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
In the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy, maintaining and enhancing forest biodiversity is essential. Forest managers and technicians should include biodiversity monitoring as support for sustainible forest management and conservation issues, through the adoption of forest biodiversity indices. The present study investigates the potential of a new type of Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry derived variables for modelling forest structure indicies, which do not require the availability of a digital terrain model (DTM) such as those obtainable from Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) surveys. The DTM-independent variables were calculated using raw 3D UAV photogrammetric data for modeling eight forest structure indices which are commonly used for forest biodiversity monitoring, namely: basal area (G); quadratic mean diameter (DBHmean); the standard deviation of Diameter at Breast Height (DBHσ); DBH Gini coefficient (Gini); the standard deviation of tree heights (Hσ); dominant tree height (Hdom); Lorey’s height (Hl); and growing stock volume (V). The study included two mixed temperate forestsareas withadifferenttype ofmanagement, with onearea, left unmanagedfor thepast 50years while the other being actively managed. A total of 30 fieldsample plots were measured in the unmanaged forest, and 50 field plots were measured in the actively managed forest. The accuracy of UAV DTM-independent predictions was compared with a benchmark approach based on traditional explanatory variables calculated from ALS data. Finally, DTM-independent variables were used to produce wall-to-wall maps of the forest structure indices in the two test areas and to estimate the mean value and its uncertainty according to a model-assisted regression estimators. DTM-independent variables led to similar predictive accuracy in terms of root mean square error compared to ALS in both study areas for the eight structure indices (DTM-independent average RMSE% = 20.5 and ALS average RMSE% = 19.8). Moreover, we found that the model-assisted estimation, with both DTM-independet and ALS, obtained lower standar errors (SE) compared to the one obtained by modelbased estimation using only field plots. Relative efficiency coefficient (RE) revealed that ALS-based estimates were, on average, more efficient (average RE ALS = 3.7) than DTM-independent, (average RE DTM-independent = 3.3). However, the RE for the DTM-independent models was consistently larger than the one from theALSmodelsfortheDBH-relatedvariables(i.e.G,DBHmean,andDBHσ)andforV.Thishighlightsthepotential of DTM-independent variables, which not only can be used virtually on any forests (i.e., no need of a DTM), but also can produce as precise estimates as those from ALS data for key forest structural variables and substantially improve the efficiency of forest inventories.
Authors
Anni Jašková Tatyana Yu. Braslavskaya Elena Tikhonova Jaanus Paal Solvita Rūsiņa Māris Laiviņš Ilya B. Kucherov Nadezhda V. Genikova Ilona Knollová Tatiana V. Chernenkova Elena Yu. Churakova Martin Diekmann Rune Halvorsen Elena I. Kirichok Vladimir N. Korotkov Alexander M. Kryshen Daria L. Lugovaya Olga V. Morozova Petr V. Potapov Tatiana S. Prokazina Fride Høistad Schei Yury A. Semenishchenkov Nikolai E. Shevchenko Oksana V. Sidorova Nikolai S. Smirnov Olga V. Smirnova Ruslan Tsvirko Svetlana A. Turubanova Milan ChytrýAbstract
The European Boreal Forest Vegetation Database (EBFVD, GIVD ID: EU-00-027) is a repository for vegetation-plot data from the forests of the boreal and hemiboreal zones of Europe. In this report, we describe its structure, current content and future perspectives opened up by the database. In February 2019, the database contained 13 037 vegetation-plot records from Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Russia and Sweden that are not yet stored in the databases of the European Vegetation Archive (EVA). Consequently, this database significantly improves the availability of forest plant community data from Northern Europe. The database is managed by the Vegetation Science Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic), in the TURBOVEG 2 program. It is registered in the Global Index of Vegetation Plot Databases (GIVD) and included in EVA. The whole database, or a subset of it, can be requested via EVA, or directly from the database custodian.
Authors
Ingmar R. Staude Donald M. Waller Markus Bernhardt-Römermann Anne D. Bjorkman Jörg Brunet Pieter De Frenne Radim Hédl Ute Jandt Jonathan Lenoir František Máliš Kris Verheyen Monika Wulf Henrique M. Pereira Pieter Vangansbeke Adrienne Ortmann-Ajkai Remigiusz Pielech Imre Berki Markéta Chudomelová Guillaume Decocq Thomas Dirnböck Tomasz Durak Thilo Heinken Bogdan Jaroszewicz Martin Kopecký Martin Macek Marek Malicki Tobias Naaf Thomas A. Nagel Petr Petřík Kamila Reczyńska Fride Høistad Schei Wolfgang Schmidt Tibor Standovár Krzysztof Świerkosz Balázs Teleki Hans Van Calster Ondřej Vild Lander BaetenAbstract
Biodiversity time series reveal global losses and accelerated redistributions of species, but no net loss in local species richness. To better understand how these patterns are linked, we quantify how individual species trajectories scale up to diversity changes using data from 68 vegetation resurvey studies of seminatural forests in Europe. Herb-layer species with small geographic ranges are being replaced by more widely distributed species, and our results suggest that this is due less to species abundances than to species nitrogen niches. Nitrogen deposition accelerates the extinctions of small-ranged, nitrogen-efficient plants and colonization by broadly distributed, nitrogen-demanding plants (including non-natives). Despite no net change in species richness at the spatial scale of a study site, the losses of small-ranged species reduce biome-scale (gamma) diversity. These results provide one mechanism to explain the directional replacement of small-ranged species within sites and thus explain patterns of biodiversity change across spatial scales.
Authors
Constantin M. Zohner Lidong Mo Susanne S. Renner Jens-Christian Svenning Yann Vitasse Blas Manuel Benito De Pando Alejandro Ordonez Frederik Baumgarten Jean-François Bastin Veronica Sebald Peter B. Reich Jingjing Liang Gert-Jan Nabuurs Sergio de-Miguel Giorgio Alberti Clara Antón Fernández Radomir Balazy Urs-Beat Brändli Han Y. H. Chen Chelsea Chisholm Emil Cienciala Selvadurai Dayanandan Tom M. Fayle Lorenzo Frizzera Damiano Gianelle Andrzej M. Jagodzinski Bogdan Jaroszewicz Tommaso Jucker Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas Mohammed Latif Khan Hyun Seok Kim Henn Korjus Vivian Kvist Johannsen Diana Laarmann Mait Lang Tomasz Zawila-Niedzwiecki Pascal A. Niklaus Alain Paquette Hans Pretzsch Purabi Saikia Peter Schall Vladimír Šebeň Miroslav Svoboda Elena Tikhonova Helder Viana Chunyu Zhang Xiuhai Zhao Thomas W. CrowtherAbstract
Late-spring frosts (LSFs) affect the performance of plants and animals across the world’s temperate and boreal zones, but despite their ecological and economic impact on agriculture and forestry, the geographic distribution and evolutionary impact of these frost events are poorly understood. Here, we analyze LSFs between 1959 and 2017 and the resistance strategies of Northern Hemisphere woody species to infer trees’ adaptations for minimizing frost damage to their leaves and to forecast forest vulnerability under the ongoing changes in frost frequencies. Trait values on leaf-out and leaf-freezing resistance come from up to 1,500 temperate and boreal woody species cultivated in common gardens. We find that areas in which LSFs are common, such as eastern North America, harbor tree species with cautious (late-leafing) leaf-out strategies. Areas in which LSFs used to be unlikely, such as broad-leaved forests and shrublands in Europe and Asia, instead harbor opportunistic tree species (quickly reacting to warming air temperatures). LSFs in the latter regions are currently increasing, and given species’ innate resistance strategies, we estimate that ∼35% of the European and ∼26% of the Asian temperate forest area, but only ∼10% of the North American, will experience increasing late-frost damage in the future. Our findings reveal region-specific changes in the spring-frost risk that can inform decision-making in land management, forestry, agriculture, and insurance policy.
Authors
Jouni Siipilehto Micky Allen Urban Nilsson Andreas Brunner Saija Huuskonen Soili Haikarainen Narayanan Subramanian Clara Antón Fernández Emma Holmström Kjell Andreassen Jari HynynenAbstract
New mortality models were developed for the purpose of improving long-term growth and yield simulations in Finland, Norway, and Sweden and were based on permanent national forest inventory plots from Sweden and Norway. Mortality was modelled in two steps. The first model predicts the probability of survival, while the second model predicts the proportion of basal area in surviving trees for plots where mortality has occurred. In both models, the logistic function was used. The models incorporate the variation in prediction period length and in plot size. Validation of both models indicated unbiased mortality rates with respect to various stand characteristics such as stand density, average tree diameter, stand age, and the proportion of different tree species, Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), and broadleaves. When testing against an independent dataset of unmanaged spruce-dominated stands in Finland, the models provided unbiased prediction with respect to stand age.
Authors
Andreas TreuAbstract
Research activities in the field of wood protection in the marine environment in Europe have been limited and do not yet satisfy the need for new approaches to the problem of biodegradation of Wood in seawater. Alternatives to creosote treatment were tested in the marine environment in Moss harbour. Most of the treated products showed high potential as a successful treatment in this use class in the short-term, such as acetylation of wood, treatment with sorbitol and citric acid and encapsulation of wood poles with a plastic envelope. Long-term studies need to determine the service life of these products.
Abstract
This article focus is on the perceived impact that aquaculture industry has on coastal communities in Northern Norway. Here, aquaculture is key industry with natural, social and economic impacts. In natural resource management in general, identifying and monitoring the perceived social impacts can be a useful tool for local planning. In order to ensure the blue growth goals of the Norwegian government and avoid conflict and mistrust in the future, it is important to understand how both the general public and stakeholders perceive the aquaculture industry, how it affects them and its use of space in the coastal zone. Hence, we ask a) how do coastal communities perceive the aquaculture industry and b) is there a legitimacy gap between the blue growth strategies of the Norwegian Government and the public? In order to answer these questions, we lean on theories related to legitimacy and stakeholder's participation. Original data were collected from structured (N = 150) and semi-structured interviews (N = 10) in two coastal communities in Northern Norway (Alstahaug and Brønnøy). Our findings suggest that a legitimacy gap does exist between blue growth goals and fishers in the communities studied, while the general citizen holds a positive attitude towards aquaculture. Insights from this study are useful for local, regional and national decision makers with responsibility for natural resource policies and development efforts.
Abstract
Understanding the factors that determine species’ resistance to environmental change is of utmost importance for biodiversity conservation. Here we investigated how the abundances of marshland species are determined by niche properties and functional traits. We re-surveyed 150 vegetation plots that were first surveyed in 1973 in order to explore species abundance changes over time. We found that the mean water level in the habitats of most studied species decreased significantly from 1973 to 2012. Nine of 17 target species were identified as abundance decreasing species and the other eight as abundance increasing species. The comparisons of seven plant characteristics (niche position water level, plant height, and five leaf traits) showed that the decreasing species had a significantly higher value of optimum water level and marginally significantly lower leaf N contents and specific leaf area (SLA) than those in increasing species. The stepwise regression analysis showed that optimum water level and leaf N were the best predictors of abundance changes of marsh plant species, as well as that the effect of optimum water level was stronger than that of leaf N. Our findings demonstrated that niche properties may be important for forecasting changes in wetland plant communities over time.
Abstract
Questions Have species richness and composition in subarctic vegetation changed over the past ca. 90 years? Are compositional shifts linked to changes in land management or climate? Are observed changes associated with vegetation type, life form, or habitat preference? Location Rybachy and Sredny Peninsulas, NW Russia. Methods We resurveyed vegetation ca. 90 years after the first sampling in 1927–1930 to study changes in species richness, abundance and composition. Because of missing plot‐related environmental measurements we used a weighted averaging approach calculating relative changes in species‐specific optimum values for different environmental gradients represented by species indicator values to identify compositional change in relation to the environment. Changes in species composition were visualised using detrended correspondence analyses. Significances of observed changes in species richness and frequency were evaluated using restricted permutation tests. A χ2 test was used to test if observed changes in abundances were related to species’ life form and habitat preferences. Results Species composition has changed significantly over the past ca. 90 years, as indicated by significant changes in species’ frequencies and values of optima for the environmental gradients temperature, moisture, nutrients and light. Species richness decreased significantly, in particular in nitrophilous and wet growing vegetation. Species typical for grazed grasslands and meadows and species of wet habitats became less abundant, while dwarf shrubs and forest species increased. Conclusions Land abandonment, in combination with climate change, is likely to have caused the observed changes in the subarctic vegetation of NW Russia. Shifts in the species dominance ratios and interspecific competition (e.g. for reallocated nutrients) after land abandonment may have been promoted by the subsequent change towards a warmer climate, facilitating the regrowth of previously open meadows with grazing‐intolerant tall herbs, forest herbs and dwarf shrubs. This study illustrates clearly the long‐term effects of land‐use change, the consequences of which are still visible even after almost one century in the subarctic.
Abstract
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