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
Authors
Trygve S. Aamlid Gudni Thorvaldsson Anne Mette Dahl Jensen Pia Heltoft Thomsen Tatsiana Espevig Trond Olav Pettersen Jan TangsveenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Nitrogen (N) losses from agricultural areas, especially into drinking water and marine environments, attract substantial attention from governments and scientists. This study analysed nitrogen loss from runoff water using long-term monitoring data (1994–2016) from the Skuterud catchment in southeastern Norway and the Naurstad catchment in northern Norway. Precipitation and runoff were lower in the Skuterud catchment than in the Naurstad catchment. However, in the Skuterud catchment, the annual total N (TN) losses ranged from 27 to 68 kg hm−2. High precipitation (1247 mm) in the Naurstad catchment resulted in substantial runoff water (1108 mm) but relatively low total TN losses ranged from 17 to 35 kg hm−2. The proportion of nitrate losses to TN loss was 51–86% and 28–50% in the Skuterud and Naurstad catchments, respectively. Furthermore, the monthly average TN concentrations and nitrate losses had two peaks, in April–May and October, in the Skuterud catchment; however, no significant fluctuations were found in the Naurstad catchment. The contributions of N and runoff water to TN and nitrate losses were calculated using multiple linear regression, and runoff water was the major contributor to TN loss in both catchments. Runoff water was the main factor in the Skuterud catchment, and the nitrate-N concentration was the main factor in the Naurstad catchment.
Abstract
The blacktip shark Carcharhinus limbatus is a cosmopolitan species found in warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical waters around the world. The research here aimed to assess whether multiple paternity exists in South African C. limbatus and to confirm phylogeographic patterns previously observed within the species. A minimum and maximum frequency of 50% and 71% multiple paternity, respectively, were observed in 14 litters genotyped with five microsatellite markers. Based on the mitochondrial control region, relatively high nucleotide and haplotype diversity characterised the South African sampling population, and pairwise φST values indicated that it significantly differed from the populations of the Pacific and the western Atlantic oceans. The haplotype network showed that the South African samples were grouped closely with the Australian, Indo-Pacific and West African C. limbatus samples, which is suggestive of an Indo-Pacific origin for this population. This study is the first to report multiple paternity in this species. Furthermore, the results reveal that C. limbatus from South Africa is genetically diverse and phylogeographically distinct from most other C. limbatus populations.
Authors
Tommi Nyman Renske E Onstein Daniele Silvestro Saskia Wutke Andreas Taeger Niklas Wahlberg Stephan Martin Blank Tobias MalmAbstract
The insect order Hymenoptera originated during the Permian nearly 300 Mya. Ancestrally herbivorous hymenopteran lineages today make up the paraphyletic suborder ‘Symphyta’, which encompasses c. 8200 species with very diverse host-plant associations. We use phylogeny-based statistical analyses to explore the drivers of diversity dynamics within the ‘Symphyta’, with a particular focus on the hypothesis that diversification of herbivorous insects has been driven by the explosive radiation of angiosperms during and after the Cretaceous. Our ancestral-state estimates reveal that the first symphytans fed on gymnosperms, and that shifts onto angiosperms and pteridophytes – and back – have occurred at different time intervals in different groups. Trait-dependent analyses indicate that average net diversification rates do not differ between symphytan lineages feeding on angiosperms, gymnosperms or pteridophytes, but trait-independent models show that the highest diversification rates are found in a few angiosperm-feeding lineages that may have been favoured by the radiations of their host taxa during the Cenozoic. Intriguingly, lineages-through-time plots show signs of an early Cretaceous mass extinction, with a recovery starting first in angiosperm-associated clades. Hence, the oft-invoked assumption of herbivore diversification driven by the rise of flowering plants may overlook a Cretaceous global turnover in insect herbivore communities during the rapid displacement of gymnosperm- and pteridophyte-dominated floras by angiosperms.
Authors
Hermine Mitter Anja-K. Techen Franz Sinabell Katharina Helming Kasper Kok Jörg A. Priess Erwin Schmid Benjamin L. Bodirsky Ian Holman Heikki Lehtonen Adrian Leip Chantal Le Mouel Erik Mathijs Bano Mehdi Melania Michetti Klaus Mittenzwei Olivier Mora Lillian Øygarden Pytrik Reidsma Rudiger Schaldach Martin SchönhartAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Trygve S. AamlidAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Trygve S. AamlidAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
EDU-ARCTIC is an open-schooling project, funded by the EU for the years 2016-2019. The main aim is to attract young people (13-20 years old) to the natural sciences. The project is using Arctic to illustrate how research are carried out and put together in order to reveal what is happening in Arctic and how Europe ins influencing Arctic and how Arctic is influencing Europe. To achieve these goals, EDU-ARCTIC uses innovative online tools like webinars provided by scientists, Polarpedia (an online encyclopaedia) of scientific terms used in the EDU ARCTIC, as well as the monitoring system that is an open-access database including app for motivation on field registration. In addition, the EDU-ARCTIC offers Arctic Competitions, where pupils submit their idea for a science project as an essay, a poster or a video. During a three-step evaluation, a few lucky winners get the possibility to join scientists on expeditions to polar research stations during the summer. For school curricula and motivation of pupils, practical hands-on activities performed by school pupils themselves by using own senses stimulate to faster learning and cognition. The learning and practicing of observation increase the understanding of complex conditions occurring in nature, related to biology, ecology, ecosystems functioning, physics, atmospheric chemistry etc. For this, the EDU-ARCTIC project developed the monitoring system. All schools in Europe are invited to participate in a meteorological and phenological observation system in the schools’ surroundings, to report these observations on the web-portal and to have access to interesting accumulated data. The schools and pupils become a part of a larger effort to gain a holistic understanding of global environmental issues. The students may learn to act as scientific eyes and ears in the field. No special equipment is needed. Reporting of observations should be made once a week in the monitoring system at the EDU–ARCTIC web-portal. A manual and a field guide on how to conduct observations and report are available through the web. Teachers may download reports containing gathered information and use them for a wide variety of subjects, including biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. Meteorological parameters are requested reported as actual values: air temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, visibility reduction and wind force, in all 19 parameters. It is also asking for reports on meteorological and hydrological phenomena, which occurred within the previous week: like lightning, extreme and other atmospheric phenomena, ice on lakes and rivers and snow cover, in all 23 parameters. The monitoring system is also include biological field observations, including plants, like Birch, Lilac, Bilberry in all 26 parameters. Then occurrence of first individual of five species of insects like Bumble bee, Mosquito, Ant and butterfly, and then registration of first appearance of the bird species Arctic tern, Common Cuckoo, White wagtail and Crane. An app for the monitoring system has been developed in order to engage pupils more by making it more comprehensive to register the meteorology and the phenophases. Further, special webinars and polarpedia entries are developed to strengthen the monitoring system. The web-portal is open source but password access is needed in order to enter registrations. keywords: observation system, natural science, interdisciplinary, stem.
Abstract
Citizen science is sometimes described as "public participation in scientific research," or participatory monitoring. Such initiatives help to bring research into, for example, the classroom and engage pupils in well-structured observations of nature in their vicinity. The learning and practising of observation may increase the understanding of complex conditions occurring in nature, related to biology, ecology, ecosystems functioning, physics, atmospheric chemistry etc. For school curricula and motivation of pupils, practical hands-on activities performed by school pupils themselves by using their own senses stimulate faster learning and cognition. For this, the EDU-ARCTIC project developed the monitoring system. All schools in Europe are invited to participate in a meteorological and phenological observation system in the schools’ surroundings, to report these observations on the web-portal and to have access to all the accumulated data. The schools and pupils become part of a larger citizen effort to gain a holistic understanding of global environmental issues. The students may learn to act as scientific eyes and ears in the field. No special equipment is needed. Reporting of observations should be made once a week in the monitoring system through the EDU–ARCTIC web-portal or the accompanying mobile app. A manual and a field guide on how to conduct observations and report are available through the web. Teachers may download reports containing gathered information and use them for a wide variety of subjects, including biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. Meteorological parameters are reported as actual values: air temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, visibility reduction and wind force, in all 19 parameters. There are also reports on meteorological and hydrological phenomena, which occurred within the previous week: like lightning, extreme and other atmospheric phenomena, ice on lakes and rivers and snow cover, in all 23 parameters. The monitoring system also includes biological field observations of phenological phases of plants: birch, black adler, lilac, rowan, bilberry, rosebay willwherb and denadelion, in all 26 parameters. The occurrence of the first individual of five species of insects: bumblebee, mosquito, ant and 2 butterflies: common brimstone and European peacook, and the registration of the first appearance of the bird species: arctic tern, common cuckoo, white wagtail and crane. An app for the monitoring system has been developed in order to engage pupils more by making it more comprehensive to register the meteorology and the phenophases. Further, special webinars and Polarpedia (the project’s own online encyclopedia) entries are developed to strengthen the monitoring system. The EDU-ARCTIC monitoring system gathered more than 2000 reports from schools, with an average monthly number of more than 80 observations. They are freely available via the web-portal, but password access is needed in order to enter registrations and data.