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.
2024
Authors
Nina SvartedalAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Adam Eindride Naas Lasse Torben Keetz Rune Halvorsen Peter Horvath Ida Marielle Mienna Trond Simensen Anders BrynAbstract
There is an increasing need for ecosystem-level distribution models (EDMs) and a better understanding of which factors affect their quality. We investigated how the performance and transferability of EDMs are influenced by 1) the choice of predictors and 2) model complexity. We modelled the distribution of 15 pre-classified ecosystem types in Norway using 252 predictors gridded to 100 × 100 m resolution. The ecosystem types are major types in the ‘Nature in Norway' system mainly defined by rule-based criteria such as whether soil or specific functional groups (e.g. trees) are present. The predictors were categorised into four groups, of which three represented proxies for natural, anthropogenic, or terrain processes (‘ecological predictors') and one represented spectral and structural characteristics of the surface observable from above (‘surface predictors'). Models were generated for five levels of model complexity. Model performance and transferability were evaluated with data collected independently of th
Authors
Julian Helfenstein Samuel Hepner Amelie Kreuzer Gregor Achermann Tim Williams Matthias Bürgi Niels Debonne Thymios Dimopoulos Vasco Diogo Wendy Fjellstad Maria Garcia-Martin Józef Hernik Thanasis Kizos Angela Lausch Christian Levers Jaan Liira Franziska Mohr Gerardo Moreno Robert Pazur Tomasz Salata Beatrice Schüpbach Rebecca Swart Peter H. Verburg Anita Zarina Felix HerzogAbstract
Current agricultural practices in Europe are increasingly aggravating societal and environmental safety concerns. This creates social and regulatory pressures on farmers, which can lead to declining material and social status of farmers, farmer discontent, and anti-regulation protests. These tensions are rooted in conflicting value systems for agricultural development, which can range from productivist pathways (i.e. valuing production above all else) to increasing multifunctionality pathways (i.e. valuing agriculture for its contribution to multiple economic, environmental and societal needs). It is largely unknown to what degree individual farms and agricultural landscapes are transitioning towards increasing productivism or multifunctionality in practice. Here, we mapped landscape changes and interviewed farmers (n = 274) to examine the diversity of agricultural development pathways in 17 study sites across Europe over the last 20 years (2000–2020). We also assessed the associations between the development pathways and farmers’ perceptions of socio-economic outcomes, namely job satisfaction, societal valuation, and economic performance. Farm-level development was largely aligned with productivist pathways, while landscape-level changes aligned more closely with an increasing multifunctionality pathway. Farmers on pathways of increasing multifunctionality did not perceive improved outcomes on livelihood indicators as compared to productivist farmers. Furthermore, farms on increasing multifunctionality pathways were concentrated in sites with very high management intensities that face strong pressure from environmental regulations, as well as low-intensity, mountainous sites, where opportunities for intensification are limited. These results suggest that current pathways that increase multifunctionality arise mostly by necessity. Successful agricultural transformation will therefore require policy to create enabling environments that provide socioeconomic benefits for farmers to increase multifunctionality, and a civil society and market conditions that value sustainable agriculture.
Authors
Ivy Britzny Osae Peep Mardiste Dina Stober Sebastian Eiter Matthias Buchecker Monika SuškevičsAbstract
The ‘Aarhus Convention’ – regulating access to environmental information, public participation and justice in environmental decision−making – is a key international agreement with a long history and a considerable number of signatory countries. While implementation has been studied nationally, there is little comparative research at the transnational level. Based on ten criteria, we analysed national implementation reports of the 2014, 2017 and 2021 reporting cycles in terms of how 33 countries in Europe have implemented the access to information and public participation pillars, and identified obstacles they encountered. We also studied similarities and differences supra-nationally. Overall, countries are quite successfully fulfilling the obligations of the two pillars. Most obstacles reported concern four criteria: access to information, information provision, interaction, and trust. Implementation practices have changed little from 2014 to 2021. However, East- and South-European countries report more, and more persistent or repetitive obstacles, compared to Northern and Western European countries. The national democratic context seems to affect the quality of implementation. The Convention’s compliance bodies and national agencies responsible for coordinating the implementation are encouraged to interact more closely, to account for the differences and leverage implementation.
Abstract
Background: Recycling nutrients and organic matter available as waste in urban areas may close nutrient gaps and improve soil quality, but the concentrations of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are commonly higher than in mineral fertilisers. How quickly may the limits for soil quality be exceeded, and for which elements, if such materials are applied intensively? For a rough answer to this question, we used soil data from ten case farms near Oslo and Bergen (Norway) to estimate how PTE concentrations increased when the demand for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in a theoretical carrot crop produced every year was covered by compost or digestate from source‑separated food waste, or composted garden waste, compared with manure from horses and poultry which are often kept in peri‑urban areas. Results: With the intensive fertilisation assumed here, the Norwegian soil quality limits for PTEs were reached within 20–85 years, and faster for soil with more organic matter since regulatory limits set by weight discriminate soils with low bulk density. The limits were reached first for Cu and Zn, which are both essential micronutrients for crop plants. The concentrations of macronutrients in the urban waste‑based fertilisers were not well balanced. Rates covering the K demand would lead to high surpluses of P and N. In peri‑urban vegetable growing, high applications of compost are not unusual, but more balanced fertilisation is required. Conclusions: The Norwegian regulations for PTEs in organic soil amendments and agricultural soil are stricter than in the EU, and do not support recycling of organic matter and nutrients from urban waste. Many materials which can only be applied with restricted amounts to Norwegian agricultural soil, may be applied according to crop demand in the EU. Growers utilising urban waste‑based fertilisers intensively should monitor the soil regularly, including PTE analyses. Soil sampling should occur on fixed sampling points to reveal changes in concentrations over time. Norwegian authorities should consider a revision of the organic fertiliser regulation to support recycling of valuable organic materials. There is a need for more data on the PTE concentrations in agricultural soil and organic fertiliser materials. Keywords Cadmium, Copper, Zinc, Smallscale vegetable growing, Food wastes, Urban agriculture, Compost, Digestate
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
Authors
Geir-Harald StrandAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Geir-Harald StrandAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Lawrence Richard Kirkendall Kyrre Linné Kausrud Martin Malmstrøm Paul Ragnar Berg Anders Bryn Kjetil Hindar Johanna Järnegren Anders Nielsen Erlend Birkeland Nilsen Brett Kevin Sandercock Eva Bonsak Thorstad Gaute VelleAbstract
The Norwegian Environment Agency has asked VKM to evaluate the risks to biodiversity associated with the import of two species of leeches to Norway, Hirudo medicinalis and H. verbana (so-called medicinal leeches). In addition, they ask that the project group suggest mitigating measures that could reduce any potential risks, should import of the two species be granted. Background Bloodsucking leeches have been employed by humans for millennia. The two species Hirudo medicinalis and H. verbana have dominated the trade in medicinal leeches in Europe. Overcollection combined with loss or degradation of freshwater habitats led to a precipitous decline in European populations by the 1800s and led to a corresponding increase in imports from Turkey, North Africa, Russia and the Middle East. By the turn of the 19th century, the demand for live leeches in Europe had tapered off as contemporary medicine developed, only to have a small resurgence over the last decades as live leeches became recognized as useful for a variety of medical and cosmetic procedures, and to be the source of bioactive molecules of interest to medical researchers. As traditional medicine in Asia also uses a variety of leech products, there is a robust global market for live leeches and leech derivatives that is being met mostly by leech aquaculture, where the live leech trade seems dominated by H. verbana. There is increasing interest in commercializing production and sale of three similar leech species, H. orientalis from Central Asia, H. sulukii from a small region in Turkey, and H. troctina from North Africa. Hirudo medicinalis has been used medicinally in Norway since at least the Middle Ages when they were used by barber-surgeons for bloodletting. Leeches have been dispensed by apothecaries up until the end of the 1950s. Phylogeographic studies have treated the species as native to southern Norway and the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre has numerous records of H. medicinalis, with recent records primarily from the eastern coast of southern Norway. The Norwegian Red List for Species categorizes H. medicinalis as being of Least Concern in Norway. Hirudo verbana naturally occurs in southern Europe and has not been observed in Scandinavia so far (see map in Figure 2). Methods for the risk assessment VKM established a small working group with expertise in invertebrates and risk assessment. Our group combed the scientific literature and relevant websites for information on the taxonomy, natural history, ecology, and medical uses of medicinal leeches broadly and H. medicinalis and H. verbana specifically. The project group contacted major leech providers in Europe and North America to learn more about leech production and sale. Using the EICAT (Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa) system developed by the IUCN, The project group identified those mechanisms (“hazards”) through which these two species could affect native biodiversity in Norway should imported specimens become established in Norwegian nature, and characterized the risk related to each of these hazards. The project group then conducted a semi-quantitative risk assessment for the species according to four categories: Low, Medium, Possibly high, and High risk. Hazards: how likely, how impactful, and overall risks In our report, VKM regard H. medicinalis as a native species, since it is so treated by Hirudo experts and is widespread in Norway. The project group regards H. verbana as non-native to Norway. The potential hazards from the EICAT system that could be associated with introducing one or both species include predation and parasitism, competition, disease transmission, and hybridization. ................................ .................................... Conclusions VKM concludes that the overall risk to biodiversity in Norway from importing live H. medicinalis and H. verbana is low.