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.
2015
Editors
Jon SchärerAbstract
High northern latitudes are increasingly exposed to the combination of extreme winter climate and deposition of long-distance dispersed nitrogen pollution. The nature in the north is vulnerable, and these combined pressures may over time drive changes in plant composition and carbon uptake.
Abstract
High northern latitudes are increasingly exposed to the combination of extreme winter climate and deposition of long-distance dispersed nitrogen pollution. The nature in the north is vulnerable, and these combined stresses may over time affect the composition of plant species and carbon uptake. How will North-Norwegian ecosystems tolerate unstable winters and nitrogen pollution?
Authors
Steffen Werne Margarita Novoa-Garrido Martin Riis Weisbjerg Eduarda Molina-Alcaide Vibeke Lind Felix HeckendornAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Steffen Werne Margarita Novoa-Garrido Martin Riis Weisbjerg Eduarda Molina-Alcaide Vibeke Lind Felix HeckendornAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Elke Hartmann Knut Egil Bøe Janne Winther Christensen Seppo Hyyppä H Jansson Grete H. M. Jørgensen Jan Ladewig Cecilie Marie Mejdell Yezica Norling Margareta Rundgren Susanne Särkijärvi Eva Søndergaard Linda J KeelingAbstract
Keeping horses in groups is widely recommended but limited information is available about how this is implemented in practice. The aim of this survey was to describe how horses are kept in the Nordic countries in relation to sex, age, breed, and equestrian discipline and to assess owners’ attitudes toward keeping horses in groups. Horse owners in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden were approached using a web-based questionnaire, which was translated into 4 languages and distributed online via equestrian forums, organizations, and social media. The number of respondents was 3,229, taking care of 17,248 horses. Only 8% of horses were never kept in groups, 47% were permanently grouped for 24 h/d, and 45% were stabled singly but grouped during turnout. Yearlings were most often permanently kept in groups (75%), mares and geldings more commonly during parts of the day (50 and 51%, respectively), and stallions were often kept alone (38%). Icelandic horses were more likely to be permanently kept in groups (36%) than warmbloods (16%) and ponies (15%). Twice as many competition horses (51%) were never grouped compared with horses used for breeding (20%) or leisure purposes (15%). The majority of respondents (86%) strongly agreed that group housing benefits horse welfare and that it is important for horses to have the company of conspecifics (92%). Nevertheless, not all horses were kept in groups, showing that attitudes toward group housing may not necessarily reflect current management. The risk of injury was a concern of many respondents (45%), as was introducing unfamiliar horses into already established groups (40%) and challenges in relation to feeding in groups (44%). Safety of people (23%) and difficulties handling groupkept horses (19%) were regarded as less problematic. Results suggest that the majority of horses have the possibility to freely interact with other horses, either as fulltime members of a group during 24 h/d or during turnout. Future research should address the extent to which being a part-time member of a group affects horse welfare. For permanent group housing to become more widespread, such as it is the case for most farm animals, future research could focus on solving some of the reoccurring problems perceived with keeping horses in groups. The dissemination of evidence-based information on all aspects around keeping horses in groups can ultimately stimulate further positive changes in the management of group-kept horses.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Reasons for performing study: Horses may adapt to a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions. Owners often interfere with this natural thermoregulation ability by clipping and use of blankets. Objectives: To investigate the effects of different winter weather conditions on shelter seeking behaviour of horses and their preference for additional heat. Study design: Observational study in various environments. Methods: Mature horses (n=22) were given a free choice test between staying outdoors, going into a heated shelter compartment or into a nonheated shelter compartment. Horse location and behaviour was scored using instantaneous sampling every minute for one hour. Each horse was tested once per day and weather factors were continuously recorded by a local weather station. Results: The weather conditions influenced time spent outdoors, ranging from 52 % (of all observations) on days with mild temperatures, wind and rain to 88 % on days with less than 0°C and dry weather. Shivering was only observed during mild temperatures and rain/sleet. Small Warmblood horses were observed to select outdoors less (34 % of all observations) than small Coldblood horses (80 %). We found significant correlations between hair coat sample weight and number of observations outdoors (ρ = 0.23; P = 0.004). Conclusions: Horses selected shelters the most on days with precipitation and horses changed from a nonheated compartment to a heated compartment as weather changed from calm and dry to wet and windy. Horse breed category affected the use of shelter and body condition score and hair coat weight were associated with voluntary shelter selection.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Alemayehu Kidane Ingvild Luteberget Nesheim Hans J. Larsen Erling Thuen Søren Krogh Jensen Håvard SteinshamnAbstract
No abstract has been registered