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.
2003
Authors
Holger LangeAbstract
High resolution digital elevation maps (DEMs) offer the investigation of multifractal properties of the spatial characteristics of river basins like the width function, and the determination of the relation between average slope and basin area.There have been a number of universality claims in this respect; the range of the scaling exponent for the slope-area relation seems to be narrow, and the multifractal spectrum of the width function is characterized by a single site-specific Lipschitz-Hlder exponent alpha, the spectrum having an envelope given by that of Peanos basin.Comparing 17 river basins covering two orders of magnitude in basin area, our findings do not confirm this universal character. In particular, the Lipschitz-Hlder exponent crucially depends on the resolution of the width function extraction; we show that it is easy to produce almost identical spectra for completely different basins when varying the resolution.The problem of interior points is also encountered. We adopt Venezianos modified calculation of f(alpha) in this case. The slope-area exponent covers a wide range of values which also include the pure random case. We thus question the usability of these measures as a classification tool for river basins. http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EAE03/05246/EAE03-J-05246.pdf
Authors
Holger LangeAbstract
For the intepretation of multifractal properties of experimental time series, two prominent procedures used are the double trace method (DTM) and the universal multifractal (UM) approach. We calculated multifractal spectra for a collection of long-term precipitation, air temperature and river discharge records, covering a wide range of spatial scales.Considering K(q) in this framework leads to an effective classification of dynamical behavior. Comparison of the DTM and UM methodologies, however, reveals substantial differences which make them difficult to reconcile. This is in particular true for the discharge case.The scaling exponent is generally larger in magnitude for the DTM and in some cases even extends into the non-analytical regime. Part of previous work thus could not be confirmed. Whether the description of river flow as multifractal process is feasible remains an open question. http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EAE03/05092/EAE03-J-05092.pdf
Abstract
An individual-based agent model is presented which resembles aspects of natural evolution in ecosystems under selective pressure due to limited resources. The environmental conditions are determined by spatial and temporal variability of resource abundances.The agents have to choose between three different types of resources; the one consumed most during lifetime solely counts for the fitness of the individual agent. Simulation runs show that populations specialized in different resource types are mutually influencing each other under temporal variation of a single resource type.Mobility of agents in a locally heterogenous world enables recolonization after a population has starved to death. Wavelet analysis of the population time series reveals that some observed population dynamics show phenomena such as localized periodicities which cannot be explained by linear dependencies on the resource input dynamics.
Abstract
Modern information technology allows the investigation of the characteristic properties of living systems from a new perspective. Which of the ecosystem features are necessary conditions resulting from their constraints, which are accidental, constituting contingent facts of their respective histories?As long as we know of a single phylogenetic tree in nature, the difference is hard to tell, rendering the reconstruction and realisation of artificial ecologies a major challenge. It has been taken up by the high technology of the time since decades; since two decades, IT is leading in this respect.Are there life forms that can be created in contemporary computers, and which ones? Successes and failures of a number of virtualizations are forming de facto constraints for theoretical ecosystem research. Artificial Life (AL) research appears to be not just another attempt towards realistic models for ecological systems, but undermines the basic assumptions of most of conventional modeling in this area: in AL, behavior is in general irreducible to internal mechanisms; behavior results rather from interactive and intentional usage of the simulation.We try to elucidate and demonstrate the crucial role of interaction in these simulations, drawing from current developments in theoretical computer science as well as a number of examples. We propose a new classification of ecosystem models according to its degree of interactivity.
Abstract
We fogged trees in two pine dominated forests in Norway with a synthetic pyrethroid in order to compare the canopy-dwelling fauna of arthropods between costal (Kvam) and boreal (Sigdal) sites and between old (250-330 years) and mature (60-120 years) trees at Sigdal. Almost 30,000 specimens were assigned to 510 species; only 93 species were present at both sites. Species diversity, as established by rarefaction, was similar in old and mature trees. However, the number of species new to Norway (including nine species new to science) was significantly higher in the old trees. We suggest that the scarcity of old trees, habitat heterogeneity and structural differences between old and mature trees may explain these patterns. Productivity and topographic position at the site of growth explained the between-tree variation in species occurrence for the more abundant species, which were mainly Collembola and Oribatida. Species diversity was similar at the boreal and coastal sites, but there were clear differences in species composition
2002
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Historical reconstructions of past forest dynamics and stand structures have been used to establish reference conditions for managing present forest ecosystems. In this study we (1) developed and combined a suite of stand reconstruction techniques to describe past stand characteristics, and (2) applied these stand histories to evaluate the relationship between wood-decay fungi and forest continuity. Ten previous selectively logged stands of Norway spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> (L.) Karst.), in the middle boreal zone of southeastern Norway, were studied. We reconstructed stand structures during the 20th century using tree-ring series, growth patterns, age structures, and decay classification and datings of stumps and logs. All stands were selectively logged between 1890 and 1965, with a mean logging interval of 25 years. Harvested volumes (1900-1965) constituted 25-99% of present standing volumes and present volumes were 2.6-21 (median 4) times higher than the lowest estimated historic volumes. Dead wood was categorized into eight decay classes, where one is recently fallen, and eight is almost completely decayed. Six fungus species, assumed to indicate dead-wood continuity, were found on logs in decay classes 2-4, all of which were estimated to be<30 years old. Logs in decay classes 1-4 constituted 85% of logs >=20 cm. Expectedly, fungus abundance increased linearly with increasing number of available logs, but we failed to find a positive correlation between fungi abundance and number of old logs present (decay classes 5-8), when the effect of younger logs (2-4) was accounted for. This finding, together with the stand histories, does not lend support to the hypothesis that a continuous supply of dead wood, at the scale of forest stands, is crucial for the occurrence of the surveyed wood-decay fungi. We propose forest stand reconstructions to hold promise as a tool to assess the role of structural continuity for the occurrence of late-successional and old-growth species