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.
2026
Authors
Nordfjellmark, LoviseAbstract
Human land use change, including agricultural intensification, has resulted in global declines of pollinators, such as bumble bees. Increased agricultural intensification has reduced availability and distribution of floral resources and nesting habitats within landscapes, which may have cascading effects on bumble bee communities. This study explores how flower availability and landscape structure in the highly intensive agricultural landscapes of Southwest Norway affects local bumble bee diversity, abundance, and worker body size. I collected data on local bumble bee abundance and diversity using insect-traps, as well as floral resource abundance during three registrations periods during the summer of 2025. Intertegular distance (ITD) was used as a measure of bumble bee body size, since it is also an indicator of flight muscle volume, and therefore foraging capacity. I found no clear effect of total flower abundance, nor landscape heterogeneity on total bumble bee abundance, or on bumble bee worker body size. However, long foraging species were observed to be the most abundant, which suggests prior selection by the study landscape for species with long foraging range. I also found strong interspecific differences in intertegular distance among species, with Bombus s.str, the most abundant taxa, being significantly larger than the other analyzed species. This suggests that larger body size confers an overall advantage in homogenous landscapes.
Authors
Gramstad, LeneAbstract
Agricultural intensification and other land use changes have had detrimental effects on pollinating insects. As such, identifying measures to slow or reverse their population declines is critical. Sown flower strips are one such mitigating measure. I evaluated the effects of annual and perennial flower strips on communities of bumble bees and butterflies by assessing abundance, richness, visitation rates, and movement of pollinators in Ås, Norway. Flower abundance was recorded through quadrat sampling complemented by site-level observations, while pollinator abundance and richness were recorded through repeated transect walks, during which bumble bees and butterflies were counted and identified, and butterflies were marked and recaptured. Annual flower strips were found to have the highest flower abundance and benefitted both pollinator groups, whereas perennial flower strips primarily benefitted bumble bees and had flower abundances more similar to grass dominated road verges. Bumble bee and butterfly abundances did not decrease with distance from the sown flower strips, suggesting high connectivity between the flower strips and a positive effect of landscape context on pollinator movement. The results suggest that annual flower strips conferred the greatest benefit to pollinators in the study system, and that perennial flower strips require improvements in floral resources to better support pollinator communities.
Abstract
Abstract Single-date UAV vegetation indices are widely used to assess potato crop performance and estimate yield. However, whether their biological interpretation remains consistent across cultivars and growth stages is rarely examined. This study investigated how the relationships between UAV-derived multispectral and thermal canopy indicators and potato yield changed during crop development under contrasting irrigation in two cultivars with contrasting maturity classes (Anouk and Celandine). UAV surveys were conducted in July and August, and canopy metrics were related to final yield and tuber traits. The relationship between NDVI and yield differed markedly between cultivars and growth stages. In the early-maturing cultivar Anouk, July NDVI showed a strong positive correlation with yield ( r = 0.87, p = 0.002), whereas August NDVI was not informative. In the late-maturing cultivar Celandine, the relationship reversed from a positive correlation in July ( r = 0.56) to a strong negative correlation in August ( r = −0.80, p = 0.009), indicating that greater late-season canopy greenness was associated with lower yield. Exploratory LOOCV Random Forest models achieved the highest yield prediction accuracy using July features for Anouk ( R 2 = 0.72) and August features for Celandine ( R 2 = 0.47), while multi-temporal features provided similar predictive performance. Greater temporal declines in NDVI were associated with higher yield in both cultivars, consistent with the change in canopy greenness acting as a phenological indicator of the transition from vegetative growth to tuber bulking. These results demonstrate that the interpretation of UAV-derived vegetation indices is strongly dependent on cultivar maturity and growth stage. A single UAV acquisition may therefore provide misleading assessments of crop performance when canopy phenology is not considered. Rather than serving as fixed proxies for yield, canopy vegetation indices should be interpreted within cultivar-specific and temporal contexts when used for potato monitoring and agronomic decision-making.
Authors
Linn Vassvik Anders Nielsen Michael Garratt Bjørn Arild Hatteland Joseph Chipperfield Erik Trond AschehougAbstract
In 1968 Free published a paper titled "Dandelion as a competitor to fruit trees for bee visits", and since then mwoing the understory vegetation has been common practice in apple orchards. However, Free's study only included honeybees, and recent research shows that apple flowers need a diverse pollinator community for optimal quality and yield. Wild bees need a diverse floral diet to survive, raising the following questions: Do wild bees also prefer dandelions over apple flowers? And will dandelions compete with apple flowers when all pollinators are considered?
Abstract
Apple is the third most grown fruit worldwide and relies on pollinator visits to increase both fruit quality and yield. Apple, like many other crops, flowers for a short and intensive period, making the collection of high-quality data on pollinator visits challenging and time-consuming when relying on traditional human observations. We therefore tested whether cameras can be used to increase data collection on pollinator visits to apple flowers, and the advantages and limitations camera-based observations has compared to manual observations. Cameras were deployed in five apple orchards in Eastern Norway during apple flowering. Each camera was positioned facing a selection of flowers, on which manual observations were also conducted. Cameras took a photo every minute from sunrise (04:30) to sun set (22:00), and manual observations were conducted twice a day, between 08:00-13:00, and 13:00-19:00, with each observation lasting five minutes. All bees visiting a flower were recorded and classified as honeybees, bumblebees, or solitary bees. Flower phenology was also recorded daily. Preliminary results show that cameras detected almost twice as many bee visits as manual observations. In addition, cameras captured visitation across all hours of the day, throughout the entire flowering period, providing detailed temporal and spatial information on bee activity and phenology. Our study provides valuable insights that cameras are a powerful tool to collect information on pollinator visits to apple flowers, enabling more comprehensive and temporally resolved datasets than traditional observations. Such improvements in data quality are essential for advancing applied pollination research and for informing management strategies aimed at sustaining crop yields under increasing environmental and agricultural pressures.
Authors
Magda KarloAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Brett Kevin Sandercock Martin Malmstrøm Eva Bonsak Thorstad Anders Nielsen Paul Ragnar Berg Anders Bryn Kjetil Hindar Lars Robert Hole Johanna Järnegren Kyrre Kausrud Lawrence R. Kirkendall Erlend Birkeland Nilsen Gaute VelleAbstract
VKM assessed the potential risks to biodiversity in Norway associated with the import and release of biocontrol agents for management of house flies and stable flies in poultry farms, pig or sheep barns, cattle feedlots, and horse stables. Effective control of filth flies requires repeated releases of up to one million mass-reared individuals, but recent permits have restricted releases to lower numbers. Risk assessments were completed for the dump fly Hydrotaea aenescens, the parasitoid wasps Spalangia cameroni, S. endius, Nasonia vitripennis, Muscidifurax raptor, M. raptorellus and M. zarapator, and the hister beetle Carcinops pumilio. Nasonia vitripennis is a native species in Norway, C. pumilio is a non-native species that is widely established in Norway, and S. cameroni occurs on pig farms in southern Norway. Hydrotaea aenescens and M. raptor have been detected in low numbers, whereas S. endius, M. raptorellus and M. zaraptor have not been reported in Norway. The biological control agents are generalist predators and parasitoids that could affect native species through six impact mechanisms from the Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa: competition, predation, hybridization, disease transmission, parasitism, and indirect effects. No impacts on native biodiversity have been documented where the non-native species occur in Norway or elsewhere. The potential for establishment and spread is low because the non-native species are associated with manmade habitats, have poor dispersal ability, and are warm-adapted species unlikely to cope with cold winters. Mitigation measures can reduce risks during import from commercial suppliers and releases in farms and stables, whereas surveillance programs could detect unexpected changes in insect communities. VKM concludes that the risks to native biodiversity in Norway are likely to be low from use of these biocontrol agents for management of pest flies in animal production facilities.
Authors
Zhe Yu Yihui Du Qianwen Ding Qiang Hao Hongwei Yang Kerou Shi Chao Ran Yalin Yang Chen Wang Johan Johansen Giovanna Ottaviani Aalmo Zhen Zhang Zhigang ZhouAbstract
Global food security demands sustainable alternatives to the conventional feed ingredient wheat. Nutrient-dense diploid potatoes (HQP) represent candidates due to their enriched phytochemical profiles, including high levels of vitamin C and lutein. However, their dietary utilization is constrained by endogenous anti-nutritional factors (ANFs), primarily solanine and trypsin inhibitors. Using a zebrafish model, we demonstrate that these ANFs trigger intestinal dysbiosis and an oxidative-inflammatory response. Mechanistically, this adverse gut environment suppresses the mTOR pathway, as evidenced by reduced phosphorylation of S6K1 and 4E-BP1, ultimately leading to growth depression. To address this toxicological barrier, we integrated genetic selection (diploid HQP) with thermal processing (steam-cooking). Quantitative analysis revealed that while thermal processing effectively reduced ANF concentrations to physiologically safe levels, the HQP matrix retained significantly higher residual concentrations of vitamin C, lutein, and zeaxanthin compared to conventional tetraploid (C88) and wheat-based diets. Mechanistically, protein-level evidence confirmed that this processed HQP formulation promoted the total NRF2 and suppressed NF-κB P65 accumulation. This metabolic shift attenuated inflammation, reactivated mTOR signaling, and subsequently enhanced growth performance and digestive capacity. Our findings establish a mechanistic framework demonstrating how integrated genomic design and processing strategies facilitate the functional utilization of high-phytochemical crops in sustainable food systems.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered