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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.

2011

Abstract

We used two datasets of 14C analyses of archived soil samples to study carbon turnover in O horizons from spruce dominated old-growth stands on well-drained podsols in Scandinavia. The main data set was obtained from archived samples from the National Forest Soil Inventory in Sweden and represents a climatic gradient in temperature. Composite samples from 1966, 1972, 1983 and 2000 from four different regions in a latitude gradient ranging from 57 to 67oN were analysed for 14C content. Along this gradient the C stock in the O horizon ranges from 2.1 kg m-2 in the north to 3.7 kg m-2 in the southwest. The other data set contains 14C analyses from 1986, 1987, 1991, 1996 and 2004 from the O horizons in Birkenes, Norway. Mean residence times (MRT) were calculated using a two compartment model, with a litter decomposition compartment using mass loss data from the literature for the three first years of decomposition and a humus decomposition compartment with a fitted constant turnover rate. We hypothesized that the climatic gradient would result in different C turnover in different parts of the country between northern and southern Sweden. The use of archived soil samples was very valuable for constraining the MRT calculations, which showed that there were differences between the regions. Longest MRT was found in the northernmost region (41 years), with decreasing residence times through the middle (36 years) and central Sweden (28 years), then again increasing in the southwestern region (40 years). The size of the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool in the O horizon was mainly related to differences in litter input and to a lesser degree to MRT. Because N deposition leads both to larger litter input and to longer MRT, we suggest that N deposition contributes significantly to the latitudinal SOC gradient in Scandinavia, with approximately twice as much SOC in the O horizon in the south compared to the north. The data from Birkenes was in good agreement with the Swedish dataset with MRT estimated to 34 years.

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Abstract

ClimaRice II is exploring the potential for use of mobile technologies in the context of climate change adaptation in agriculture. Modern mobile telephone technology is a key component of the ongoing communication revolution which in turn has great potentials for social change and development. The Indian telecommunication industry is the world's fastest growing industry with 811.59 million mobile phone subscribers as of March 2011. Most farmers are already using mobile phones for various day to day needs, but the technology has a wider potential in supporting their main profession; agriculture. Linking mobile technology with adaptation measures developed in ClimaRice projects could form new and powerful measures to meet the threats from climate change and provide support in sustaining rice production.

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Abstract

There is a need for accurate inventory methods that produce relevant and timely information on the forest resources and carbon stocks for forest management planning and for implementation of national strategies under the United Nations Collaborative Program on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD). Such methods should produce information that is consistent across various geographical scales. Airborne scanning Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is among the most promising remote sensing technologies for estimation of forest resource information such as timber volume and biomass, while acquisition of three dimensional data with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) from space is seen as a relevant option for inventory in the tropics because of its ability to “see through the clouds” and its potential for frequent updates at low costs. Based on a stratified probability sample of 201 field survey plots collected in a 960 km2 boreal forest area in Norway, we demonstrate how total above-ground biomass (AGB) can be estimated at three distinct geographical levels in such a way that the estimates at a smaller level always sum up to the estimate at a larger level. The three levels are (1) a district (the entire study area), (2) a village, local community or estate level, and (3) a stand or patch level. The LiDAR and InSAR data were treated as auxiliary information in the estimation. At the two largest geographical levels model-assisted estimators were employed. A model-based estimation was conducted at the smallest level. Estimates of AGB and corresponding error estimates based on (1) the field sample survey were compared with estimates obtained by using (2) LiDAR and (3) InSAR data as auxiliary information. For the entire study area, the estimates of AGB were 116.0, 101.2, and 111.3 Mg ha−1, respectively. Corresponding standard error estimates were 3.7, 1.6, and 3.2 Mg ha−1. At the smallest geographical level (stand) an independent validation on 35 large field plots was carried out. RMSE values of 17.1–17.3 Mg ha−1 and 42.6–53.2 Mg ha−1 were found for LiDAR and InSAR, respectively. A time lag of six years between acquisition of InSAR data and field inventory has introduced some errors. Significant differences between estimates and reference values were found, illustrating the risk of using pure model-based methods in the estimation when there is a lack of fit in the models. We conclude that the examined remote sensing techniques can provide biomass estimates with smaller estimated errors than a field-based sample survey. The improvement can be highly significant, especially for LiDAR.