region. To maintain freshwater quality, it will be increasingly important to implement environmental mitigation measures.

To document

Abstract

Future development of bioeconomy is expected to change land use in the Nordic countries in agriculture and forestry. The changes are likely to affect water quality due to changes in nutrient run-off. To explore possible future land-use changes and their environmental impact, stakeholders and experts from four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) were consulted. The methodological framework for the consultation was to identify a set of relevant land-use attributes for agriculture and forestry, e.g. tillage conservation effort, fertiliser use, animal husbandry, biogas production from manure, forestry management options, and implementation of mitigation measures, including protection of sensitive areas. The stakeholders and experts provided their opinions on how these attributes might change in terms of their environmental impacts on water quality given five Nordic bioeconomic scenarios (sustainability, business as usual, self-sufficiency, cities first and maximizing economic growth). A compilation methodology was developed to allow comparing and merging the stakeholder and expert opinions for each attribute and scenario. The compiled opinions for agriculture and forestry suggest that the business-as-usual scenario may slightly decrease the current environmental impact for most attributes due to new technologies, but that the sustainability scenario would be the only option to achieve a clear environmental improvement. In contrast, for the self-sufficiency scenario, as well as the maximum growth scenario, a deterioration of the environment and water quality was expected for most of the attributes. The results from the stakeholder consultations are used as inputs to models for estimating the impact of the land-use attributes and scenarios on nutrient run-off from catchments in the Nordic countries (as reported in other papers in this special issue). Furthermore, these results will facilitate policy level discussions concerning how to facilitate the shift to bioeconomy with increasing biomass exploitation without deteriorating water quality and ecological status in Nordic rivers and lakes.