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
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.
Authors
Daniel Ruiz Potma Gonçalves Thiago Inagaki Luis Gustavo Barioni Newton La Scala Junior Maurício Roberto Cherubin João Carlos de Moraes Sá Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri Adriano AnselmiAbstract
Soils are the third largest carbon pool on Earth and play a crucial role in mitigating climate change. Therefore, understanding and predicting soil carbon sequestration is of major interest to mitigate climate change globally, especially in countries with strong agricultural backgrounds. In this study, we used a new database composed of 5029 samples collected up to 1-meter depth in three biomes that are most representative of agriculture, Pampas (Prairie), Cerrados (Savanna), and Atlantic Forest (Forest), to explore soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and its environmental drivers. The Cerrado (Savanna) biome was the only one where croplands presented higher SOC stocks than native vegetation (Native vegetation 121.23 Mg/ha and croplands 127.85 Mg/ha or 5 % higher). From the tested models, the Random Forest outperformed the others, achieving an R2 of 0.64 for croplands and 0.56 for native vegetation. The accuracy of the models varied with soil depth, showing better predictions in shallow layers for croplands and deeper layers for native vegetation. Our results highlight the importance of clay content, precipitation, net primary production (NPP), and temperature as key predictors for soil carbon stocks in the studied biomes. The findings emphasize the importance of protecting the surface layers, especially in the Cerrado biome, to enhance SOC stocks and promote sustainable land management practices. Moreover, the results provide valuable insights for the development of nature-based carbon markets and suggest potential strategies for climate change mitigation. Enhancing our understanding of SOC dynamics and adopting precise environmental predictors will contribute to the formulation of targeted soil management strategies and accelerate progress toward achieving climate goals.
Authors
Nina SvartedalAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Rapporten gir en oversikt over NIBIO sine aktiviteter i AdaptaN II prosjektet gjennomført i samarbeid med tsjekkiske partnere. NIBIO har bidratt med vurdering av erosjonsrisiko og modellering av erosjonstiltak for klimatilpasning på jordbruksarealer for et nedbørfelt i Větřkovice i Moravian – Silesian Region i Tsjekkia. Delrapport 1 gir en oversikt over aktuelle erosjonstiltak i bruk i Norge samt regelverk, støtteordninger og subsidier for miljøtiltak. Delrapport 2 gir en oversikt over viktige faktorer ved vurdering av erosjonsrisiko og resultat fra modellering av utvalgte erosjonstiltak, spesielt vegetasjonssoner og grasdekte vannveier for studieområdet i Tsjekkia.
Abstract
Denne rapporten gir en oversikt over NIBIO sine aktiviteter i AdaptaN II prosjektet gjennomført i samarbeid med tsjekkiske partnere. NIBIO har bidratt med vurdering av erosjonsrisiko og modellering av erosjonstiltak for klimatilpasning på jordbruksarealer for et nedbørfelt i Větřkovice i Moravian – Silesian Region i Tsjekkia. Delrapport 1 gir en oversikt over aktuelle erosjonstiltak i bruk i Norge samt regelverk, støtteordninger og subsidier for miljøtiltak. Delrapport 2 gir en oversikt over faktorer ved vurdering av erosjonsrisiko og resultat fra modellering av utvalgte erosjonstiltak, spesielt vegetasjonssoner og grasdekte vannveier for studieområdet i Tsjekkia.
Authors
Anne Muola Ivan M. De-la-Cruz Femke Batsleer Dries Bonte Carolina Diller Sonia Osorio David Posé Aurora de la Rosa José Luis Izquierdo Martijn Lodewijk Vandegehuchte Timo Hytönen Johan A. StenbergAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Ensiling of whole-crop biomass of barley before full maturity is common practice in regions with a short growing season. The developmental stage of barley at harvest can have a large impact on yield and nutritive composition. The relationships between crop growth, environmental conditions and crop management can be described in process-based simulation models. Some models, including the Basic Grassland (BASGRA) model, have been developed to simulate the yield and nutritive value of forage grasses, and usually evaluated against metrics of relevance for whole-crop silage. The objectives of this study were to: i) modify the BASGRA model to simulate whole-crop spring barley; ii) evaluate the performance of this model against empirical data on dry matter (DM) yield and nutritive value attributes from field experiments, divided into geographical regions; and iii) evaluate DM yield, nutritive value and cutting date under current and future climate conditions for three locations in Sweden and four cutting regimes. Main model modifications included addition of a spike pool, equations for carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) allocation to the spike pool and equations for C and N translocation from vegetative plant parts to spikes. Model calibration and validation against field trial data from Sweden, including samples harvested from late anthesis stage to hard dough stage that were either pooled or divided into regions, showed better prediction accuracy, evaluated as normalised root mean squared error (RMSE), of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) (7.58–18.4%) than of DM yield (16.8–27.8%), crude protein (15.5–23.2%) or digestible organic matter in the DM (DOMD) (12.0–22.2%). Model prediction using weather data representing 1990–2020 and 2021–2040 climate conditions for three locations in Sweden (Skara, Umeå, Uppsala) showed lower DM yield, earlier harvest and slightly higher NDF concentration on average (across locations and developmental stage at cutting) when using near-future climate data rather than historical data. The model can be used to evaluate whole-crop barley performance under production conditions in Sweden or in other countries with similar climate, soils and crop management regimes.
Authors
Brigitta Szabó Piroska Kassai Svajunas Plunge Attila Nemes Péter Braun Michael Strauch Felix Witing János Mészáros Natalja ČerkasovaAbstract
To effectively guide agricultural management planning strategies and policy, it is important to simulate water quantity and quality patterns and to quantify the impact of land use and climate change on soil functions, soil health, and hydrological and other underlying processes. Environmental models that depict alterations in surface and groundwater quality and quantity at the catchment scale require substantial input, particularly concerning movement and retention in the unsaturated zone. Over the past few decades, numerous soil information sources, containing structured data on diverse basic and advanced soil parameters, alongside innovative solutions to estimate missing soil data, have become increasingly available. This study aims to (i) catalogue open-source soil datasets and pedotransfer functions (PTFs) applicable in simulation studies across European catchments; (ii) evaluate the performance of selected PTFs; and (iii) present compiled R scripts proposing estimation solutions to address soil physical, hydraulic, and chemical data needs and gaps in catchment-scale environmental modelling in Europe. Our focus encompassed basic soil properties, bulk density, porosity, albedo, soil erodibility factor, field capacity, wilting point, available water capacity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and phosphorus content. We aim to recommend widely supported data sources and pioneering prediction methods that maintain physical consistency and present them through streamlined workflows.
Authors
Luiz Claudio Garcia Guilherme H. Carraro Sandro Felema Allison J. Fornari Leandro J. V. Sformi Thiago InagakiAbstract
Aim of study: An adjuvant is a material that is added to a spray carrier to improve the application technology's efficiency but lacks phytosanitary qualities. Our objective was to determine the best option of combining fungicides and adjuvants to control soybean (Glycine max) leaf diseases in three cropping seasons. Area of study: The experiment was developed in the Campos Gerais region (PR - Brazil). Material and methods: The five treatments consisted of 1) control (without applying fungicides on soybean plants); 2) fungicide application on soybean plants without adjuvant; 3) fungicide with adjuvant based on mineral oil; 4) fungicide with adjuvant based on lecithin and 5) propionic acid and fungicide with 50% of the dose of adjuvant based on mineral oil + 50% of the dose of surfactant adjuvant based on lecithin and propionic acid. The analyzed variables were the physicochemical characteristics of the spray carrier, the incidence and severity of diseases, and the yield components. A completely randomized design was used to study the physicochemical characteristics of the carrier and in randomized blocks for the field experiment. We used five replicates per treatment. Main results: No foaming and mixing incompatibility of the spray carrier was observed in any treatment. The adjuvant based on lecithin and propionic acid further acidified the spray carrier and presented the same surface tension as mineral oil. The soybean plants that did not receive chemical treatment had a higher occurrence of diseases, which reduced the productive potential. Research highlights: Adding adjuvants to the spray carrier did not increase the performance of fungicides in controlling diseases and did not affect the yield components.
Abstract
Ochnaflavone is a naturally occurring biflavonoid mainly isolated from Ochna integerrima, manifests health benefits encompassing antidiabetic, anticancer, anti-cardiovascular, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, most bioactivity research has focused on in vitro experiments, rather than in vivo disease models, toxicological assessments, and human clinical trials. Moreover, a comprehensive review of the pharmacological aspects of ochnaflavone is conspicuously lacking. Thus, this review provides a concise and comprehensive summary of existing knowledge on the chemical structure, plant origin, physical properties, biotransformations, and multifaceted biological activities of ochnaflavone along with an in-depth exploration of the complex molecular mechanisms behind these activities, including signaling pathways and gene expression regulation, with the aim of promoting future theoretical needs for ochnaflavone in clinical trials and providing comprehensive insights into the research and application of this valuable natural compound.