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.
2010
Authors
Miguel D. Mahecha Markus Reichstein Martin Jung Sonia I. Seneviratne Sönke Zaehle Christian Beer Maarten C. Braakhekke Nuno Carvalhais Holger Lange Guerric Le Maire Eddy MoorsAbstract
Terrestrial biosphere models are indispensable tools for analyzing the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of carbon and water. Evaluation of these models using site level observations scrutinizes our current understanding of biospheric responses to meteorological variables. Here we propose a novel model-data comparison strategy considering that CO2 and H2O exchanges fluctuate on a wide range of timescales. Decomposing simulated and observed time series into subsignals allows to quantify model performance as a function of frequency, and to localize model-data disagreement in time. This approach is illustrated using site level predictions from two models of different complexity, Organizing Carbon and Hydrology in Dynamic Ecosystems (ORCHIDEE) and Lund-Potsdam-Jena (LPJ), at four eddy covariance towers in different climates. Frequency-dependent errors reveal substantial model-data disagreement in seasonal-annual and high-frequency net CO2 fluxes. By localizing these errors in time we can trace these back, for example, to overestimations of seasonal-annual periodicities of ecosystem respiration during spring greenup and autumn in both models. In the same frequencies, systematic misrepresentations of CO2 uptake severely affect the performance of LPJ, which is a consequence of the parsimonious representation of phenology. ORCHIDEE shows pronounced model-data disagreements in the high-frequency fluctuations of evapotranspiration across the four sites. We highlight the advantages that our novel methodology offers for a rigorous model evaluation compared to classical model evaluation approaches. We propose that ongoing model development will benefit from considering model-data (dis)agreements in the time-frequency domain.
Authors
Helmer BelboAbstract
In this study, the efficiency of a small multi-tree felling head, mounted on a farm tractor with a timber trailer was studied, when harvesting small trees for energy in thinnings. Both separate loading and direct loading of the felled trees was studied. Time studies were carried out in a mixed stand of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) and birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.). The time consumption of the work elements in the different work methods was formulated by regression analysis, where the independent variables were tree size and degree of accumulation. The average size of the harvested trees was 0.035 m3. The time consumption for the harvesting and loading were similar for the two studied methods, 20 minutes per m3 at a tree size of 0.035 m3, but the two methods showed different characteristics for different tree sizes and level of accumulation. The direct loading method had the highest productivity when more than 0.1 m3 were collected in the felling cycle, whereas the separate loading method had the highest productivity when less than 0.05 m3 were collected in the felling cycle. The total effective time consumption for harvesting and forwarding the biomass 300 meters to roadside landing was 27 minutes per m3. The efficiency of the initial felling and collecting of the small trees was the main challenge. Both the harvesting technique and harvesting technology needs further development to provide a feasible production chain for woodfuel from energy thinning.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Competition for canopy space is a fundamental structuring feature of forest ecosystems and remains an enduring focus of research attention. We used a spatial neighborhood approach to quantify the influence of local competition on the size of individual tree crowns in north-central British Columbia, where forests are dominated by subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and interior spruce (Picea glaucax engelmanii).Using maximum likelihood methods, we quantified crown radius and length as functions of tree size and competition, estimated by the species identity and spatial arrangement of neighboring trees.Tree crown size depended on tree bole size in all species. Given low levels of competition, pine displayed the widest, shortest tree crowns compared to the relatively long and narrow crowns found in spruce and fir. Sensitivity to crowding by neighbors declined with increasing tree height in all but the pine crown radius model. Five of the six selected best models included separate competition coefficients for each neighboring tree species, evidence that species generally differ in their competitive effects on neighboring tree crowns.The selected crown radius model for lodgepole pine, a shade-intolerant species, treated all neighbors as equivalent competitors. In all species, competition from neighbors exerted an important influence on crown size. Per-capita effects of competition across different sizes and species of neighbors and target trees varied, but subalpine fir generally displayed the strongest competitive effects on neighbors.Results from this study provide evidence that species differ both in their response to competition and in their competitive influence on neighbors, factors that may contribute to maintaining coexistence.
Authors
Bringas Carlos M. Salas Tore Filbakk Geir Skjevrak Odd-Ivar Lekang Olav Høibø Reidar Barfod SchüllerAbstract
The effects of drying temperature and storage time on the compressibility and strength of Scots pine pellets were analysed in this article. Compressibility was not affected, whereas the highest pellet strength was obtained from the wood with longest storing and highest drying temperature.
Abstract
Concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in throughfall and soil solutions at 5, 15 and 40-cm depth were studied in 16 Norway spruce and two Scots pine plots throughout Norway between 1996 and 2006 (Wu et al. 2010a). Average DOC concentrations ranged from 2.3 to 23.1 mg/l and from 1.1 to 53.5 mg/l in throughfall water and soil solutions, respectively. Concentrations of DOC in throughfall and soil waters varied seasonally at most plots with peaks in the growing season. In contrast to reported positive long-term trends in DOC concentrations in surface waters between 1986 and 2003, soil water data from 1996 to 2006 showed largely negative trends in DOC concentrations and no significant trends in throughfall. However, regression analysis for individual sites, particularly at 5- and 15-cm soil depths, showed that DOC concentrations in soil water were significantly and negatively related to non-marine sulphate and chloride. Further studies were carried out on dissolved organic nitrogen (DON, Wu et al. 2010b). Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) concentrations were significantly and positively correlated to DOC concentrations in throughfall (r2=0.72, p<0.0001) and soil water at 5, 15, and 40 cm (r2=0.86, 0.32, and 0.84 and p<0.0001, 0.04, and <0.0001, respectively). At most sites, the annual median DOC/DON ratio in throughfall ranged from 20.3 to 55.5, while values in soil water were higher, ranging from 24.5 to 81.3 but gradually decreasing with soil depth. DON concentrations varied seasonally in throughfall at many plots and in soil water at 5 cm depth at one plot only, with higher values in the growing season, but there was no noticeable seasonality at greater depth. The ratios of DOC/DON in soil water were significantly positively related to the C/N ratio in soil at the same depth. Above-ground litter input was the main factor having a significant, negative relationship to DOC/DON in soil water at all depths studied. This might reflect the effect of site conditions on both DOC/DON ratios and litter quantity. A comparison of DOC and DON concentrations and fluxes at two Norwegian sites (Birkenes and Hirkjølen) and five Finnish Level II plots (Tammela, Juupajoki, Uusikaarlepyy, Kivalo and Pallasjärvi) showed no obvious correlation between concentrations and site and stand properties such as growing season length, temperature, precipitation, stand age, or soil C or N. DOC concentrations in the O horizon could not be linked to N deposition. However, there were clear within-site seasonal trends, compatible with an effect of temperature on microbial activity.
Abstract
Plants are exposed to a variety of pathogens in their natural habitats. To understand the key processes of defense responses in aspen (Populus tremulae) at the transcript level two clones C72 and C23 with differential level of resistance from the SwAsp collection were inoculated with a foliar rust (Melampsora magnusiana Wagnar). Leaf samples were collected from adjacent areas of the inoculation site to examine the long distance (systemic) defense responses at day1, day3 and day14 post treatments. We performed microarray experiments on the biothrophic interaction, on comparison with the healthy controls we found that the two clones respond in a widely different fashion to the rust. Clone C23 showed almost no response to biotroph after 24 hours while clone 72 gave a clear defense response to the pathogen. Quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) showed a significant differential expression patterns in susceptible and resistant colnes. Chitinase, cinnamic acid reductase and the iaa genes showed signification up-regulation in resistant clone. The level of expression was 5.9 delta threshold cycles in chitinase gene at day14. Data analysis from extracted total phenolics and condensed tannins verify the results of cDNA arrays and qRT-PCR.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Aruppillai Suthaparan Arne Stensvand Sissel Torre Maria Herrero Rolf Inge Pettersen David Gadoury Hans Ragnar GislerødAbstract
The effect of day length on production and germinability of conidia and severity of disease caused by Podosphaera pannosa, the causal agent of rose powdery mildew, was studied. Whole potted plants or detached leaves of Rosa interspecific hybrid 'Mistral' were inoculated with P. pannosa and exposed to 0, 12, 18, 20, 22, or 24 h of artificial light per day in growth chambers equipped with mercury lamps. Increasing duration of illumination from 18 to 20 to 24 h per day reduced production of conidia by 22 to 62%. Exposure to 24 h of illumination per day also strongly reduced disease severity compared with 18 h. Our results suggest that increasing day lengths from 18 h per day to 20 to 24 h may suppress the disease significantly and, thereby, reduce the need for fungicide applications against powdery mildew.
Authors
Morten Nitteberg Bruce Talbot Karl Stampfer Daniel KindernayAbstract
No abstract has been registered