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.
2018
Authors
Ivan N. Bolotov Alexander A. Makhrov Mikhail Yu. Gofarov Olga V. Aksenova Paul Eric Aspholm Yulia V. Bespalaya Mikhail B. Kabakov Yulia S. Kolosova Alexander V. Kondakov Thomas Ofenböck Andrew N. Ostrovsky Igor Yu. Popov Ted von Proschwitz Mudite Rudzite Maris Rudzitis Svetlana E. Sokolova Ilmari Valovirta Ilya V. Vikhrev Maxim V. Vinarski Alexey A. ZotinAbstract
The effects of climate change on oligotrophic rivers and their communities are almost unknown, albeit these ecosystems are the primary habitat of the critically endangered freshwater pearl mussel and its host fishes, salmonids. The distribution and abundance of pearl mussels have drastically decreased throughout Europe over the last century, particularly within the southern part of the range, but causes of this wide-scale extinction process are unclear. Here we estimate the effects of climate change on pearl mussels based on historical and recent samples from 50 rivers and 6 countries across Europe. We found that the shell convexity may be considered an indicator of the thermal effects on pearl mussel populations under warming climate because it reflects shifts in summer temperatures and is significantly different in viable and declining populations. Spatial and temporal modeling of the relationship between shell convexity and population status show that global climate change could have accelerated the population decline of pearl mussels over the last 100 years through rapidly decreasing suitable distribution areas. Simulation predicts future warming-induced range reduction, particularly in southern regions. These results highlight the importance of large-scale studies of keystone species, which can underscore the hidden effects of climate warming on freshwater ecosystems.
Authors
Francesca Giampieri Sadia Afrin Derek Stewart Gordon J. McDougall Rex Brennan Lesley Blyth Massimiliano Gasparrini Luca Mazzoni Franco Capocasa José Miguel Alvarez-Suarez Stefano Bompadre Pedro Nogueira Brás de Oliveira Claudia N. Santos Manuel Masias Pablo Agudo Jorge Crespo Bruno Mezzetti Tamara Y. Forbes-Hernández Maurizio BattinoAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The long history of human land use have had a strong influence on ecosystems and landscapes in the boreal forest region of Northern Europe and created semi-natural habitats of high conservation value. In this study, we quantify land-cover change and loss of semi-natural grassland in an agricultural landscape (6.2 km2 ) in the boreal region of Norway from 1960 to 2015, and document a 49.1% loss of area that was seminatural grassland in 1960. The remaining semi-natural grasslands became smaller and the connectivity between them decreased. Intensification and abandonment of agricultural land use were of approximately equal importance for the loss of semi-natural grassland although the relative contribution of these processes depended on the topography and distance to farmsteads. The study provides an example of how change in land cover can be estimated and key drivers identified on a scale that is relevant for implementation of management and conservation measures.
Authors
Tommi Nyman Eeva Ylinen Tuula Sinisalo Kit Kovacs Christian Lydersen Kevin C. Johnson Stephany Herrera Evgeny Ieshko Vyacheslav Alexeev Elena Alexeeva Craig Michell Mervi KunnasrantaAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Eva Lieungh Eriksen Heidrun Asgeirsdatter Ullerud Rune Halvorsen Sigrun Aune Harald Bratli Peter Horvath Inger Kristine Volden Anders Kvalvåg Wollan Anders BrynAbstract
Questions: Substantial variation between observers has been found when comparing parallel land-cover maps, but how can we know which map is better? What magnitude of error and inter-observer variation is expected when assigning land-cover types and is this affected by the hierarchical level of the type system, observer characteristics, and ecosystem properties? Study area: Hvaler, south-east Norway. Methods: Eleven observers assigned mapping units to 120 stratified random points. At each observation point, the observers first assigned a mapping unit to the point independently. The group then decided on a ‘true’ reference mapping unit for that point. The reference was used to estimate total error. ‘Ecological distance’ to the reference was calculated to grade the errors. Results: Individual observers frequently assigned different mapping units to the same point. Deviating assignments were often ecologically close to the reference. Total error, as percentage of assignments that deviated from the reference, was 35.0% and 16.4% for low and high hierarchical levels of the land-covertype system, respectively. The corresponding figures for inter-observer variation were 42.8% and 19.4%, respectively. Observer bias was found. Particularly high error rates were found for land-cover types characterised by human disturbance. Conclusions: Access to a ‘true’ mapping unit for each observation point enabled estimation of error in addition to the inter-observer variation typically estimated by the standard pairwise comparisons method for maps and observers. Three major sources of error in the assignment of land-cover types were observed: dependence on system complexity represented by the hierarchical level of the land-cover-type system, dependence on the experience and personal characteristics of the observers, and dependence on properties of the mapped ecosystem. The results support the necessity of focusing on quality in land-cover mapping, among commissioners, practitioners and other end users.
Authors
Piotr Goliński Marek Czerwiński Marit Jørgensen Jørgen A.B. Mølmann Barbara Golińska Gregory TaffAbstract
We investigated climatic trends in two contrasting locations in Europe at a regional level and at two specific sites, and we analysed how these trends are associated with the dry matter yield (DMY) of agriculturally improved grasslands. Trends of different meteorological variables were evaluated for Wielkopolska province, central Poland (1985-2014) and Troms county, northern Norway (1989-2015), as well as for two research stations located in these regions. Significant trends of increased mean air temperatures annually, and in April, June, July, August and November were identified both at the regional and site levels in Wielkopolska. In addition, growing degree days were increasing in Wielkopolska. In Troms, the common trends for the region and site studied were increase in mean air temperature in May and decrease in January. Grassland DMY was subsequently regressed against those meteorological variables for which significant trends were detected. In the Wielkopolska region, yields were negatively associated with the increase in air temperature in June, August, and the annual air temperature. The last relationship was also detected at the site level. We did not find any significant effects of climate trends on grassland DMY in the Norwegian study site or region.
Authors
Melissa MagerøyAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Paal KrokeneAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Dominique Gravel Benjamin Baiser Jennifer A. Dunne Jens-Peter Kopelke Neo D. Martinez Tommi Nyman Timothee Poisot Daniel B. Stouffer Jason M. Tylianakis Spencer A. Wood Tomas RoslinAbstract
Biogeography has traditionally focused on the spatial distribution and abundance of species. Both are driven by the way species interact with one another, but only recently community ecologists realized the need to document their spatial and temporal variation. Here, we call for an integrated approach, adopting the view that community structure is best represented as a network of ecological interactions, and show how it translates to biogeography questions. We propose that the ecological niche should encompass the effect of the environment on species distribution (the Grinnellian dimension of the niche) and on the ecological interactions among them (the Eltonian dimension). Starting from this concept, we develop a quantitative theory to explain turnover of interactions in space and time – i.e. a novel approach to interaction distribution modeling. We apply this framework to host–parasite interactions across Europe and find that two aspects of the environment (temperature and precipitation) exert a strong imprint on species co-occurrence, but not on species interactions. Even where species co-occur, interaction proves to be stochastic rather than deterministic, adding to variation in realized network structure. We also find that a large majority of host-parasite pairs are never found together, thus precluding any inferences regarding their probability to interact. This first attempt to explain variation of network structure at large spatial scales opens new perspectives at the interface of species distribution modeling and community ecology.