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
Authors
Magnus Löf Palle Madsen Marek Metslaid Johanna Witzell Douglass F. JacobsAbstract
Conventions and policies for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation state the need for increased protection, restoration and climate change adaptation of forests. Much degraded land may be targeted for large-scale forest restoration, yet challenges include costs, a shortage of regeneration material and the need for restored forests to serve as a resource for communities. To ensure ecosystem function for the future, forest restoration programs must: (1) learn from the past; (2) integrate ecological knowledge; (3) advance regeneration techniques and systems; (4) overcome biotic and abiotic disturbances and (5) adapt for future forest landscapes. Historical forest conditions, while site-specific, may help to identify the processes that leave long-term legacies in current forests and to understand tree migration biology/population dynamics and their relationship with climate change. Ecological theory around plant–plant interactions has shown the importance of negative (competition) and positive (facilitation) interactions for restoration, which will become more relevant with increasing drought due to climate change. Selective animal browsing influences plant–plant interactions and challenges restoration efforts to establish species-rich forests; an integrated approach is needed to simultaneously manage ungulate populations, landscape carrying capacity and browse-tolerant regeneration. A deeper understanding of limiting factors that affect plant establishment will facilitate nursery and site preparation systems to overcome inherent restoration challenges. Severe anthropogenic disturbances connected to global change have created unprecedented pressure on forests, necessitating novel ecological engineering, genetic conservation of tree species and landscape-level approaches that focus on creating functional ecosystems in a cost-effective manner.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Mette Thomsen Trude Wicklund Rune Andreassen Peter Martin Hilde Halland Magnus Göransson Morten Rasmussen Olafur ReykdalAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Isabella BørjaAbstract
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Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The notion of the Anthropocene does not fit well into the frame of scientific disciplines. The proposed onset of a new geological epoch has become closely linked with human history and with notions such as purposeful human actions. Purposefulness, however, is also subject to interpretation in the humanities and does not fit into analytical methods in Earth sciences. Scholars have taken up this challenge and engage with Earth scientists in public discourse on the Anthropocene. Due to the lack of a common frame of reference, discussions suffer from incompatible abstractions, notions, methods and results. Here, we propose an abstract model-framework facilitating communication between Earth scientists and scholars. In Earth sciences, models are often employed to provide a representation of an independent reality which imposes limits to growth. In the humanities, self-reference and reflexivity of modernity at all scales including the globe becomes a key issue. In the former view models can be decomposed and locally tested, in the latter models and concepts involving human action need to be considered in all their contextual and semantic relations. Typically, such concepts, for example in anthropology, do not come in a mathematical language. Nevertheless, we suggest that a common reference can be sought in an abstract model language, rather than in realistic models. Category theory and formal notions developed in computer science may provide such an abstract framework to accommodate the apparently incompatible views of models and concepts, which are considered as successful by their respective home disciplines. Diverse models such as examples from game theory (economics), from dynamic system theory (Earth science) and from a classification of ethnocosmologies (anthropology) can be formulated as different instances within a joint and abstract framework. Such a framework allows to investigate implications of the Anthropocene for logical similarities with past environmental events by seeking historical analogies (for example with the great oxygenation event) or formulating consistency requirements for the future (for example by defining sustainability). The prize for the common basis is a strict ‘epistemic hygiene’, avoiding most ontological assumptions and criticisms which often appear as dear to Earth scientists and scholars, but which may prevent a more fruitful exchange on an urgent interdisciplinary topic
Abstract
The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) research infrastructure is aimed at quantifying and understanding the greenhouse gas balance of Europe and neighboring regions. ICOS-Norway brings together the leading Norwegian institutes for greenhouse gas observations in the three Earth system domains atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial ecosystems, providing world-leading competence, which is integrated into one jointly funded and operated infrastructure. This provides Norway with a state-of-the-art research infrastructure embedded in European and global efforts. Even though each Earth system domain was part of dedicated research infrastructures prior to the establishment of ICOS-Norway, the greenhouse gas community in Norway was divided and there was minimal collaboration across the Earth system domains. The overall goal of ICOS-Norway is to provide accurate and accessible data on, as well as integrated assessments of, the Norwegian carbon balance at regional scale, across the land, ocean, and atmosphere. ICOS-Norway has thus led to an increased impact of environmental observing systems in Norway and surrounding seas, easily seen through the number of publications and new proposals generated as collaborative efforts. This poster presents the ICOS-Norway infrastructure, including plans for expansion and long-term funding.
Abstract
The measurement network Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) is dedicated to the quantification of fluxes of CO2, H2O, N2O and CH4 at the boundary between vegetation surfaces and the lower atmosphere. The implementation of observations sites follows strict protocols and a challenging labelling process to ensure standardized intercomparable observations. We report on our experiences in attempting to establish the only Norwegian ICOS Ecosystem site thus far, NO-Hur, located in an old-growth spruce forest at Hurdal in Southeast Norway. NOHur is planned as a class 2 site, with the option to an upgrade to class 1 later. The instrumentation and sensors needed, the requirements for spatial homogeneity and a detailed analysis of a digital terrain model are presented. The current status of the tower construction, the preliminary measurements obtained with the existing ICOScertified equipment at a test site, and the plans for integrating the measurements operationally into the network are shown
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The measurement network Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) is dedicated to the quantification of fluxes of CO2, H2O, N2O and CH4 at the boundary between vegetation surfaces and the lower atmosphere. The implementation of observations sites follows strict protocols and a challenging labelling process to ensure standardized intercomparable observations. We report on our experiences in attempting to establish the only Norwegian ICOS Ecosystem site thus far, NO-Hur, located in an old-growth spruce forest at Hurdal in Southeast Norway. NOHur is planned as a class 2 site, with the option to an upgrade to class 1 later. The instrumentation and sensors needed, the requirements for spatial homogeneity and a detailed analysis of a digital terrain model are presented. The current status of the tower construction, the preliminary measurements obtained with the existing ICOScertified equipment at a test site, and the plans for integrating the measurements operationally into the network are shown