Hopp til hovedinnholdet

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.

2025

To document

Abstract

Purpose Losses of phosphorus (P) and carbon (C) from livestock farming impair downstream water quality, requiring a better understanding of their leaching processes. The aim of the study was to examine how leaching of P (total dissolved P – TDP; dissolved reactive P – DRP; dissolved organic P – DOP) and dissolved organic C (DOC) was affected by soil type, chemical property and amendment. Methods Leaching experiments with simulated rain were conducted on five different mineral and organic soils before and after a manure or mineral fertilizer application, respectively. The soils were: Fluvisol, Stagnosol, Umbrisol, Histosol (Ruptic), and Histosol. Profile-long soil columns were used, and chemistry of soil and water samples were studied. Results Before the P addition, the Histosol (Ruptic) soil with high P and organic matter contents but low sorption in the subsoil had significantly greatest flow-weighted mean concentrations (FWMCs) of TDP (315 versus 33‒48 µg L‒1), DRP (215 versus 5‒26 µg L‒1), DOP (101 versus 19‒33 µg L‒1) and DOC (46 versus 8‒25 mg L‒1) in drainage water among all soils. Leaching of DOC varied more than TDP, DRP and DOP across most soils. The manure application significantly elevated FWMCs-TDP in three soils than before the application and led to greater FWMCs-TDP in all soils and FWMCs-DOC in most soils than mineral fertilizer did. The ratios of DRP to DOP and to TDP were significantly correlated to whole-profile degree of P saturation (DPS) of the soils (R2 > 0.9, p < 0.05). Conclusion Sorption/desorption characteristics of subsoils greatly affected concentrations and loads of P and DOC in drainage, as well as the ratios of DRP to DOP and to TDP. Therefore, sorption/desorption characteristics and DPS of subsoils should be included in the work of assessing dissolved P and DOC leaching and developing nutrient mitigation measures.

To document

Abstract

No abstract has been registered

To document

Abstract

Soil bulk density (BD) is a macroscopic indicator frequently used to infer the soils’ pore system, a fundamental attribute of terrestrial environments that significantly affects processes such as infiltration, water retention and plant root development. Additionally, BD is essential for assessing the storage of various materials in soils and sediments, including carbon and nutrients. High bulk density, often a consequence of soil compaction, represents a form of soil degradation that diminishes the soil’s functional capacity. Therefore, effective management of soil BD is crucial for improving agricultural yields, safeguarding ecosystem services, preventing degradation, and preserving the overall integrity of the Earth’s system. This review synthesizes recent research on the packing behavior of granular materials to clarify the emergent property of soil BD. The findings yield an empirical model that links packing fraction to the shape and size ratio of particles. The results demonstrate that the model accurately captures the frequently observed exponential decrease in soil BD with increasing soil organic matter (SOM) content. While it is widely recognized that particle density influences BD, the analysis indicates that grain shape exerts a considerable effect, followed by the particle size ratio in granular media. The insights from this study aim to transform the perception of BD from a static notion to one that acknowledges how changes in the morphology of soil constituents, driven by factors such as root growth and decomposition, can result in variations in BD. As a result, BD may become increasingly sensitive to feedback from climate and land use changes as the geometry of SOM evolves.

To document

Abstract

Background and Aims Climate change is causing increasing temperatures and drought, creating new environmental conditions, which species must cope with. Plant species can respond to these shifting environments by escaping to more favourable environments, undergoing adaptive evolution or exhibiting phenotypic plasticity. In this study, we investigate genotype responses to variation in environmental conditions (genotype-by-environment interactions) over multiple years to gain insights into the plasticity and potential adaptive responses of plants to environmental changes in the face of climate change. Methods We transplanted 16 European genotypes of Fragaria vesca (Rosaceae), the woodland strawberry, reciprocally between four sites along a latitudinal gradient from 40°N (Spain) to 70°N (northern Finland). We examined genotype-by-environment interactions in plant performance traits (fruit and stolon production and rosette size) in ambient weather conditions and a reduced precipitation treatment (as a proxy for drought) at these sites over 2 years. Key Results Our findings reveal signals of local adaptation for fruit production at the latitudinal extremes of F. vesca distribution. No clear signals of local adaptation for stolon production were detected. Genotypes from higher European latitudes were generally smaller than genotypes from lower latitudes across almost all sites, years and both treatments, indicating a strong genetic control of plant size in these genotypes. We found mixed responses to reduced precipitation: several genotypes exhibited poorer performance under the reduced precipitation treatment across most sites and years, with the effect being most pronounced at the driest site, whereas other genotypes responded to reduced precipitation by increasing fruit and/or stolon production and/or growing larger across most sites and years, particularly at the wettest site. Conclusions This study provides insights into the influence of different environments on plant performance at a continental scale. Although woodland strawberry seems locally adapted in more extreme environments, reduced precipitation results in winners and losers among its genotypes. This might ultimately reduce genetic variation in the face of increasing drought frequency and severity, with implications for the capacity of the species to adapt.

To document

Abstract

Empirical field data and simulation models are often used separately to monitor and analyse the dynamics of insect pest populations over time. Greater insight may be achieved when field data are used directly to parametrize population dynamic models. In this paper, we use a differential evolution algorithm to integrate mechanistic physiological-based population models and monitoring data to estimate the population density and the physiological age of the first cohort at the start of the field monitoring. We introduce an ad hoc temperature-driven life-cycle model of Bemisia tabaci in conjunction with field monitoring data. The likely date of local whitefly invasion is estimated, with a subsequent improvement of the model’s predictive accuracy. The method allows computation of the likely date of the first field incursion by the pest and demonstrates that the initial physiological age somewhat neglected in prior studies can improve the accuracy of model simulations. Given the increasing availability of monitoring data and models describing terrestrial arthropods, the integration of monitoring data and simulation models to improve model prediction and pioneer invasion date estimate will lead to better decision-making in pest management.

To document

Abstract

Digestate, a key byproduct of anaerobic digestion (AD), holds residual methane potential (RMP) that must be stabilized or recovered to prevent greenhouse gas emissions after field use. Thermal hydrolysis (TH), typically a pretreatment for AD, improves biogas production. This study assesses RMP in digestates from food waste (FW) and sewage sludge (SS) biogas plants, treated with TH at 160 and 190 °C. For the liquid fraction, FW digestate at 160 °C yielded 1.5 times more methane than untreated digestate, while SS digestate showed a threefold increase. The solid fraction of FW digestate at 160 °C had 1.4 times higher methane yield than untreated, but SS digestate produced less methane after TH. Adding sulfuric acid after TH increased phosphate release but reduced methane production in both digestates. Overall, TH as a post-treatment enhanced organic content release into the liquid fraction, enhancing methane yield, while acid addition improved phosphorus solubility, thereby enhancing digestate's nutrient value.