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.
2020
Authors
Jakob K. Huber Johannes KollmannAbstract
Calcareous grasslands are rich in biodiversity and thus receive much attention in nature conservation. In such grasslands, the formation of moss layers is perceived as a management problem. However, its impacts on the community level are complex, as not only inhibition but also facilitation of vascular plant recruitment occur. Possible filters of recruitment are shading by mosses, isolation from soil resources and the resulting desiccation. To understand how seed size and shape moderate moss effects, a combined glasshouse and field experiment was conducted in southern Germany. Seeds of 14 species from calcareous grasslands were sown either on top or underneath a moss layer, or on bare soil without moss. We determined the total number of emerged and established seedlings, i.e. the ones that survived until the end of the experiment. Both measures were reduced for most species sown on moss, while mortality was slightly enhanced by moss presence. Seed size explained a significant proportion of the moss effects on plant recruitment. Inhibitive effects on recruitment increased with seed size when seeds were placed on top of moss. When germinating underneath moss, the effect on emergence changed from negative in small-seeded plant species to positive in large-seeded species, but this effect was insignificant for establishment. The positive response in large seeds was probably due to their higher moisture requirements for imbibition, and lower dependency on light for germination. However, moss-seed-interactions were not affected by seed shape. Seedling establishment of plants with large seeds strongly depended on their initial position in moss, while small-seeded species showed no effect. Hence, moss layers constitute a selective recruitment filter by modifying seed penetration and hence germination conditions. This effect could increase beta diversity of vascular plant species in calcareous grasslands, and thus conservation should aim at intermediate and patchy moss abundance.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
Authors
Trygve S. AamlidAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Bert van der Veen Jenny Mattisson Barbara Zimmermann John Odden Jens PerssonAbstract
Food-caching animals can gain nutritional advantages by buffering seasonality in food availability, especially during times of scarcity. The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is a facultative predator that occupies environments of low productivity. As an adaptation to fluctuating Food availability, wolverines cache perishable food in snow, boulders, and bogs for short- and long-term storage. We studied caching behavior of 38 GPS-collared wolverines in four study areas in Scandinavia. By investigating clusters of GPS locations, we identified a total of 303 food caches from 17 male and 21 female wolverines.Wolverines cached food all year around, from both scavenging and predation events, and spaced their caches widely within their home range.Wolverines cached food items on average 1.1 km from the food source andmade between 1 and 6 caches per source.Wolverines cached closer to the source when scavenging carcasses killed by other large carnivores; this might be a strategy to optimize food gain when under pressure of interspecific competition.When caching, wolverines selected for steep and rugged terrain in unproductive habitat types or in forest, indicating a preference for less-exposed sites that can provide cold storage and/or protection against pilferage. The observed year-round investment in caching by Wolverines underlines the importance of food predictability for survival and reproductive success in this species. Increasing temperatures as a consequence of climate change may provide newchallenges for wolverines by negatively affecting the preservation of cached food and by increasing competition from pilferers that benefit from awarmer climate. It is however still not fully understood which consequences this may have for the demography and behavior of the wolverine.
Authors
Valborg KvakkestadAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Adjustable crop load primarily involves bud manipulation, and usually switches from vegetative to reproductive buds. While this switch is not fully understood, it is still controlled by the ratio of hormones, which promote or inhibit bud formation. To determine the reasons for biennial bearing, the effect of apple rootstock, scion cultivar, crop load, as well as metabolic changes of endogenous phytohormones [zeatin, jasmonic acid, indole-3 acetic acid (IAA), abscisic acid (ABA), and gibberellins 1, 3, and 7 (GAs)], and soluble sugars (glucose, fructose, and sorbitol) were evaluated, and their connections with return bloom and yield of apple tree buds were analyzed. Cultivars “Ligol” and “Auksis” were tested on five rootstocks contrasting in induced vigor: semi-dwarfing M.26; dwarfing M.9, B.396, and P 67; and super-dwarfing P 22. Crop load levels were adjusted before flowering, leaving 75, 113, and 150 fruits per tree. Principal component analysis (PCA) scatter plot of the metabolic response of phytohormones and sugars indicated that the effect of the semi-dwarfing M.26 rootstock was significantly different from that of the dwarfing M.9 and P 67, as well as the super-dwarfing P 22 rootstocks in both varieties. The most intensive crop load (150 fruits per tree) produced a significantly different response compared to less intensive crop loads (113 and 75) in both varieties. In contrast to soluble sugar accumulation, increased crop load resulted in an increased accumulation of phytohormones, except for ABA. Dwarfing rootstocks M.9, B.396, and P 67, as well as super-dwarf P 22 produced an altered accumulation of promoter phytohormones, while the more vigorous semi-dwarfing M.26 rootstock induced a higher content of glucose and inhibitory phytohormones, by increasing content of IAA, ABA, and GAs. The most significant decrease in return bloom resulted from the highest crop load in “Auksis” grafted on M.9 and P 22 rootstocks. Average difference in flower number between crop loads of 75 and 150 fruits per tree in “Ligol” was 68%, while this difference reached ~ 90% for P 22, and ~ 75% for M.9 and M.26 rootstocks. Return bloom was dependent on the previous year’s crop load, cultivar, and rootstock.
Abstract
Cereal grain contaminated by Fusarium mycotoxins is undesirable in food and feed because of the harmful health effects of the mycotoxins in humans and animals. Reduction of mycotoxin content in grain by cleaning and size sorting has mainly been studied in wheat. We investigated whether the removal of small kernels by size sorting could be a method to reduce the content of mycotoxins in oat grain. Samples from 24 Norwegian mycotoxin-contaminated grain lots (14 from 2015 and 10 from 2018) were sorted by a laboratory sieve (sieve size 2.2 mm) into large and small kernel fractions and, in addition to unsorted grain samples, analyzed with LC-MS-MS for quantification of 10 mycotoxins. By removing the small kernel fraction (on average 15% and 21% of the weight of the samples from the two years, respectively), the mean concentrations of HT-2+T-2 toxins were reduced by 56% (from 745 to 328 µg/kg) in the 2015 samples and by 32% (from 178 to 121 µg/kg) in the 2018 samples. Deoxynivalenol (DON) was reduced by 24% (from 191 to 145 µg/kg) in the 2018 samples, and enniatin B (EnnB) by 44% (from 1059 to 594 µg/kg) in the 2015 samples. Despite low levels, our analyses showed a trend towards reduced content of DON, ADON, NIV, EnnA, EnnA1, EnnB1 and BEA after removing the small kernel fraction in samples from 2015. For several of the mycotoxins, the concentrations were considerably higher in the small kernel fraction compared to unsorted grain. Our results demonstrate that the level of mycotoxins in unprocessed oat grain can be reduced by removing small kernels. We assume that our study is the first report on the effect of size sorting on the content of enniatins (Enns), NIV and BEA in oat grains.
Authors
Veronika Maurer Spiridoula Athanasiadou Catherine Experton Florian Leiber Håvard Steinshamn Lucius TammAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
A Schmitt I Pertot V Verrastro Jakob Magid B Moeskops K Möller Spiridoula Athanasiadou C Experton Håvard Steinshamn F Leiber Veronika Maurer EK Bunemann J Herforth-Rahme Lucius TammAbstract
No abstract has been registered