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.
2012
Sammendrag
This report has been prepared in the frame of Work Package 3 (Policy) of the Interreg IVB project Bioenergy Promotion. The main rationale of this work package is to support the development of coherent national and (sub)regional policies promoting the sustainable production and consumption of bioenergy. The purpose of the country policy assessment report is to describe the main promotional policies and support schemes for bioenergy and to assess to what extent national policy frameworks contribute to Sustainable Development and integrate related sustainability principles and criteria. At present and in the foreseeable future, the main source of raw materials for bioenergy in Norway is likely to be the forests. However, waste from agriculture, households and industry is another promising source. Investment support needs to be continued, at least at present levels. The main bottlenecks for increased use of bioenergy in Norway are economic, so economic support is necessary. Further development of the standard for sustainable forestry is required, in order to take into account aspects that are not yet covered (see above under Point 3.5). However, there is currently disagreement between the parties to the Living Forests standard, so revision is not likely to take place soon. Current research is being carried out, for example in CenBio and the project “Ecological consequences of increased biomass removal from forests in Norway” on the effects of whole-tree harvesting compared to stem-only harvesting on soil nutrients, carbon stocks, ground vegetation and regeneration). In addition, work is being carried out to study the applicability under Norwegian conditions of the guidelines of other countries such as Sweden, Finland, the UK and Ireland and to prepare preliminary guidelines for Norwegian forestry. There is disagreement on the likely short-term effects of biomass harvesting for bioenergy on carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems (see above under 5.2) and this needs to be further studied. In their present form, the binding EU sustainability criteria for biofuels/bioliquids should not be extended to solid/gaseous biomass used for electricity and heating/cooling. Some changes are necessary to take account of specific conditions e.g. in forestry. For example, it is stated in Point 4 of Article 17 of the Renewable Energy Directive that biofuels and bioliquids shall not be obtained from land that was continuously forested in January 2008 and is no longer continuously forested. It is unclear how this would affect clear-cuts. Also, in Point C7 of Annex V, the 20-year period for calculating carbon stock changes is completely unrealistic for forestry (although this refers to land-use change and it could be argued that felling is not land-use change if the land is used for forest afterwards; this should be clarified). These aspects of the Renewable Energy Directive are already problematic if forest biomass is to be used for biofuels or bioliquids.
Sammendrag
Our aim is to investigate the temporal dynamics of the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fAPAR) on a global scale and its relation to the main meteorological variables across space. We focus on complex patterns in time, which are neither regular (trend and seasonality) nor random (noise), but somewhere in between. We quantify complexity and information content or entropy using methods from order statistics and complexity sciences.Time series with high entropy are difficult to predict, whereas time series with high complexity are difficult to describe. This leads to a spatially explicit characterization of complex patterns in a very sensitive way. We use FAPAR observations (SeaWiFS and MERIS, 1998 to 2012) along with gridded global surface air temperature, precipitation and shortwave radiation.All these time series are explored on a pixelbypixel basis and clustered according to a very recent classification system of the land surface. In addition, we quantify the time reversal asymmetry of these data. We compare environmental time series with data from a stochastic candidate process temporally symmetric and long range correlated artificial knoise.Results were plotted in the ComplexityversusEntropy plane (CH plane), showing the particular footprint of each variable in a very sensitive way. Visualized in world maps, results revealed unexpected complex pattern in some dry regions, in particular on pixels surrounding deserts and in eastern Sahara. In this respect, the results provide a new classification of the climate and the biosphere. http://dames.pik-potsdam.de/Abstracts.pdf
Forfattere
Felix Herzog Michaela Arndorfer Debra Bailey Katalin Balázs Peter Dennis Tetyana Dyman Wendy Fjellstad Jürgen Friedel Salah Garchi Ilse Geijzendorffer Philippe Jeanneret Rob Jongman Maximilian Kainz Luisa Last Gisela Lüscher Gerardo Moreno Charles Nkwiine Maurizio Paoletti Philippe Pointereau Jean-Pierre Sarthou Siyka Stoyanova Stefano Targetti Davide ViaggiSammendrag
No abstract has been registered
Forfattere
Hanne Gro Wallin Gunnar EnganSammendrag
An overall societal aim is to ensure a sustainable use and management of agricultural landscapes. This requires continuous delivery of reliable and up-to-date information to decision-makers. To be able to deliver this information, a monitoring program for agricultural landscapes was initiated in Norway 13 years ago. The program documents and reports on land use / land cover changes from data captured through interpretation of true colour aerial photos using stereo instruments. The monitoring programme is based on a sample of 1000 squares of 1 x 1 km and the entire sample of squares is photographed over a five-year period. Each square is then mapped repeatedly every fifth year to record changes. Aerial photo interpretation is based on a custom classification system which is built up hierarchically, with three levels. The first level comprises seven land type classes: Agricultural land, Bare ground, Semi-natural open vegetation, Unforested wetland vegetation, Forest, Urban areas and Water. These land classes are further divided into 24 land types at level two, and approximately 100 land types at level 3. In addition to land type units we map both line elements like stone fences and point elements like buildings and solitary threes. By use of indicators that describe status and change focusing on themes of particular policy interest, we can report on whether policy aims are being fulfilled or not. Four indicator themes have been in focus hitherto: landscape spatial structure, biological diversity, cultural heritage and accessibility. Our data is stored in databases and most of the data quality check/structure process and analyses are now being made in open source software like PostGIS and PostSQL. To assess the accuracy of the photo-interpretation, ground truthing is carried out on 10 % of the squares. The results of this operation document the benefits of having access to photos of the same area from two different years. The program is designed first and foremost to provide reliable statistics at a national level but the aim is also to report at regional levels – for example for counties or for agricultural landscape regions. The national coverage and application of standardized methods enable frequent updating. This method is cost effective and enables us to quantify changes in landscape qualities as well as adapting the programme to take account of e.g. new findings on relevant indicators.
Sammendrag
The use of wood in outdoor constructions has long traditions in Norway. In the last decade, the environmentally demands for wood protective systems has become stricter. At the same time, new design solutions are arising that will challenge the decay protection in outdoor constructions. In this article, the potential for antioxidants as a wood protective agent was tested. Both natural and synthetic antioxidants have been used. All samples achieved a sufficient uptake of impregnation agent, and all the tested products showed a reduction in wood decay rate compared to the control. The protections by the antioxidants are more effective against brown rot fungi, than white rot fungi. The synthetic antioxidants stop the fungal degradation of the brown rot fungi, and should be considered as an additive in future and existing wood protective systems.
Sammendrag
A crucial process of the terrestrial carbon cycle is photosynthetic uptake through plants. This may be quantified by calculating the fraction of absorbed photosynthetic active radiation (fapar), based on multispectral reflectance properties of the earth surface. The fapar index is available with global coverage from satellite sensors.Here, we combine two satellite missions, SeaWifs on board OrbView2 and MERIS on board Envisat, to produce time series with 10 days resolution for a period of 14 years (19982011) at a spatial resolution of 0.5 latitude x 0.5 longitude. These more than 50000 individual time series represent a huge range of dynamical behavior with respect to variability, periodicities and correlation structure.To characterize differences as a function of spatial location or distance, we employ Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) and Recurrence Network Analysis (RNA). Two strategies are followed. On one hand, RQA and network variables are calculated for individual time series using identical recurrence parameters, and compared to see whether differences between them resemble different climate regimes, biomes, plant functional types or landuse classes. On the other hand, a multivariate extension of RNA will be exploited to see whether networks within networks occur, i.e. whether RNA provides sufficient contrasts to discern different clusters of pixels on the globe.Taken together, the recurrence analysis might lead to a new classification of the terrestrial biosphere which in turn can be compared to existing partitioning based on climate and/or vegetation properties. A number of technical issues will be addressed as well, such as the impact of the finite length of the series (504 values each), the necessity to gapfill parts of the data, the stability of network variables against changes in the recurrence parameters, or the computational challenges involved in the multinetwork analysis of many series. http://dames.pik-potsdam.de/Abstracts.pdf
Forfattere
Isabella Børja Jan Svtlík Toril Drabløs Eldhuset Holger Lange Frank Newell Kidder Douglas Lawrence GodboldSammendrag
No abstract has been registered
Sammendrag
Damage by cone and seed insects is a severe impediment to those producing conifer seeds in seed orchards. The SNS-supported network `Nordic cone and seed insects` has been cooperating to address this problem since 2007. One of the outcomes is the coordinated monitoring of the most important insect species. The data collected form a basis for establishing strategies for pest management.
Forfattere
Andreas TreuSammendrag
Improving wood preservation techniques can contribute substantially to reducing waste and avoiding negative environmental impacts. Dr Andreas Treu outlines a promising technique to dramatically reduce or even stop wood degradation altogether by using electro-osmosis. International Innovation is the leading global dissemination resource for the wider scientific, technology and research communities, dedicated to disseminating the latest science, research and technological innovations on a global level. More information and a complimentary subscription offer to the publication can be found at: www.researchmedia.eu
Forfattere
Severin WoxholttSammendrag
No abstract has been registered