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.
2012
Authors
Tore SkrøppaAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Tore SkrøppaAbstract
Forests and wooded land cover 39 % of the land area of Norway and productive forest amounts to 8.3 million hectares. Two conifer species, Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris, dominate the forest area; they cover 71 % of the forest area and 84 % of total volume. The annual harvest is at present less than 50 % of the annual increment. Forestry and the wood industry have great financial importance in Norway, and timber and wood products have a gross value of 5 % of the total gross domestic product. Forestry is characterized by small-scale properties which to a large extent are privately owned. The main objective of the forest policy is to promote sustainable forest management with a view to promote active, local and economic development, and to secure biological diversity, considerations for the landscape, outdoor recreation and the cultural values associated with the forest. Forest management plans are important instruments to obtain these goals. Three targeted programmes have high priority in the present forest policy: forests and climate, increased use of wood and bioenergy. Active use of the forest genetic resources may contribute to the success of these programmes. Species composition and distribution of forest trees in Norway is largely determined by the following factors: the invasion of tree species after the Ice Age, subsequent climatic changes and human activities ....
Authors
Tore SkrøppaAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Laura Parducci Tina Jørgensen Mari Mette Tollefsrud Ellen Elverland Torbjørn Alm Sonia L. Fontana Keith D. Bennett James Haile Irina Matetovici Yoshihisa Suyama Mary E. Edwards Kenneth Andersen Morten Rasmussen Sanne Boessenkool Eric Coissac Christian Brochmann Pierre Taberlet Michael Houmark-Nielsen Nicolaj K. Larsen Ludovic Orlando M. Thomas P. Gilbert Kurt H. Kjær Inger Greve Alsos Eske WillerslevAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
In South-east Norway, several scattered observations of reduced growth and dieback symptoms were observed over the last 20 years in 40-60 years old Norway spruce (Picea abies) trees. Typical symptoms start with yellowing in the top and subsequent dieback downwards from the top. These symptoms are often combined with bark beetle (Ips typographus), honey fungus (Armillaria spp.) infections, and a sudden decrease in diameter and height growth. After about 1-5 years, most of the symptomatic trees are dead.We selected 11 representative stands in six counties. In each stand all trees in ten 250 m2 plots were evaluated, in total about 4000 trees. In each of these 110 plots, one symptomatic and one non-symptomatic tree were investigated in more detail. We measured tree diameter, height, took increment cores and assessed crown condition, wounds, resin flow, stem cracks, bark beetle infection and Armillaria presence. In addition, internode lengths of the last 20 years were measured in two of the stands.Preliminary results of internode lengths and increment cores showed a sudden decrease of height and diameter growth in the symptomatic trees. Many of these trees had a secondary infection of bark beetles and Armillaria. Some years appear to be typical problem years for many of the trees. These years also correspond with summer drought, i.e. negative Palmer drought severity indexes which were estimated for each stand. In comparison, the non-symptomatic trees, growing close to the symptomatic ones, showed none or minor growth reductions and discolouration.Climate change and increased summer drought may worsen spruce dieback problems. Management adaptions are uncertain. We conclude that Norway spruce is sensitive to drought, which reduce the growth and weaken the health, and probably reduce the defence against secondary infections.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Janka DibdiakovaAbstract
An increasing demand for forest biomass to energy is leading to a more intensive harvesting of timber, also including an exploitation of the crown biomass. This sets new demands for forest inventory systems to generate more detailed information about the forest biomass fractions. Norway has unutilized forest resources, which can be used for bioenergy. These also include Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). The material was sampled from three different locations in Southern Norway from west to east. Each location was represented with tree different site indices. Vertical profiles of branch weight, length and diameter were studied. The effect of different tree and site characteristics were used to predict the profiles. Significant differences were found between the geographical locations studied after adjusting for tree height and diameter in breast height. Branches from the western site were longer and had a greater mass compared to branches from the other two locations. The branch diameter distribution indicated that the east location had larger branch size, while branches in middle and west site had smaller sizes. This study highlights the range of branch variability within locations, but indicates that Norway spruce branch biomass in Norway may be considered as a valuable raw material.
Abstract
Introductions of the pine wood nematode (PWN), which causes Pine Wilt Disease (PWD), have devastating effects on pine forests in regions with susceptible host trees under suitable climate conditions. Norwegian authorities have proposed a contingency plan if PWN is detected in Norway. We compare the costs of implementing this plan with the costs of further spread and damage of PWN under two climate change scenarios: present and the most likely future climate. With the present climate, PWD will not occur in Norway. Under climatic change, the cost of PWD damage is approximately 0.078–0.157 million NOK (0.01–0.02 million Euros) estimated as net present value with 2 and 4% p.a. discount rate. In contrast, the corresponding costs of implementing the suggested contingency plan will be 1.7–2.2 billion NOK (0.2–0.25 billion Euros). These costs are caused by reduced income from industrial timber production and the costs of the eradication measures. Costs related to reduced recreation or biodiversity are expected to be very high, but are not included in the above estimates. Many of the factors in the analysis are burdened with high uncertainty, but sensitivity analyses indicate that the results are rather robust even for drastic changes in assumptions. The results suggest that there is a need to revise the current PWN contingency plan in Norway.
Authors
Kjell Andreassen Bernt-Håvard ØyenAbstract
Growth conditions in Fennoscandia are characterized by relatively short growth seasons and cold winters, from 130 growth days (T 5C) in the far north high mountains to more than 200 in south Sweden and Norway. Growth models from different regions predict different forest growth.In this study, we compare some models commonly applied in forest growth prognosis in pure even aged stands of Norway spruce, Scots pine and birch in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The objectives is to identify behavioural properties, accuracy and bias in selected Nordic growth models using a wide-ranging test data set from permanent research plots in Norway.Present tentative conclusions about the accuracy of growth outside the geographical range of the original base materials. With four different response variables in the tested models we emphasized relative deviations rather than absolute values as most suitable for comparisons. The models were compared by statistical tests, a visual inspection of the smoothed curve of the relative deviations in different stand properties and ranked due to their performance.We observed site index, stand density and mean tree size as the three main components in the models. For Norway spruce a basal area increment model from Sweden had the lowest standard deviation with 23 %. The mean R2 between residuals and stand characteristics from this model was also low (1.3 %), which indicates that variables are well included in the model. For Scots pine and birch, Finnish percent volume growth models showed the best fit to the Norwegian test data, with a R2 between residuals and stand characteristics of 2.8 and 6.7 %, respectively. Several of the models from Sweden and Finland predict the growth as well as stand models frequently in use in Norway.