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.
2020
Abstract
Heavy metals in soil pose a constant risk for animals and humans when entering their food chains, and limited means are available to reduce plant accumulation from more or less polluted soils. Biochar, which is made by pyrolysis of organic residues and sees increasing use as a soil amendment to mitigate anthropogenic C emissions and improve agronomic soil properties, has also been shown to reduce plant availability of heavy metals in soils. The cause for the reduction of metal uptake in plants when grown in soils enriched with biochar has generally been researched in terms of increased pH and alkalinity, while other potential mechanisms have been less studied. We conducted a pot experiment with barley using three soils differing in metal content and amended or not with 2% biochar made from Miscanthus x giganteus, and assessed plant contents and changes in bioavailability in bulk and rhizosphere soil by measuring extractability in acetic acid or ammonium nitrate. In spite of negligible pH changes upon biochar amendment, the results showed that biochar reduced extractability of Cu, Pb and Zn, but not of Cd. Rhizosphere soil contained more easily extractable Cu, Pb and Zn than bulk soil, while for Cd it did not. Generally, reduced plant uptake due to biochar was reflected in the amounts of metals extractable with ammonium nitrate, but not acetic acid.
Authors
Isobel Phoebus John Boulanger Hans Geir Eiken Ida Marie Luna Fløystad Karen Graham Snorre Hagen Anja Sorensen Gordon StenhouseAbstract
Wildlife managers conduct population inventories to monitor species, particularly those at-risk. Although costly and time consuming, grid-based DNA hair-snag sampling has been the standard protocol for grizzly bear inventories in North America, while opportunistic fecal DNA sampling is more commonly used in Europe. Our aim is to determine if low-cost, low-effort scat sampling along roads can replace the current standard. We compare two genetic non-invasive techniques using concurrent sampling within the same grid system and spatially explicit capture–recapture. We found that given our methodology and the present status of fecal genotyping for grizzly bears, scat sampling along roads cannot replace hair sampling to estimate population size in low-density areas. Hair sampling identified the majority of individual grizzly bears, with a higher success rate of individuals identified from grizzly bear samples (100%) compared to scat sampling (14%). Using scat DNA to supplement hair data did not change population estimates, but it did improve estimate precision. Scat samples had higher success identifying species (98%) compared with hair (80%). Scat sampling detected grizzly bears in grid cells where hair sampling showed non-detection, with almost twice the number of cells indicating grizzly bear presence. Based on our methods and projected expenses for future implementation, we estimated an approximate 30% cost reduction for sampling scat relative to hair. Our research explores the application of genetic non-invasive approaches to monitor bear populations. We recommend wildlife managers continue to use hair-snag sampling as the primary method for DNA inventories, while employing scat sampling as supplemental to increase estimate precision. Scat sampling may better indicate presence of bear species through greater numbers and spatial distribution of detections, if sampling is systematic across the entire area of interest. Our findings speak to the management of other species and regions, and contribute to ongoing advances of monitoring wildlife populations.
Authors
Benedicte Lissner Beddari Sergey Ogurtsov Sari Magga Jaru Kangasniemi Ida Marie Luna Fløystad Inger Søvik Tom Sotkajærvi Rolf Randa Leif E. Ollila Vetle Lindgren Beate Banken Bakke Vilde Rushfeldt Beddari Natalia Polikarpova Tuomo Ollila Snorre Hagen Hans Geir EikenAbstract
Siden 2005 har populasjonen av grenseoverskridene brunbjørn (Ursus arctos) i Trilateral Park Pasvik-Inari-Pechenga (Norge-Finland-Russland) blitt overvåket ved å bruke genetiske analyser av hår og ekskrement-prøver samlet inn opportunistisk i felt. En mer systematiske metode med hårfeller hvert fjerde år ble i 2007 startet opp for å samle inn bjørnehår til genetisk analyse. Metoden består i å sette ut 56 hårfeller med luktstoff i Norge, Finland og Russland i et 5 x 5 km2 rutenett (totalt ca. 1400 km2). Dette prosjektet ble gjentatt i 2011, 2015 og nå i sesongen 2019 med 58 ruter og ved bruk av samme metode som i 2007. I 2019 sesongen ble det samlet inn 182 prøver, der 66 av disse var fra Finland, 59 fra Norge og 57 fra Russland. For 144 (79,1 %) av de 182 hårprøvene var det positivt resultat i den bjørne-spesifikke analysen, og en komplett DNA profil kunne bestemmes for 136 av de positive prøvene. Det ble totalt påvist 47 forskjellige bjørner (25 hunner og 22 hanner). Av disse 47 individene var 24 påvist i tidligere år, mens 23 var til nå ukjente bjørner. Totalt ble det påvist 20 bjørner i Finland, 14 bjørner i Norge og 16 bjørner i Russland...
Authors
Juho Vuolteenaho Hallvard Jensen Cornelya Klutsch Helena Klöckener Helena Klöckener Birk Schulze Paul Eric AspholmAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Hannu Marttila Ahti Lepistö Anne Tolvanen Marianne Bechmann Katarina Kyllmar Artti Juutinen Hannah Wenng Eva Skarbøvik Martyn Futter Pirkko Kortelainen Katri Rankinen Seppo Hellsten Bjørn Kløve Brian Kronvang Øyvind Kaste Anne Lyche Solheim Joy Bhattacharjee Jelena Rakovic Heleen de WitAbstract
Nordic water bodies face multiple stressors due to human activities, generating diffuse loading and climate change. The ‘green shift’ towards a bio-based economy poses new demands and increased pressure on the environment. Bioeconomy-related pressures consist primarily of more intensive land management to maximise production of biomass. These activities can add considerable nutrient and sediment loads to receiving waters, posing a threat to ecosystem services and good ecological status of surface waters. The potential threats of climate change and the ‘green shift’ highlight the need for improved understanding of catchment-scale water and element fluxes. Here, we assess possible bioeconomy-induced pressures on Nordic catchments and associated impacts on water quality. We suggest measures to protect water quality under the ‘green shift’ and propose ‘road maps’ towards sustainable catchment management. We also identify knowledge gaps and highlight the importance of long-term monitoring data and good models to evaluate changes in water quality, improve understanding of bioeconomy-related impacts, support mitigation measures and maintain ecosystem services.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Cornelya Klutsch Paul Eric Aspholm Natalia Polikarpova Olga Veisblium Tor-Arne Bjørn Anne Wikan Victoria Gonzalez Snorre HagenAbstract
Citizen science can facilitate in‐depth learning for pupils and students, contribute to scientific research, and permit civic participation. Here, we describe the development of the transnational school‐based citizen science project Phenology of the North Calotte. Its primary goal is to introduce pupils (age 12–15; grades 7–10) in northern Norway, Russia, and Finland to the local and global challenges of climate change resulting in life cycle changes at different trophic and ecosystem levels in their backyards. Partnerships between regional scientists and staff from NIBIO Svanhovd, State nature reserves, national parks, and teachers and pupils from regional schools aim to engage pupils in project‐based learning. The project uses standardized protocols, translated into the different languages of participating schools. The phenological observations are centered around documenting clearly defined life cycle phases (e.g., first appearance of species, flowering, ripening, leaf yellowing, snow fall, and melt). The observations are collected either on paper and are subsequently submitted manually to an open‐source online database or submitted directly via a newly developed mobile app. In the long term, the database is anticipated to contribute to research studying changes in phenology at different trophic levels. In principle, guided school‐based citizen science projects have the potential to contribute to increased environmental awareness and education and thereby to transformative learning at the societal level while contributing to scientific progress of understudied biomes, like the northern taiga and (sub)arctic tundra. However, differences in school systems and funding insecurity for some schools have been major prohibiting factors for long‐term retention of pupils/schools in the program. Project‐based and multidisciplinary learning, although pedagogically desired, has been partially difficult to implement in participating schools, pointing to the need of structural changes in national school curricula and funding schemes as well as continuous offers for training and networking for teachers.
Abstract
This chapter highlights the challenges in the agriculture sector in Africa and shows that the current systems are not productive, but are linear, dependent on fossil fuels, and even depleting natural resources. The chapter reviews the potential of sustainable intensification of agriculture with an emphasis on diversified cropping systems and value chain enhancement as an option to promote the bio-based economy in the rural regions of Africa. The chapter uses data and experiences from an ongoing programme in Malawi (www.innovafrica.eu), where maize-legume cropping systems were adopted by smallholders. There is great potential to apply the 3Rs principle of the bio-based economy (i.e., reduce, reuse and recycle) in the farming systems at the production, post-production, marketing and processing stages of the value chain. To sum up, the sustainable intensification approach, inclusive of value chain development, appears to be a promising option for smallholders in Sub-Saharan Africa, which can improve productivity, increase farmers’ income, encourage gender mainstreaming and at the same time reduce environmental impacts.
Abstract
To improve risk assessment, control and treatment strategies of contaminated sites, we require accurate methods for monitoring solute transport and infiltration in the unsaturated zone. Highly spatio‐temporal heterogeneous infiltration during snowmelt increases the risk of contaminating the groundwater in areas where de‐icing chemicals are required for winter maintenance of roads and runways. The objective of this study is to quantify how the different processes occurring during snowmelt infiltration of contaminated meltwater affect bulk electrical resistivity. Field experiments conducted at Moreppen experimental lysimeter trench are combined with heterogeneous unsaturated soil modelling. The experimental site is located next to Oslo airport, Gardermoen, Norway, where large amounts of de‐icing chemicals are used to remove snow and ice every winter. Bromide, an inactive tracer, and the de‐icing chemical propylene glycol were applied to the snow cover prior to the onset of snowmelt, and their percolation through the unsaturated zone was monitored with water sampling from 37 suction cups. At the same time, cross‐borehole time‐lapse electrical resistivity measurements were recorded along with measurements of soil water tension and temperature. Images of two‐dimensional (2D) bulk resistivity profiles were determined and were temperature corrected, to compensate for the change in soil temperature throughout the melting period. By using fitted parameters of petrophysical relations for the Moreppen soil, the tensiometer data gave insight into the contribution of water saturation on the changes in bulk resistivity, while water samples provided the contribution to the bulk resistivity from salt concentrations. The experimental data were compared with numerical simulation of the same experimental conditions in a heterogeneous unsaturated soil and used to quantify the uncertainty caused by the non‐consistent resolutions of the different methods, and to increase our understanding of the resistivity signal measured with time‐lapse electrical resistivity tomography. The work clearly illustrates the importance of ground truthing in multiple locations to obtain an accurate description of the contaminant transport.
Authors
Ana-Mihaela Gavrila Anamaria Zaharia Lisa Paruch Francois Xavier Perrin Andrei Sarbu Andreea Gabriela Olaru Adam Paruch Tanta-Verona IordacheAbstract
Despite major efforts to combat pollution, the presence of pathogenic bacteria is still detected in surface water, soil and even crops due to poor purification of domestic and industrial wastewaters. Therefore, we have designed molecularly imprinted polymer films and quaternary ammonium-functionalized- kaolin microparticles to target specifically Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) and Gram-positive bacteria (GPB) in wastewaters and ensure a higher purification rate by working in tandem. According to the bacteriological indicators, a reduction by 90 % was registered for GNB (total coliforms and Escherichia coli O157) and by 77 % for GPB (Clostridium perfringens) in wastewaters. The reduction rates were confirmed when using pathogen genetic markers to quantify particular types of GNB and GPB, like Salmonella typhimurium (reduction up to 100 %),Campylobacter jejuni (reduction up to 70 %), Enterococcus faecalis (reduction up to 81 %), Clostridium perfringens (reduction up to 97 %) and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (reduction up to 64 %). In order to understand the bactericidal activity of prepared films and microparticles, we have performed several key analyses such as Cryo-TEM, to highlight the auto-assembly mechanism of components during the films formation, and 29 Si/13 C CP/MAS NMR, to reveal the way quaternary ammonium groups are grafted on the surface of kaolin microparticles.