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.
2013
Authors
Ingunn Burud Lone Ross Andreas Svarstad Flø Knut Kvaal Sigrun Kolstad Thomas Kringlebotn ThiisAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
There is a need for monitoring methods for forest volume, biomass and carbon based on satellite remote sensing. In the present study we tested interferometric X-band SAR (InSAR) from the Tandem-X mission. The aim of the study was to describe how accurate volume and biomass could be estimated from InSAR height and test whether the relationships were curvilinear or not. The study area was a spruce dominated forest in southeast Norway. We selected 28 stands in which we established 192 circular sample plots of 250 m2, accurately positioned by a Differential Global Positioning System (dGPS). Plot level data on stem volume and aboveground biomass were derived from field inventory. Stem volume ranged fromzero to 596 m3/ha, and aboveground biomass up to 338 t/ha.We generated 2 Digital Surface Models (DSMs) fromInSAR processing of two co-registered, HH-polarized TanDEM-X image pairs – one ascending and one descending pair.We used a Digital TerrainModel (DTM) from airborne laser scanning (ALS) as a reference and derived a 10 m × 10 m Canopy Height Model (CHM), or InSAR height model. We assigned each plot to the nearest 10 m × 10 m InSAR height pixel. We applied a nonlinear, mixed model for the volume and biomass modeling, and from a full model we removed effects with a backward stepwise approach. InSAR heightwas proportional to volume and aboveground biomass, where a 1 m increase in InSAR height corresponded to a volume increase of 23 m3/ha and a biomass increase of 14 t/ha. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values were 43–44% at the plot level and 19–20% at the stand level.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Jutta Kapfer Harry John Betteley Birks Vivian Astrup Felde Kari Klanderud Tone Constance Martinessen Louise C. Ross Fride Høistad Schei Risto Virtanen John Arvid GrytnesAbstract
Background: Studies quantifying and comparing the variation and degree of compositional stability of vegetation and what determines this stability are needed to better understand the effects of the projected climate change. Aims: We quantified long-term vegetation changes in different habitats in northern Europe by exploring changes in species co-occurrences and their links to diversity and productivity gradients. Methods: We re-sampled vegetation in 16 arctic, mountain, and mire sites 20 to 90 years after first inventories. A site-specific change in species assemblages (stability) was quantified using species co-occurrences. We tested if the observed changes were significantly greater than would be expected by chance using a randomisation test. Relationships between patterns in vegetation stability and time between surveys, numbers of plots, or species diversity and proxies for productivity were tested using regression analysis. Results: At most sites, changes in species co-occurrences of vascular plants and bryophytes were greater than expected by chance. Observed changes were not found to be related to gradients in productivity or diversity. Conclusions: Changes in species co-occurrences are not strongly linked to diversity or productivity gradients in vegetation, suggesting that other gradients or site-specific factors (e.g. land-use, species interactions) might be more important in controlling recent compositional shifts in vegetation in northern Europe.
Abstract
Many remote sensing-based methods estimating forest biomass rely on allometric biomass models for field reference data. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has emerged as a tool for detailed data collection in forestry applications, and the methods have been proposed to derive, e.g. tree position, diameter-at-breast-height, and stem volume from TLS data. In this study, TLS-derived features were related to destructively sampled branch biomass of Norway spruce at the single-tree level, and the results were compared to conventional allometric models with field measured diameter and height. TLS features were derived following two approaches: one voxel-based approach with a detailed analysis of the interaction between individual voxels and each laser beam. The features were derived using voxels of size 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 m, and the effect of the voxel size was assessed. The voxel-derived features were compared to features derived from crown dimension measurements in the unified TLS point cloud data. TLS-derived variables were used in regression models, and prediction accuracies were assessed through a Monte Carlo cross-validation procedure. The model based on 0.4 m voxel data yielded the best prediction accuracy, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 32%. The accuracy was found to decrease with an increase in voxel size, i.e. the model based on the 0.1 m voxel yielded the lowest accuracy. The model based on crown measurements had an RMSE of 34%. The accuracies of the predictions from the TLS-based models were found to be higher than from conventional allometric models, but the improvement was relatively small.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Old trees represent key features of old-growth forests and are important elements for maintaining biodiversity. Due to extensive human exploitation of Fennoscandian boreal forests during several centuries, old Norway spruce trees have become exceedingly rare. We analysed 91 spruce trees in Trillemarka Nature Reserve, southern Norway, to investigate (1) the maximum age of living trees, (2) growth rates of different-age trees and (3) growth trends in very old trees. Increment cores were taken from trees in selected old-growth stands located at 700–850 m a.s.l. Twelve spruce trees had an estimated total age of >400 years, the oldest one being 529 years and presumably the oldest known still living Norway spruce in northern Europe. A negative relationship between growth rate (basal area increment) and total age was observed, being most distinct for growth rates at 126–275 years and less marked for early stage growth (26–75 years). Thus, high age apparently was related more to low growth rates at adult and old stages of life rather than at the earlier stage. Among the trees >400 years, many of them did not show growth decrease with advancing age, indicating that ageing did not reduce growth. We conclude that the maximum age of stand-forming Fennoscandian Norway spruce trees would be in the range of 500–600 years.
Abstract
The mating system ofCapercaillie has been referred to as “exploded lek” because displaying males are spaced farther apart than on classical leks. However, inter-male distances and spacing behavior rarely have been quantified. In 2009–2011, we examined the spatial relationships of males on two leks in southeastern Norway by GPS satellite telemetry. Largely exclusive display territories (median 2 ha) surrounded the mating site, but the males spent most of the time displaying on smaller, well-defined display sites (median 182 m2) within their territories. When on their display sites, neighboring birds were spaced 64–212 m apart; decreasing to a minimum during the time of mating. Occasionally, males made long exploratory excursions (median 243 m) across the territories of neighbors, sometimes interacting with them at close distance (< 10m). During daytime, males resided solitarily in radially extending ranges within 1 km of the lek center, commuting to the lek either in the evening or morning by walking or flying, leaving in the morning mostly by walking. The distance from the lek center to night roosting trees and daytime resting areas decreased during the mating season. With interacting males and a spatial arrangement in-between that of classical leks and dispersed polygyny, the term “exploded lek” seems appropriate for the mating system of Capercaillie.
Abstract
To better understand the historic range of variability in the fire regime of Fennoscandian boreal forests we cross-dated 736 fire scars of remnant Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood samples in a 3.6 km2 section of the Trillemarka-Rollagsfjell Reserve of south-central Norway. Using a kernel range application in GIS we spatially delineated 57 individual forest fires between 1350 and the present. We found a strong anthropogenic signal in the fire regime from 1600 and onwards: (i) infrequent variably sized fires prior to 1600 shifted to frequent fires gradually decreasing in size during the 1600s and 1700s, with only a few small fires after 1800; (ii) time intervals between fires and the hazard of burning showed substantial differences pre- and post-1600; (iii) fire seasonality changed from late- to early-season fires from the 1626 fire and onwards; and (iv) fire severity decreased gradually over time. Written sources corroborated our results, narrating a history where anthropogenic forest fires and slash-and-burn cultivation expanded with the increasing population from the late 1500s. Concurrently, timber resources increased in value, gradually forcing slash-and-burn cultivators to abandon fires on forest land. Our results strengthen and expand previous Fennoscandian findings on the anthropogenic influence of historic fire regimes.