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.
2009
Authors
Karl ThunesAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
A. Lehtinen B. Andersson Vinh Hong Le Ragnhild Nærstad M. Rastas E. Ketoja A. O. Hannukkala Arne Hermansen B. Nielsen J. G. Hansen J. YuenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Keith MacMillan Solveig Haukeland Robbie Rae Iain Young John Crawford Simona Hapca Michael WilsonAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The chapter reviews the available literature about the adverse effects of excess nickel on plants and their adaptation mechanisms. The study is focused on forest ecosystems exposed to extreme air pollution from the nickel-processing industry in Northern Fennoscandia. Long-term deposition of heavy metals and sulphur has caused strong soil contamination and severe damage to trees and ground vegetation, their structure, composition and chemistry. Tree leaves, branches and bark as well as dwarf shrubs, mosses and lichens show clearly elevated concentrations of nickel and copper in the surroundings of the smelters. Multivariate analyses show that changes in the element composition of plants depend both on air pollution and on natural factors. Besides direct input of pollutants from atmosphere, soil contamination and nutritional disturbance contribute significantly to the observed changes. Despite decline in emissions, extreme pool of heavy metals accumulated in surface soils is expected to influence plant metabolism and chemistry over a long period of time.
Abstract
The estrogenic mycotoxin zearalenone (ZON) produced by some Fusarium spp. causes reproductive problems and hyperestrogenic syndromes in mammals. In an effort to elucidate the molecular pathways of ZON production, we present a comparative real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction expression study of seven contiguous genes in the ZON biosynthetic cluster on sterile rice and during wheat and oat infection. Under ZON production on rice, the polyketide synthase (PKS) genes PKS4 and PKS13, alcohol oxidase FG12056 gene, and transcriptional regulator FG02398 gene showed similarly upregulated patterns, whereas the nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NPS) FG02394, the K+ channel beta subunit FG12015, and the protein kinase FG02399 displayed a variant pattern. During the same time period under wheat infection when no ZON was produced, the PKS genes and the NPS were downregulated relative to rice whereas the K+ channel beta subunit gene FG12015 was markedly upregulated, suggesting that it may play a role in the infection process. This is the first expression study of ZON biosynthetic genes in planta. The results give insight into the regulation and activities of the ZON gene cluster under different experimental systems and suggest a connection between ZON and a K+ channel that could reveal a novel function for ZON in Fusarium spp.
Abstract
Myrmica specioides Bondroit, 1918 and Formica cunicularia Latreille, 1798 are recorded in Norway for the first time. Both species were found in 2008 at Jeløya, Østfold County in South-Eastern Norway. A total of 54 outdoor-living ant species are now known to occur in Norway.
Abstract
The common European cerambycid Leiopus nebulosus (Linnaeus, 1758) is herein split into two sibling species. The male genitalia characters, as well as spermathecae in females, were examined and found to provide strong support for this separation. A new species, Leiopus linnei sp. nov., is based on specimens mainly from Scandinavia. The establishment of the new species is supported by DNA barcoding of Scandinavian specimens of L. nebulosus, L. linnei sp. nov., and L. punctulatus (Paykull, 1800). There are significant genetic differences between all these species. The geographical distribution and the bionomy of L. nebulosus and L. linnei sp. nov. are described. The type of Cerambyx nebulosus Linnaeus, 1758 is lost. A neotype of Cerambyx nebulosus, currently Leiopus nebulosus (Linnaeus, 1758), is designated and a redescription of L. nebulosus is presented. A key for the identification of L. nebulosus and L. linnei sp. nov. is provided. The varieties L. nebulosus var. dissimilis Pic, 1889, L. nebulosus var. unifasciatus Pic, 1891, and L. nebulosus var. siculus Pic, 1924 are considered as junior synonyms, syn.nov. of L. nebulosus.
Abstract
Organochlorine pollutants in the major fish species (pike Esox lucius, perch Perca fluviatilis, and roach Rutilus rutilus) of Lake Arungen, Norway, were investigated after an extensive removal of large pike in 2004. The organochlorine pollutants detected in fish liver samples in 2005 were dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDTs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and heptachlor epoxide (HCE). DDTs were the dominant among all analyzed OCs. Sigma PCB and HCB, detected in fish from two clearly distinct trophic levels (prey and predators), give an indication of biontagnification. All OC concentrations in female pike were significantly lower compared to males, which might be due to the removal of high concentrations of pollutants in roe during spawning. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Abstract
Control of dock species are a true bottleneck in the development of grassland based organic forage production in Norway. Rumex obtusifolius, Rumex crispus and Rumex longifolius are among the most important perennial weeds in grassland areas throughout the world. These dock- species are undesired in grasslands because they decrease yields and reduce forage feeding value. The experiment in our study is carried out as a full-factorial design, including key-factors, which may influence dock behaviour significantly. The first factor, (i) date of grassland establishment, may be important for preventing /decreasing the flush of seedlings from seeds as well as shoots from root fragments. The purpose of the second factor, (ii) black fallow, is both false seedbed preparation and decreasing food reserves in underground plant parts. The third factor, (iii) is the use of equipment for cutting the taproot either (a) before ploughing by using a tractor propelled rotovator, or (b) cutting the dock taproot in the same operation as ploughing by using a prototype ¿two layer dockplough¿. The biological background for cutting the taproot before ploughing is that many studies have shown that new shoots only come from the 5 upper cm of the taproot. Furthermore, our hypothesis is that shoots from highly fragmented regenerative parts (the neck) of the taproot placed deep will not reach the soil surface before their reserves are depleted. Experiments were carried out at 3 and 4 locations in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Weed development were assessed as number of emerging seedlings as well as number of sprouting plants from root fragments, both in the year when the treatments were carried out and the following year. The results are yet not completely analyzed, but preliminary results indicate that plants from seeds frequently are more numerous than plants from roots. At least at some locations and years both the use of rotovator and the ¿dock plough¿, has reduced the number of plants from root fragments with approx. 50%. However, our experiments have shown that ¿dock plough¿ prototype has to be improved, especially because it did not cut the taproot near the open furrow, and did not bury the green parts well enough.
Abstract
The most important and widespread disease on golf courses is Microdochium nivale. It is a psycrotrophic fungal plant pathogen that is the main cause of biotic winter injury in grasses in the temperate and sub-arctic climates, both with and without snow cover. It is an opportunistic pathogen, with the ability to attack plants under a wide range of environmental conditions. A large variation in both host preference and aggressiveness among isolates has been documented. It is speculated that these traits as well as competition between isolates may be dependent on temperature. The fungus is spread by infected seeds and from infected plants or debris. Besides seed transmitted inoculum, it is not clear whether the primary inoculum source is wind dispersed ascospores or soilborne/plant debris borne inoculum. Wind borne ascospores has been claimed to be the main inoculum source, but perithecia are hardly observed on grasses on Norway. The aim of the present project was obtain better understanding of what is the source of primary inoculum for snow mould caused by M. nivale; to understand how inoculum of M. nivale survives from spring to fall, and from year to year, to understand how climatic conditions affects the potential inoculum by monitoring symptoms on plants, occurrence of the fungus and growth characteristics in vitro of strains sampled from snow melt and through summer and autumn. To obtain such knowledge, surveys and sampling on selected golf courses was conducted. Snow mould symptoms and the occurrence of M. nivale in leaves and stems of grasses sampled from golf greens and foregreens was reduced during the growth season. We also found that M. nivale could be isolated from locations without visible symptoms. Despite a lower isolation rate in autumn, M. nivale was again isolated in some of the originally locations, the following spring. The M. nivale isolation rate was similar from sites located on greens compared to foregreens, and from greens located at more sunny sites compared to more shadowy located greens. We conclude that this fungus seem to survive from year to year within the same locations on greens and foregreens.