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.
2016
Forfattere
Li Lai Xianjin Huang Hong Yang Xiaowei Chuai Mei Zhang Taiyang Zhong Zhigang Chen Yi Chen Xiao Wang Julian R. ThompsonSammendrag
China has experienced enormous changes in land use in recent decades, which are largely driven by its unparalleled economic development. We analyze changes in vegetation and soil carbon storage between 1990 and 2010 resulting from combinations of land-use category conversion and management. Results demonstrate a major decline in grasslands (−6.85%; 20.83 × 106 ha) and large increases in urban areas (+43.73%; 6.87 × 106 ha), farmlands (+0.84%; 1.48 × 106 ha), and forests (+0.67%; 1.52 × 106 ha). The total soil organic carbon pool has been reduced by approximately 11.5 Tg of carbon (TgC) year−1, whereas 13.2 TgC year−1 has accumulated in the biomass carbon pool because of land-use category change. Large carbon losses (approximately 101.8 TgC year−1) have resulted from land management failures, including forest fires and insect pests. Overall land-use change and land management have contributed about 1.45 Pg of carbon to the total carbon released from 1990 to 2010. Our results highlight the importance of improving land-use management, especially in view of the recently proposed expansion of urban areas in China.
Forfattere
Holger LangeSammendrag
No abstract has been registered
Sammendrag
No abstract has been registered
Forfattere
Katja Karppinen Laura Zoratti Marian Sarala Elisabete Carvalho Jenni Hirsimäki Helmi Mentula Stefan Martens Hely Häggman Laura JaakolaSammendrag
Background: Carotenoids are important pigments and precursors for central signaling molecules associated in fruit development and ripening. Carotenoid metabolism has been studied especially in the climacteric tomato fruit but the content of carotenoids and the regulation of their metabolism have been shown to be highly variable between fruit species. Non-climacteric berries of the genus Vaccinium are among the best natural sources of health-beneficial flavonoids but not studied previously for carotenoid biosynthesis. Results: In this study, carotenoid biosynthetic genes, PSY, PDS, ZDS, CRTISO, LCYB, LCYE, BCH and CYP450-BCH, as well as a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase CCD1 were identified from bilberry (V. myrtillus L.) fruit and their expression was studied along with carotenoid composition during fruit development under different photoperiod and light quality conditions. Bilberry was found to be a good source of carotenoids among fruits and berries. The most abundant carotenoids throughout the berry development were lutein and β-carotene, which were accompanied by lower amounts of 9Z-β-carotene, violaxanthin, neoxanthin, zeaxanthin, antheraxanthin and β-cryptoxanthin. The expression patterns of the biosynthetic genes in ripening fruits indicated a metabolic flux towards β-branch of the carotenoid pathway. However, the carotenoid levels decreased in both the β-branch and ε,β-branch towards bilberry fruit ripening along with increased VmCCD1 expression, similarly to VmNCED1, indicating enzymatic carotenoid cleavage and degradation. Intense white light conditions increased the expression of the carotenoid biosynthetic genes but also the expression of the cleavage genes VmCCD1 and VmNCED1, especially in unripe fruits. Instead, mature bilberry fruits responded specifically to red/far-red light wavelengths by inducing the expression of both the carotenoid biosynthetic and the cleavage genes indicating tissue and developmental stage specific regulation of apocarotenoid formation by light quality. Conclusions: This is the first report of carotenoid biosynthesis in Vaccinium berries. Our results indicate that both transcriptional regulation of the key biosynthetic genes and the enzymatic degradation of the produced carotenoids to apocarotenoids have significant roles in the determination of the carotenoid content and have overall effect on the metabolism during the bilberry fruit ripening.
Sammendrag
Convergent Cross Mapping (CCM) has recently been introduced by Sugihara et al. for the identification and quantification of causal relationships among ecosystem variables. In particular, the method allows to decide on the direction of causality; in some cases, the causality might be bidirectional, indicating a network structure. We extend this approach by introducing a method of surrogate data to obtain confidence intervals for CCM results. We then apply this method to time series from stream water chemistry. Specifically, we analyze a set of eight dissolved major ions from three different catchments belonging to the hydrological monitoring system at the Bramke valley in the Harz Mountains, Germany. Our results demonstrate the potentials and limits of CCM as a monitoring instrument in forestry and hydrology or as a tool to identify processes in ecosystem research. While some networks of causally linked ions can be associated with simple physical and chemical processes, other results illustrate peculiarities of the three studied catchments, which are explained in the context of their special history.
Forfattere
Till SeehusenSammendrag
No abstract has been registered
Forfattere
Alvaro Durand-Morat Eric J. Wailes Rodolfo M. Jr. NaygaSammendrag
We review the experiences and challenges that researchers can face when conducting contingent valuation studies in developing countries. We discuss these challenges based on our own experiences of conducting field-contingent valuation studies about genetically modified rice in five developing countries that represent different regions of the world and diverse cultures; we also base our discussion on results from a survey we conducted of agricultural and applied economists regarding their own experiences. The issues covered include the selection and training of local personnel, the recruitment of participants, sampling challenges, participants' compensation, survey methods and implementation, elicitation methods, the literacy rate of the population, and security/safety issues in developing countries. We also discuss the implications of our findings to other well-established stated-preference methods such as choice experiments.
Sammendrag
One way to protect timber in service against basidiomycete deterioration is by means of acetylation via reaction with acetic anhydride. The reason why acetylated wood (WAc) is resistant against decay fungi is still not exactly understood. The aim of this study was to contribute to this field of science, and Postia placenta colonisation after 4, 12, 20, 28 and 36 weeks was observed at Three acetylation levels of Pinus spp. sapwood. Mass loss (ML) and wood moisture content (MC) data reflected the acetylation levels. The initial equilibrium MC (EMC) proved to be a good indicator of subsequent ML. Genomic DNA quantification showed P. placenta colonisation in all samples, also in samples where no ML were detectable. The number of expressed gene transcripts was limited, but the findings supported the results of previous studies: WAc seems to have some resistance against oxidative mechanisms, which are part of the metabolism of P. placenta. This leads to a delay in decay initiation, a delay in Expression of genes involved in enzymatic depolymerisation, and a slower decay rate. The magnitudes of these effects are presented for each acetylation level. The data also imply that there is no absolute decay threshold at high acetylation levels, but instead a significant delay of decay initiation and a slower decay rate.
Forfattere
Marie Trydeman Knudsen John E. Hermansen Christel Cederberg Felix Herzog Jim Vale Philippe Jeanneret Jean-Pierre Sarthou Jürgen K. Friedel Katalin Balázs Wendy Fjellstad Max Kainz Sebastian Wolfrum Peter DennisSammendrag
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely used tool to assess environmental sustainability of products. The LCA should optimally cover the most important environmental impact categories such as climate change, eutrophication and biodiversity. However, impacts on biodiversity are seldom included in LCAs due to methodological limitations and lack of appropriate characterization factors. When assessing organic agricultural products the omission of biodiversity in LCA is problematic, because organic systems are characterized by higher species richness at field level compared to the conventional systems. Thus, there is a need for characterization factors to estimate land use impacts on biodiversity in life cycle assessment that are able to distinguish between organic and conventional agricultural land use that can be used to supplement and validate the few currently suggested characterization factors. Based on a unique dataset derived from field recording of plant species diversity in farmland across six European countries, the present study provides new midpoint occupation Characterization Factors (CF) expressing the Potentially Disappeared Fraction (PDF) to estimate land use impacts on biodiversity in the ‘Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forest’ biome in Europe. The method is based on calculation of plant species on randomly selected test sites in the biome and enables the calculation of characterization factors that are sensitive to particular types of management. While species richness differs between countries, the calculated CFs are able to distinguish between different land use types (pastures (monocotyledons or mixed), arable land and hedges) and management practices (organic or conventional production systems) across countries. The new occupation CFs can be used to supplement or validate the few current CF's and can be applied in LCAs of agricultural products to assess land use impacts on species richness in the ‘Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forest’ biome.
Forfattere
Matthew Patterson Daniel Gimenez Attila Nemes Annette Dathe Helen French Esther Bloem Johannes Koestel Nicholas JarvisSammendrag
No abstract has been registered