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.
2021
Abstract
The decline of the Arctic cryosphere during recent decades has lowered the region’s surface albedo, reducing its ability to reflect solar radiation back to space. It is not clear what role the Antarctic cryosphere plays in this regard, but new remote-sensing-based techniques and datasets have recently opened the possibility to investigate its role. Here, we leverage these to show that the surface albedo reductions from sustained post-2000 losses in Arctic snow and ice cover equate to increasingly positive snow and ice albedo feedback relative to a 1982–1991 baseline period, with a decadal trend of +0.08 ± 0.04 W m–2 decade–1 between 1992 and 2015. During the same period, the expansion of the Antarctic sea-ice pack generated a negative feedback, with a decadal trend of −0.06 ± 0.02 W m–2 decade–1. However, substantial Antarctic sea-ice losses during 2016–2018 completely reversed the trend, increasing the three-year mean combined Arctic and Antarctic snow and ice albedo feedback to +0.26 ± 0.15 W m–2. This reversal highlights the importance of Antarctic sea-ice loss to the global snow and ice albedo feedback. The 1992–2018 mean feedback is equivalent to approximately 10% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions over the same period; the share may rise markedly should 2016–2018 snow and ice conditions become common, although increasing long-wave emissions will probably mediate the impact on the total radiative-energy budget.
Authors
Amos Samkumar Dan Jones Katja Karppinen Andrew P. Dare Nina Sipari Richard V. Espley Inger Martinussen Laura JaakolaAbstract
The biosynthesis of anthocyanins has been shown to be influenced by light quality. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the light-mediated regulation of fruit anthocyanin biosynthesis are not well understood. In this study, we analysed the effects of supplemental red and blue light on the anthocyanin biosynthesis in non-climacteric bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.). After 6 days of continuous irradiation during ripening, both red and blue light elevated concentration of anthocyanins, up to 12- and 4-folds, respectively, compared to the control. Transcriptomic analysis of ripening berries showed that both light treatments up-regulated all the major anthocyanin structural genes, the key regulatory MYB transcription factors and abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthetic genes. However, higher induction of specific genes of anthocyanin and delphinidin biosynthesis alongside ABA signal perception and metabolism were found in red light. The difference in red and blue light signalling was found in 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED), ABA receptor pyrabactin resistance-like (PYL) and catabolic ABA-8'hydroxylase gene expression. Red light also up-regulated expression of soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) domain transporters, which may indicate involvement of these proteins in vesicular trafficking of anthocyanins during fruit ripening. Our results suggest differential signal transduction and transport mechanisms between red and blue light in ABA-regulated anthocyanin and delphinidin biosynthesis during bilberry fruit ripening.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Trygve S. AamlidAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Christel C. Kern Laura S. Kenefic Christian Kuehne Aaron R. Weiskittel Sarah J. Kaschmitter Anthony W. D'Amato Daniel C. Dey John M. Kabrick Brian J. Palik Thomas M. SchulerAbstract
We compiled data from several independent, long-term silvicultural studies on USDA Forest Service experimental forests across a latitudinal gradient in the northeastern and north-central U.S.A. to evaluate factors influencing aboveground live-tree carbon sequestration and mortality. Data represent five sites with more than 70,000 repeated tree records spanning eight decades, five ecoregions, and a range of stand conditions. We used these data to test the relative influence of factors such as climate, treatment history (uneven-aged or no management), species composition, and stand structural conditions on aboveground live-tree carbon sequestration and mortality in repeatedly measured trees. Relative to no management, we found that uneven-aged management tended to have a positive effect on carbon sequestration at low stocking levels and in areas of favorable climate (expressed as a combination of growing season precipitation and annual growing degree days > 5 ◦C). In addition, losses of carbon from the aboveground live-tree pool due to tree mortality were lower in managed than unmanaged stands. These findings suggest that there may be conditions at which rate of sequestration in living trees is higher in stands managed with uneven-aged silviculture than in unmanaged stands, and that this benefit is greatest where climate is favorable.
Abstract
Information about the distribution of a study object (e.g., species or habitat) is essential in face of increasing pressure from land or sea use, and climate change. Distribution models are instrumental for acquiring such information, but also encumbered by uncertainties caused by different sources of error, bias and inaccuracy that need to be dealt with. In this paper we identify the most common sources of uncertainties and link them to different phases in the modeling process. Our aim is to outline the implications of these uncertainties for the reliability of distribution models and to summarize the precautions needed to be taken. We performed a step-by-step assessment of errors, biases and inaccuracies related to the five main steps in a standard distribution modeling process: (1) ecological understanding, assumptions and problem formulation; (2) data collection and preparation; (3) choice of modeling method, model tuning and parameterization; (4) evaluation of models; and, finally, (5) implementation and use. Our synthesis highlights the need to consider the entire distribution modeling process when the reliability and applicability of the models are assessed. A key recommendation is to evaluate the model properly by use of a dataset that is collected independently of the training data. We support initiatives to establish international protocols and open geodatabases for distribution models.
Authors
Trygve S. AamlidAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Grassland farmers face ever increasing demands on their production systems and the quality of their grassland yields. Estimating pasture quality using traditional field methods is limited as it is time consuming and costly, and requires some destructive sampling. The field of remote sensing offers alternative tools and techniques to overcome some of the limitations and thereby help farmers to receive spatial continuous and near real-time information about grassland quality parameters. This review gives an overview about recent developments in the remote sensing-based estimation of three aspects of grassland quality: feed quality, biological nitrogen fixation by legumes, and the identification of unwanted plant species.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered