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
Authors
Hilde Karine WamAbstract
Do you know what happens when an exotic species comes to a new place, where it does not belong? Can the planet be completely invaded by exotic species? What exactly is an exotic species? In this learning package, we look at how invasive species are a growing problem and how they can affect the environment, other species and even the entire global bioeconomy.
Authors
Hilde Karine WamAbstract
The taiga is the deep boreal forests of the north. Where the wolves roam, brown bears pick berries, and capercaillies sing. The biodiversity is huge, and in the taiga ecosystem, all the species are wondrously linked to each other. What happens here when the climate is changing?
Abstract
Forskningsformidling til ungdom 13-19 år. Et nettbasert undervisningstilbud som bruker naturforskning til å fremme ungdoms miljøbevissthet og interesse for vitenskap.
Authors
Annika M. Felton Emma Holmström Jonas Malmsten Adam Felton Joris P.G.M. Cromsigt Lars Edenius Göran Ericsson Fredrik Widemo Hilde Karine WamAbstract
Diet quality is an important determinant of animal survival and reproduction, and can be described as the combination of different food items ingested, and their nutritional composition. For large herbivores, human landscape modifications to vegetation can limit such diet-mixing opportunities. Here we use southern Sweden’s modified landscapes to assess winter diet mixtures (as an indicator of quality) and food availability as drivers of body mass (BM) variation in wild moose (Alces alces). We identify plant species found in the rumen of 323 moose harvested in Oct-Feb, and link variation in average calf BM among populations to diets and food availability. Our results show that variation in calf BM correlates with variation in diet composition, diversity, and food availability. A varied diet relatively rich in broadleaves was associated with higher calf BM than a less variable diet dominated by conifers. A diet high in shrubs and sugar/starch rich agricultural crops was associated with intermediate BM. The proportion of young production forest (0–15 yrs) in the landscape, an indicator of food availability, significantly accounted for variation in calf BM. Our findings emphasize the importance of not only diet composition and forage quantity, but also variability in the diets of large free-ranging herbivores.
Authors
L. Genesio Ryan Bright G. Alberti A. Peressotti G. Delle Vedove G. Incerti P. Toscano M. Rinaldi O. Muller F. MigliettaAbstract
Sunlight absorbed at the Earth’s surface is re-emitted as longwave radiation. Increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases trap an increasing fraction of such heat, leading to global climate change. Here we show that when a chlorophyll (Chl)-deficient soybean mutant is grown in the field, the fraction of solar-irradiance which is reflected, rather than absorbed, is consistently higher than in commercial varieties. But, while the effect on radiative forcing during the crop cycle at the scale of the individual experimental plot was found to be large (−4.1± 0.6 W m−2 ), global substitution of the current varieties with this genotype would cause a small increase in global surface albedo, resulting in a global shortwave radiative forcing of −0.003 W m−2 , corresponding to 4.4 Gt CO2eq. At present, this offsetting effect would come at the expense of reductions to yields, probably associated with different dynamic of photosynthetic response in the Chl-deficient mutant. The idea of reducing surface-driven radiative forcing by means of Chl-deficient crops therefore requires that novel high-yielding and high-albedo crops are made available soon.
Authors
Ryan BrightAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Paul C. Rogers Bradley D. Pinno Jan Šebesta Benedicte R. Albrectsen Guoqing Li Natalya Ivanova Antonín Kusbach Timo Kuuluvainen Simon M. Landhäusser Hongyan Liu Tor Myking Pertti Pulkkinen Zhongming Wen Dominik KulakowskiAbstract
Across the northern hemisphere, six species of aspen (Populus spp.) play a disproportionately important role in promoting biodiversity, sequestering carbon, limiting forest disturbances, and providing other ecosystem services. These species are illustrative of efforts to move beyond single-species conservation because they facilitate hundreds of plants and animals worldwide. This review is intended to place aspen in a global conservation context by focusing on the many scientific advances taking place in such biologically diverse systems. In this manner, aspen may serve as a model for other widespread keystone systems where science-based practice may have world implications for biodiversity conservation. In many regions, aspen can maintain canopy dominance for decades to centuries as the sole major broadleaf trees in forested landscapes otherwise dominated by conifers. Aspen ecosystems are valued for many reasons, but here we highlight their potential as key contributors to regional and global biodiversity. We present global trends in research priorities, strengths, and weaknesses based on, 1) a qualitative survey, 2) a systematic literature analysis, and 3) regional syntheses of leading research topics. These regional syntheses explore important aspen uses, threats, and research priorities with the ultimate intent of research sharing focused on sound conservation practice. In all regions, we found that aspen enhance biodiversity, facilitate rapid (re)colonization in natural and damaged settings (e.g., abandoned mines), and provide adaptability in changing environments. Common threats to aspen ecosystems in many, but not all, regions include effects of herbivory, land clearing, logging practices favoring conifer species, and projected climate warming. We also highlight regional research gaps that emerged from the three survey approaches above. We believe multi-scale research is needed that examines disturbance processes in the context of dynamic climates where ecological, physiological, and genetic variability will ultimately determine widespread aspen sustainability. Based on this global review of aspen research, we argue for the advancement of the “mega-conservation” strategy, centered on the idea of sustaining a set of common keystone communities (aspen) that support wide arrays of obligate species. This approach contrasts with conventional preservation which focuses limited resources on individual species residing in narrow niches.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Liz Veerman Karsten Kalbitz Per Gundersen O. Janne Kjønaas Filip Moldan Patrick Schleppi Emiel E. van Loon Jorien Schoorl Wim Wessel Albert TietemaAbstract
Increased anthropogenic nitrogen (N) inputs can alter the N cycle and affect forest ecosystem functions. The impact of increased N deposition depends among others on the ultimate fate of N in plant and soil N pools. Short-term studies (3-18 months) have shown that the organic soil layer was the dominant sink for N. However, longer time scales are needed to investigate the long-term fate of N. Therefore, the soils of four experimental forest sites across Europe were re-sampled similar to 2 decades after labelling with(15)N. The sites covered a wide range of ambient N deposition varying from 13 to 58 kg N ha(-1)year(-1). To investigate the effects of different N loads on(15)N recovery, ambient N levels were experimentally increased or decreased. We hypothesized that: (1) the mineral soil would become the dominant(15)N sink after 2 decades, (2) long-term increased N deposition would lead to lower(15)N recovery levels in the soil and (3) variables related to C dynamics would have the largest impact on(15)N recovery in the soil. The results show that large amounts of the added(15)N remain in the soil after 2 decades and at 2 out of 4 sites the(15)N recovery levels are higher in the mineral soil than in the organic soil. The results show no clear responses of the isotopic signature to the changes in N deposition. Several environmental drivers are identified as controlling factors for long-term(15)N recovery. Most drivers that significantly contribute to(15)N recovery are strongly related to the soil organic matter (SOM) content. These findings are consistent with the idea that much of the added(15)N is immobilized in the SOM. In the organic soil layer, we identify C stock, thickness of the organic layer, N-status and mean annual temperature of the forest sites as most important controlling factors. In the mineral soil we identify C stock, C content, pH, moisture content, bulk density, temperature, precipitation and forest stand age as most important controlling factors. Overall, our results show that these temperate forests are capable of retaining long-term increased N inputs preferably when SOM availability is high and SOM turnover and N availability are low.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered