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.
2018
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Matthew Schwarzkopf Michael Burnard Viacheslav Tverezovskiy Andreas Treu Miha Humar Andreja KutnarAbstract
Within the Slovenian region of Istria, the olive growing and oil production industry is strong. This industry has a long history and the olives grown here have high levels of biologically active compounds including a variety of phenolic compounds. Using residual materials generated by this industry in potential wood protection systems would not only valorise low-value materials and stimulate rural economies but would also provide an alternative to currently used oil-based protection systems. The objective of this study was to produce an oil treatment for wood protection and assess its efficacy in reducing leaching, weathering effects, and fungal decay. Two maleinisation techniques were used to chemically modify low-value lampante oil in an attempt to limit leaching when impregnated in wood. Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) and Fagus sylvatica (European beech) were treated with the modified oils and underwent leaching, accelerated weathering, and decay tests. Leaching of the treatment oils was relatively low compared with other experiments and beech wood specimens treated with a direct maleinisation treatment showed improvement in performance compared to control specimens. In addition, it was found that the modified oils were not completely removed from the wood after solvent extraction indicating that they could potentially be used as an immobilisation agent in combination with other treatments thereby reducing the amount of active component of the protective agent.
Authors
Manuel J. Steinbauer John-Arvid Grytnes Gerald Jurasinski Aino Kulonen Jonathan Lenoir Harald Pauli Christian Rixen Manuela Winkler Manfred Bardy-Durchhalter Elena Barni Anne D. Bjorkman Frank T. Breiner Sarah Burg Patryk Czortek Melissa A. Dawes Anna Delimat Stefan Dullinger Brigitta Erschbamer Vivian Astrup Felde Olatz Fernández-Arberas Kjetil Farsund Fossheim Daniel Gómez-García Damien Georges Erlend T. Grindrud Sylvia Haider Siri Vatsø Haugum Hanne Henriksen Maria J. Herreros Bogdan Jaroszewicz Francesca Orinda Holl Jaroszynska Robert Kanka Jutta Kapfer Kari Klanderud Ingolf Kühn Andrea Lamprecht Magali Matteodo Umberto Morra di Cella Signe Normand Arvid Odland Siri Lie Olsen Sara Palacio Martina Petey Veronika Piscová Blazena Sedlakova Klaus Steinbauer Veronika Stöckli Jens-Christian Svenning Guido Teppa Jean-Paul Theurillat Pascal Vittoz Sarah J. Woodin Niklaus E. Zimmermann Sonja WipfAbstract
Globally accelerating trends in societal development and human environmental impacts since the mid-twentieth century1–7 are known as the Great Acceleration and have been discussed as a key indicator of the onset of the Anthropocene epoch6 . While reports on ecological responses (for example, changes in species range or local extinctions) to the Great Acceleration are multiplying8,9 , it is unknown whether such biotic responses are undergoing a similar acceleration over time. This knowledge gap stems from the limited availability of time series data on biodiversity changes across large temporal and geographical extents. Here we use a dataset of repeated plant surveys from 302 mountain summits across Europe, spanning 145 years of observation, to assess the temporal trajectory of mountain biodiversity changes as a globally coherent imprint of the Anthropocene. We find a continent-wide acceleration in the rate of increase in plant species richness, with five times as much species enrichment between 2007 and 2016 as fifty years ago, between 1957 and 1966. This acceleration is strikingly synchronized with accelerated global warming and is not linked to alternative global change drivers. The accelerating increases in species richness on mountain summits across this broad spatial extent demonstrate that acceleration in climate-induced biotic change is occurring even in remote places on Earth, with potentially far-ranging consequences not only for biodiversity, but also for ecosystem functioning and services.
Abstract
Changes in the local flora of mountains are often explained by climate warming, but changes in grazing regimes may also be important. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the alpine flora on summits in the Tatra Mts, Poland and Slovakia, has changed over the last 100 years, and if the observed changes are better explained by changes in sheep grazing or climate. We resurveyed the flora of 14 mountain summits initially investigated in the years 1878–1948. We used ordination methods to quantify changes in species composition. We tested whether changes in plant species composition could be explained by cessation of grazing and climate change, and whether these factors have influenced shifts in Ellenberg’s plant ecological indicator values and Raunkiaer’s life forms. Changes in alpine flora were greater on lower elevation summits, and lower on summits less accessible for sheep. More accessible summits were associated with a decrease in mean values of plant species’ light ecological indicator values over time, and a concurrent increase in temperature and nitrogen ecological indicator values. No significant relationships were found between accessibility for sheep and changes in Raunkiaer’s life-forms. Greater accessibility for sheep (meaning high historical grazing pressure) led to greater compositional changes of mountain summits compared with summits with low accessibility. Our results suggest that cessation of sheep grazing was the main factor causing changes in the species composition of resurveyed mountain summits in the Tatra Mts, while climate change played a more minor role.
Authors
Jürgen Dengler Viktoria Wagner Iwona Dembicz Itziar García-Mijangos Alireza Naqinezhad Steffen Boch Alessandro Chiarucci Timo Conradi Goffredo Filibeck Riccardo Guarino Monika Janišová Manuel J. Steinbauer Svetlana Aćić Alicia T.R. Acosta Munemitsu Akasaka Marc-Andre Allers Iva Apostolova Irena Axmanová Branko Bakan Alina Baranova Manfred Bardy-Durchhalter Sándor Bartha Esther Baumann Thomas Becker Ute Becker Elena Belonovskaya Karin Bengtsson José Luis Benito Alonso Asun Berastegi Ariel Bergamini Ilaria Bonini Hans Henrik Bruun Vasyl Budzhak Alvaro Bueno Juan Antonio Campos Laura Cancellieri Marta Carboni Cristina Chocarro Luisa Conti Marta Czarniecka-Wiera Pieter De Frenne Balázs Deák Yakiv P. Didukh Martin Diekmann Christian Dolnik Cecilia Duprè Klaus Ecker Nikolai Ermakov Brigitta Erschbamer Adrián Escudero Javier Etayo Zuzana Fajmonová Vivian Astrup Felde Maria Rosa Fernández Calzado Manfred Finckh Georgios Fotiadis Mariano Fracchiolla Anna Ganeva Daniel García-Magro Rosario G. Gavilán Markus Germany Itamar Giladi François Gillet Gian Pietro Giusso del Galdo Jose M. González John-Arvid Grytnes Michal Hájek Petra Hájková Aveliina Helm Mercedes Herrera Eva Hettenbergerová Carsten Hobohm Elisabeth M. Hüllbusch Nele Ingerpuu Ute Jandt Florian Jeltsch Kai Jensen Anke Jentsch Michael Jeschke Borja Jiménez-Alfaro Zygmunt Kacki Kaoru Kakinuma Jutta Kapfer Ali Kavgaci András Kelemen Kathrin Kiehl Asuka Koyama Tomoyo F. Koyanagi Łukasz Kozub Anna Kuzemko Magni Olsen Kyrkjeeide Sara Landi Nancy Langer Lorenzo Lastrucci Lorenzo Lazzaro Chiara Lelli Jan Lepš Swantje Löbel Arantzazu L. Luzuriaga Simona Maccherini Martin Magnes Marek Malicki Corrado Marcenó Constantin Mardari Leslie Mauchamp Felix May Ottar Michelsen Joaquín Molero Mesa Zsolt Molnár Ivan Y. Moysiyenko Yuko K. Nakaga Rayna Natcheva Jalil Noroozi Robin J. Pakeman Salza Palpurina Meelis Pärtel Ricarda Pätsch Harald Pauli Hristo Pedashenko Robert K. Peet Remigiusz Pielech Nataša Pipenbaher Chrisoula Pirini Zuzana Plesková Mariya A. Polyakova Honor C. Prentice Jennifer Reinecke Triin Reitalu Maria Pilar Rodríguez-Rojo Jan Roleček Vladimir Ronkin Leonardo Rosati Ejvind Rosén Eszter Ruprecht Solvita Rusina Marko Sabovljević Ana María Sánchez Galina Savchenko Oliver Schuhmacher Sonja Škornik Marta Gaia Sperandii Monika Staniaszek-Kik Zora Stevanović-Dajić Marin Stock Sigrid Suchrow Laura M. E. Sutcliffe Grzegorz Swacha Martin Sykes Anna Szabó Amir Talebi Cătălin Tănase Massimo Terzi Csaba Tölgyesi Marta Torca Péter Török Béla Tóthmérész Nadezda Tsarevskaya Ioannis Tsiripidis Rossen Tzonev Atushi Ushimaru Orsolya Valkó Eddy van der Maarel Thomas Vanneste Iuliia Vashenyak Kiril Vassilev Daniele Viciani Luis Villar Risto Virtanen Ivana Vitasović Kosić Yun Wang Frank Weiser Julia Went Karsten Wesche Hannah White Manuela Winkler Piotr T. Zaniewski Hui Zhang Yaron Ziv Sergey Znamenskiy Idoia BiurrunAbstract
GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). GrassPlot collects plot records (relevés) from grasslands and other open habitats of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm. It focuses on precisely delimited plots of eight standard grain sizes (0.0001; 0.001; ... 1,000 m²) and on nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes. The usage of GrassPlot is regulated through Bylaws that intend to balance the interests of data contributors and data users. The current version (v. 1.00) contains data for approximately 170,000 plots of different sizes and 2,800 nested-plot series. The key components are richness data and metadata. However, most included datasets also encompass compositional data. About 14,000 plots have near-complete records of terricolous bryophytes and lichens in addition to vascular plants. At present, GrassPlot contains data from 36 countries throughout the Palaearctic, spread across elevational gradients and major grassland types. GrassPlot with its multi-scale and multi-taxon focus complements the larger international vegetationplot databases, such as the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) and the global database “sPlot”. Its main aim is to facilitate studies on the scale- and taxon-dependency of biodiversity patterns and drivers along macroecological gradients. GrassPlot is a dynamic database and will expand through new data collection coordinated by the elected Governing Board. We invite researchers with suitable data to join GrassPlot. Researchers with project ideas addressable with GrassPlot data are welcome to submit proposals to the Governing Board.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Question In recent decades, high‐latitude climate has shown regionally variable trends towards warmer and moister conditions. These changes have been predicted to cause afforestation or shrubification of open tundra, increases of warmth‐demanding southern species and plant groups favoured by increased moisture, and decline of species and habitats that are dependent on snow cover. In this study, we explore temporal changes in northern tundra upland plant communities along regional gradients and in local habitats. We ask how vegetation changes are linked with long‐term trends in regional climate and grazing pressure. Location Northern Europe. Methods In 2013–2014, we resurveyed a total of 108 vegetation plots on wind‐exposed and snow‐protected tundra habitats in three subareas along a bioclimatic gradient from the northern boreal to the arctic zone. Vegetation plots were originally sampled in 1964–1967. We related observed vegetation changes to changes in temperature, precipitation and grazing pressure, which all showed regionally variable increases over the study period. Results We found a significant increase of the evergreen dwarf shrub Empetrum nigrum subsp. hermaphroditum in snow‐protected communities and a prominent decrease of lichens throughout the study area. No evidence for extensive tree or larger shrub (Betula spp., Salix spp. or Juniperus communis) encroachment despite climatic warming trends was found. Among studied communities, most pronounced changes in vegetation were observed in snow‐protected boreal heaths on small isolated uplands, where community composition showed low resemblance to the original composition described decades ago. Changes in plant communities correlated with changes in summer and winter temperatures, summer precipitation and reindeer grazing pressure, yet correlations varied depending on region and habitat. Conclusions Northern tundra uplands vary in their resistance to on‐going climate change and reindeer grazing. Isolated treeless heaths of boreal forest–tundra ecotone appear least resistant to climate change and have already shifted towards new community states.
Authors
Patryk Czortek Jutta Kapfer Anna Delimat Amy Eycott John-Arvid Grytnes Anna Orczewska Halina Ratyńska Antoni Zięba Bogdan JaroszewiczAbstract
Mountain vegetation is often considered highly sensitive to climate and land-use changes due to steep environmental gradients determining local plant species composition. In this study we present plant species compositional shifts in the Tatra Mts over the past 90 years and discuss the potential drivers of the changes observed. Using historical vegetation studies of the region from 1927, we resurveyed 76 vegetation plots, recording the vascular flora of each plot using the same methodology as in the original survey. We used an indirect method to quantify plant species compositional shifts and to indicate which environmental gradients could be responsible for these shifts: by calculating shifts in estimated species optima as reflected in shifts in the ecological indicator values of co-occurring species. To find shifts in species composition, focusing on each vegetation type separately, we used ordination (DCA). The species optimum changed significantly for at least one of the tested environmental gradients for 26 of the 95 plant species tested; most of these species changed in terms of the moisture indicator value. We found that the strongest shifts in species composition were in mylonite grassland, snowbed and hygrophilous tall herb communities. Changes in precipitation and increase in temperature were found to most likely drive compositional shifts in vegetation resurveyed. It is likely that the combined effect of climate change and cessation of sheep grazing has driven a species composition shift in granite grasslands communities.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered