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.
2019
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Repeat photography is an efficient method for documenting long-term landscape changes. So far, the usage of repeat photographs for quantitative analyses is limited to approaches based on manual classification. In this paper, we demonstrate the application of a convolutional neural network (CNN) for the automatic detection and classification of woody regrowth vegetation in repeat landscape photographs. We also tested if the classification results based on the automatic approach can be used for quantifying changes in woody vegetation cover between image pairs. The CNN was trained with 50 × 50 pixel tiles of woody vegetation and non-woody vegetation. We then tested the classifier on 17 pairs of repeat photographs to assess the model performance on unseen data. Results show that the CNN performed well in differentiating woody vegetation from non-woody vegetation (accuracy = 87.7%), but accuracy varied strongly between individual images. The very similar appearance of woody vegetation and herbaceous species in photographs made this a much more challenging task compared to the classification of vegetation as a single class (accuracy = 95.2%). In this regard, image quality was identified as one important factor influencing classification accuracy. Although the automatic classification provided good individual results on most of the 34 test photographs, change statistics based on the automatic approach deviated from actual changes. Nevertheless, the automatic approach was capable of identifying clear trends in increasing or decreasing woody vegetation in repeat photographs. Generally, the use of repeat photography in landscape monitoring represents a significant added value to other quantitative data retrieved from remote sensing and field measurements. Moreover, these photographs are able to raise awareness on landscape change among policy makers and public as well as they provide clear feedback on the effects of land management.
Abstract
In autumn, agricultural perennial weeds prepare for winter and can store reserves into creeping roots or rhizomes. Little is known about influence of climate change in this period. We tested the effect of simulated climate change in autumn on three widespread and noxious perennial weeds, Elymus repens (L.) Gould, Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. and Sonchus arvensis L. We divided and combined simulated climate change components into elevated CO2 concentration (525 ppm), elevated temperatures (+2–2.5°C), treatments in open‐top chambers. In addition, a control in the open‐top chamber without any increase in CO2 and temperature, and a field control outside the chambers were included. Two geographically different origins and three pre‐growth periods prior to the exposure to climate change factors were included for each species. All species increased leaf area under elevated temperature, close to doubling in E. repens and quadrupling in the dicot species. E. repens kept leaves green later in autumn. C. arvense did not benefit in below‐ground growth from more leaf area or leaf dry mass. S. arvensis had low levels of leaf area throughout the experiment and withered earlier than the two other species. Below‐ground plant parts of S. arvensis were significantly increased by elevated temperature. Except for root:shoot ratio of C. arvense, the effects of pure elevated CO2 were not significant for any variables compared to the open‐top chamber control. There was an additive, but no synergistic, effect of enhanced temperature and CO2. The length of pre‐growth period was highly important for autumn plant growth, while origin had minor effect. We conclude that the small transfer of enhanced above‐ground growth into below‐ground growth under climate change in autumn does not favour creeping perennial plants per se, but more leaf area may offer more plant biomass to be tackled by chemical or physical weed control.
Authors
Ivan Paponov Julian Dindas Elżbieta Król Tatyana Friz Vadym Budnyk William Teale Martina Paponov Rainer Hendrich Klaus PalmeAbstract
Auxin is a molecule, which controls many aspects of plant development through both transcriptional and non-transcriptional signaling responses. AUXIN BINDING PROTEIN1 (ABP1) is a putative receptor for rapid non-transcriptional auxin-induced changes in plasma membrane depolarization and endocytosis rates. However, the mechanism of ABP1-mediated signaling is poorly understood. Here we show that membrane depolarization and endocytosis inhibition are ABP1-independent responses and that auxin-induced plasma membrane depolarization is instead dependent on the auxin influx carrier AUX1. AUX1 was itself not involved in the regulation of endocytosis. Auxin-dependent depolarization of the plasma membrane was also modulated by the auxin efflux carrier PIN2. These data establish a new connection between auxin transport and non-transcriptional auxin signaling.
Authors
Dirk Jaeger Rolf Björheden Bruce TalbotAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Dirk Jaeger Marian Schönauer Bruce Talbot Rolf Björheden Eva Skagestad Michael Corsano Gerhard Rinkenauer Wagner ThiloAbstract
No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
Authors
Bjørn ØklandAbstract
The populations sizes of Ips typographus in Norway have been monitored since the last big outbreak period in the 1970s. By now the monitoring programme includes about 500 pheromone-baited trap records for each of the last 40 years. Normally, Ips typographus has been the only species of major concern in northern bark beetle outbreaks, and trapping records have served as a warning when the over-wintering population sizes are large. In contrast to Central Europe, the regional trend in northwest is that rainy weather tend to slow down the bark beetle populations in many years, whereas stormfelling episodes of spruces, snowbreaks and warm and dry seasons in certain years favour Ips typographus and other bark beetle species. Recent observations indicate that other less aggressive bark beetle species may play a more important role during severe drought periods that follow rainful seasons with low production of Ips typographus. It is likely that an increased frequency of extreme weather events may have unexpected effects on what bark beetles become abundant during the course of the outbreaks. Furthermore, the warm years seem to be especially favourable for the Ips typographus at the northernmost latitudes. In addition, a new bark beetle species for Scandinavia, Ips amitinus, is expanding its range and may become a participant in future bark beetle outbreaks in this region.
Authors
Peter H.W. Biedermann Jörg Müller Jean-Claude Grégoire Axel Gruppe Jonas Hagge Almuth Hammerbacher Richard W. Hofstetter Dineshkumar Kandasamy Miroslav Kolarik Martin Kostovcik Paal Krokene Aurélien Sallé Diana L. Six Tabea Turrini Dan Vanderpool Michael J. Wingfield Claus BässlerAbstract
Tree-killing bark beetles are the most economically important insects in conifer forests worldwide. However, despite >200 years of research, the drivers of population eruptions and crashes are still not fully understood and the existing knowledge is thus insufficient to face the challenges posed by the Anthropocene. We critically analyze potential biotic and abiotic drivers of population dynamics of an exemplary species, the European spruce bark beetle (ESBB) (Ips typographus) and present a multivariate approach that integrates the many drivers governing this bark beetle system. We call for hypothesis-driven, large-scale collaborative research efforts to improve our understanding of the population dynamics of this and other bark beetle pests. Our approach can serve as a blueprint for tackling other eruptive forest insects.