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.
2019
Abstract
Based on data from long-term experimental fields with Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.), we developed new stem taper and bark functions for Norway. Data was collected from 477 trees in stands across Norway. Three candidate functions which have shown good performance in previous studies (Kozak 02, Kozak 97 and Bi) were fitted to the data as fixed-effects models. The function with the smallest Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was then chosen for additional analyses, fitting 1) site index-dependent and 2) age-dependent versions of the model, and 3) fitting a mixed-effects model with tree-specific random parameters. Kozak 97 was found to be the function with the smallest AIC, but all three tested taper functions resulted in fairly similar predictions of stem taper. The site index-dependent function reduced AIC and residual standard error and showed that the effect of site index on stem taper is different in small and large trees. The predictions of the age-independent and age-dependent models were very close to each other. Adding tree-specific random parameters to the model clearly reduced AIC and residual variation. However, the results suggest that the mixed-effects model should be used only when it is possible to calibrate it for each tree, otherwise the fixed-effects Kozak 97 model should be used. A model for double bark thickness was also fitted as fixed-effects Kozak 97 model. The model behaved logically, predicting larger relative but smaller absolute bark thickness for small trees.
Abstract
The notion of the Anthropocene does not fit well into the frame of scientific disciplines. The proposed onset of a new geological epoch has become closely linked with human history and with notions such as purposeful human actions. Purposefulness, however, is also subject to interpretation in the humanities and does not fit into analytical methods in Earth sciences. Scholars have taken up this challenge and engage with Earth scientists in public discourse on the Anthropocene. Due to the lack of a common frame of reference, discussions suffer from incompatible abstractions, notions, methods and results. Here, we propose an abstract model-framework facilitating communication between Earth scientists and scholars. In Earth sciences, models are often employed to provide a representation of an independent reality which imposes limits to growth. In the humanities, self-reference and reflexivity of modernity at all scales including the globe becomes a key issue. In the former view models can be decomposed and locally tested, in the latter models and concepts involving human action need to be considered in all their contextual and semantic relations. Typically, such concepts, for example in anthropology, do not come in a mathematical language. Nevertheless, we suggest that a common reference can be sought in an abstract model language, rather than in realistic models. Category theory and formal notions developed in computer science may provide such an abstract framework to accommodate the apparently incompatible views of models and concepts, which are considered as successful by their respective home disciplines. Diverse models such as examples from game theory (economics), from dynamic system theory (Earth science) and from a classification of ethnocosmologies (anthropology) can be formulated as different instances within a joint and abstract framework. Such a framework allows to investigate implications of the Anthropocene for logical similarities with past environmental events by seeking historical analogies (for example with the great oxygenation event) or formulating consistency requirements for the future (for example by defining sustainability). The prize for the common basis is a strict ‘epistemic hygiene’, avoiding most ontological assumptions and criticisms which often appear as dear to Earth scientists and scholars, but which may prevent a more fruitful exchange on an urgent interdisciplinary topic
Abstract
The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) research infrastructure is aimed at quantifying and understanding the greenhouse gas balance of Europe and neighboring regions. ICOS-Norway brings together the leading Norwegian institutes for greenhouse gas observations in the three Earth system domains atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial ecosystems, providing world-leading competence, which is integrated into one jointly funded and operated infrastructure. This provides Norway with a state-of-the-art research infrastructure embedded in European and global efforts. Even though each Earth system domain was part of dedicated research infrastructures prior to the establishment of ICOS-Norway, the greenhouse gas community in Norway was divided and there was minimal collaboration across the Earth system domains. The overall goal of ICOS-Norway is to provide accurate and accessible data on, as well as integrated assessments of, the Norwegian carbon balance at regional scale, across the land, ocean, and atmosphere. ICOS-Norway has thus led to an increased impact of environmental observing systems in Norway and surrounding seas, easily seen through the number of publications and new proposals generated as collaborative efforts. This poster presents the ICOS-Norway infrastructure, including plans for expansion and long-term funding.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Marleen Pallandt Bernhard Ahrens Markus Reichstein Holger Lange Marion Schrumpf Sönke ZaehleAbstract
The role of soil moisture on organic matter decomposition remains poorly understood and underrepresented in coupled global climate models. Traditionally, organic matter decomposition is represented as simple first- or second order kinetics in such models, using mostly empirical functions for temperature and moisture controls, and without considering microbial interactions. We use the Dual Michaelis-Menten (DAMM) model (Davidson et al. 2012) to simulate simultaneous temperature and moisture controls on decomposition rates. Microbial controls on decomposition in relation to changes in soil moisture and temperature are implicitly simulated with DAMM: Soil moisture affects the available substrate (SOC) and oxygen available for decomposition and reduces the maximal, temperature driven decomposition rate (Vmax). We apply the DAMM model on vertically resolved data from the most recent coupled model intercomparison project (CMIP5) and gridded global SOC values (SoilGrids). We study the potential decomposition rates for a historic period (1976 - 2006) and a period under the RCP8.5 climate change scenario (2070-2099) for 5 soil layers up to 1m depth. Our key finding is that the inclusion of soil moisture controls has diverging effects on both the speed and direction of projected decomposition rates, compared to a temperature-only approach. The majority of these changes are driven by soil moisture through substrate limitation, rather than oxygen diffusion limitation. In deeper soil layers, oxygen diffusion limitation plays a stronger role. Our study highlights the need for inclusion of soil moisture interactions in coupled global climate models. Our findings could be particularly important for boreal soils, which store a major fraction of Earth’s SOC stocks and where temperature increases and soil moisture changes are expected to be largest.
Authors
Marleen Pallandt Bernhard Ahrens Sönke Zaehle Marion Schrumpf Holger Lange Markus ReichsteinAbstract
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest terrestrial carbon pool. Changes in the hydrological cycle affect C-cycle turnover, with potential effects on the global C balance’s response to global change. However, large scale model representations of the sensitivity of soil carbon to soil moisture, through decomposition and interactions with nutrient cycles, are largely empirical to semi-empirical and uncertain. To better represent these dynamics, the aims of this PhD project* are to: • Investigate the role of soil moisture on SOC decomposition over a vertical profile; • Assess which moisture controls are (most) important in a multi-layered, mechanistic soil biogeochemistry model, the Jena Soil Model (JSM, Fig 2); • Update and improve the representations of soil moisture dynamics in JSM and evaluate this model for multiple sites along a moisture gradient and global scale.
Authors
Bernhard Ahrens Marleen Pallandt Markus Reichstein Holger Lange Marion Schrumpf Sonke ZaehleAbstract
The Jena Soil Model (JSM) is a multi-layer mechanistic soil biogeochemistry model with explicit representations of vertical transport, mineral sorption, and microbial control on decomposition rates. Reaction rates are further modified by temperature and moisture. While temperature determines the maximum reaction velocity (Vmax), moisture reduces this rate nonlinearly if either the diffusion of substrate is restricted (at low soil moisture) or oxygen availability for microbes is limited (at wet conditions). This moisture control on soil organic matter formation and decomposition is represented with the Dual Arrhenius Michaelis-Menten (DAMM) model concept (Davidson et al. 2012) and influences the reaction rates of microbial depolymerisation of litter and microbial residue pools as well as DOC (dissolved organic matter) uptake. Sorption of DOM and microbial residues to mineral surfaces is moisture dependent through a Langmuir sorption approach. We will validate the carbon cycle representation of moisture control on soil organic matter decomposition in JSM by comparing simulations with measured carbon stocks and respiration rates from different ecosystems ranging from boreal upland forests and wetlands to Mediterranean savannas. The modular structure of JSM will allow us to investigate the effect of moisture control on each decomposition step (depolymerisation, microbial uptake and growth, and OC sorption) separately.
Authors
Günter Blöschl Marc F.P. Bierkens Antonio Chambel Christophe Cudennec Georgia Destouni Aldo Fiori James W. Kirchner Jeffrey J. McDonnell Hubert H.G. Savenije Murugesu Sivapalan Christine Stumpp Elena Toth Elena Volpi Gemma Carr Claire Lupton Josè Salinas Borbála Széles Alberto Viglione Hafzullah Aksoy Scott T. Allen Anam Amin Vazken Andréassian Berit Arheimer Santosh Aryal Victor Baker Earl Bardsley Marlies H. Barendrecht Alena Bartosova Okke Batelaan Wouter R. Berghuijs Keith Beven Theresa Blume Thom Bogaard Pablo de Amorim Borges Michael E. Böttcher Gilles Boulet Korbinian Breinl Mitja Brilly Luca Brocca Wouter Buytaert Attilio Castellarin Andrea Castelletti Xiaohong Chen Yangbo Chen Yuanfang Chen Peter Chifflard Annette Dathe Holger Lange Jacob Sebastian Haugaard Mernild Thomas Skaugen Ingelin SteinslandAbstract
This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through online media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focused on the process-based understanding of hydrological variability and causality at all space and time scales. Increased attention to environmental change drives a new emphasis on understanding how change propagates across interfaces within the hydrological system and across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, the expansion of the human footprint raises a new set of questions related to human interactions with nature and water cycle feedbacks in the context of complex water management problems. We hope that this reflection and synthesis of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology will help guide research efforts for some years to come.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Svein SolbergAbstract
No abstract has been registered