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.
2008
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Clemens Reimann Rolf Tore Ottesen Malin Andersson Arnold Arnoldussen Friedrich Koller Peter EnglmaierAbstract
Production of wood ash has increased strongly in the last ten years due to the increasing popularity of renewable and CO2-neutral heat and energy production via wood burning. Wood ashes are rich in many essential plant nutrients. In addition they are alkaline. The idea of using the waste ash as fertiliser in forests is appealing. However, wood is also known for its ability to strongly enrich certain heavy metals from the underlying soils, e.g. Cd, without any anthropogenic input. Concentrations of 26 chemical elements (Ag, As, Au, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, La, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sb, Sr, Ti, and Zn) in 40 samples each of birch and spruce wood ashes collected along a 120 km long transect in southern Norway are reported. The observed maximum concentrations are 1.3 wt.% Pb, 4.4 wt.% Zn and 203 mg/kg Cd in birch wood ashes. Wood ashes can thus contain very high heavy metal concentrations. Spreading wood ashes in a forest is a major anthropogenic interference with the natural biogeochemical cycles. As with the use of sewage sludge in agriculture the use of wood ashes in forests clearly needs regulation.
Abstract
Manipulation of the canopy cover and site preparation are the most important silvicultural measures to enhance the conditions for natural regeneration of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). During the early regeneration phase however, seedling mortality may be high, so it is important to study how different combinations of stand-level treatments and site preparation methods affect seedling establishment. We studied emergence, 1st winter and 2nd summer mortality for naturally regenerated spruce seedlings in a field experiment that combined four harvest treatments (shelterwoods of high (SH), medium (SM) and low (SL) residual basal area, and a 50 x 50 m clear-cut (CC)) and two site preparation methods (patch scarification and inverting). The CC had significantly fewer seedlings the 1st fall than the SL and SH (p = 0.0377), and in all harvest treatments, fewer seedlings emerged in inverted than in patch scarified spots (p = 0.0351). Mortality was also lower with patch scarification than inverting (1st winter: p = 0.0565, 2nd summer: p = 0.0377), but was not affected by harvest treatment (1st winter: p = 0.9211, 2nd summer: p = 0.1896). On average, mortality from 1st to 2nd fall reached 38% and 27% after inverting and patch scarification, respectively. First winter mortality accounted for approximately two thirds of the accumulated mortality, regardless of the harvest treatment and site preparation method.
Authors
Erlend Nybakk Eric HansenAbstract
Entrepreneurship and innovativeness have seen considerable attention in the literature. However, little research has focused on micro-scaled enterprises, especially in the context of nature-based tourism. This work investigates how entrepreneurial attitude influences innovativeness and performance in Norwegian nature-based tourism enterprises. Data collection consisted of an e-mail survey and resulted in 178 usable responses. Respondents that exhibit a stronger entrepreneurial attitude appear more likely to change the way they organize their enterprise and tend to have higher income growth. Results point to potential policy actions that could positively impact rural development as well as individual firm actions that may enhance performance. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Abstract
Environmental control of the annual growth cycle of 'Glen Ample' raspberry has been studied in order to facilitate crop manipulation for out-of-season production. Plants propagated from root buds were raised in long days (LD) at 21 degrees C and then exposed to different temperature and daylength conditions at varying ages. Shoot growth was monitored by weekly measurements and floral initiation by regular sampling and examination of axillary bud #5. Under natural summer daylight conditions at 60 degrees N shoot growth was nearly doubled at 21 degrees C compared with 15 degrees C, while at 9 degrees C one half of the plants ceased growing and formed flower buds at midsummer. Developing shoots have a juvenile phase and could not be induced to flower before the 15-leaf stage. No significant reduction in induction requirements was found in larger plants. Plants exposed to natural light conditions from 10th August, had an immediate growth suppression at 9 and 12 degrees C with complete cessation after 4 weeks (by September 7). This coincided with the first appearance of floral primordia. At 15 degrees C both growth cessation and floral initiation occurred 2 weeks later (by September 21), while at 18 degrees C continuous growth with no floral initiation was maintained until early November when the photoperiod had fallen below 9 h. The critical photoperiod for growth cessation and floral initiation at 15 degrees C was 15 h. Plants exposed to 10-h photoperiods at 9 degrees C for 2-4 weeks had a transient growth suppression followed by resumed growth under subsequent high temperature and LD conditions, while exposure for 5 or 6 weeks resulted in complete growth cessation and dormancy induction. The critical induction period for floral initiation was 3 weeks although no transitional changes were visible in the bud before week 4. When exposed to inductive conditions for marginal periods of 3 or 4 weeks, an increasing proportion of the plants (20% and 67%, respectively), behaved as primocane flowering cultivars with recurrent growth and terminal flowering. It is concluded that growth cessation and floral initiation in raspberry are jointly controlled by low temperature and short day conditions and coincide in time as parallel outputs from the same internal induction mechanism. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Erik ChristiansenAbstract
Among thousands of bark beetle species worldwide, only a handful is able to attack and kill trees on a large scale. One of these is the 8-toothed spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus L., indigenous to the Palaearctic forests and recently introduced into North America. In Europe, the main host is the Norway spruce, Picea abies (Linnaeus) Karsten; in Eastern Asia, including Japan, the main hosts are spruces of the P. jezoensis group. In unmanaged forests, these beetles play an important ecological role by killing old trees and stands, thus promoting biomass recycling and ecosystem rejuvenation. Foresters who are faced with extensive tree mortality do not, however, welcome this activity: managed forests of Europe have lost hundreds of millions of trees in recurring outbreaks
Abstract
Lack of automatic weed detection tools has hampered the adoption of site-specific weed control in cereals. An initial object-oriented algorithm for the automatic detection of broad-leaved weeds in cereals developed by SINTEF ICT (Oslo, Norway) was evaluated. The algorithm ("WeedFinder") estimates total density and cover of broad-leaved weed seedlings in cereal fields from near-ground red-green-blue images. The ability of "WeedFinder" to predict 'spray'/'no spray' decisions according to a previously suggested spray decision model for spring cereals was tested with images from two wheat fields sown with the normal row spacing of the region, 0.125 m. Applying the decision model as a simple look-up table, "WeedFinder" gave correct spray decisions in 65-85% of the test images. With discriminant analysis, corresponding mean rates were 84-90%. Future versions of "WeedFinder" must be more accurate and accommodate weed species recognition.
Authors
Trygve S. Aamlid Oiva Niemelainen Maire Rannikko Terje Haugen Sanni Junnila Tatsiana Espevig Åge SusortAbstract
This report presents first year results from a two year project evaluating the plant growth regulator Primo MAXX® (trineexapac-ethyl) on Nordic golf courses.
Abstract
This research has demonstrated the ability of the surfactant Aqueduct® to increase soil water content and restore turfgrass quality on severely to extremely water-repellent golf greens with severe drought symptoms.