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
To evaluate overwintering strategies of the fungus Neozygites floridana, an important natural enemy of Tetranychus urticae, hibernating T. urticae females were investigated for the presence of fungal structures throughout one winter (October 12, 2006 to February 19, 2007) in field-grown strawberries in a cold climate in Norway ( min. ambient temp -15.3 degrees C). Neozygites floridana was present as hyphal bodies inside live, hibernating females in T. urticae populations throughout the sampling period. The lowest percentages of hibernating females with hyphal bodies were found at the two first dates of sampling at 5.5 and 0% on October 12 and 19, respectively. The prevalence then increased and peaked at 54.4% on January 14. Resting spores (immature) were also found in live hibernating females at some dates, but at lower prevalence than for hyphal bodies and predominantly only until November 8. Prevalence of resting spores in live hibernating females ranged from 2.5 to 13.8%. Total number of T. urticae was also recorded, and most mites of all four categories (nymphs, males, non-hibernating and hibernating females) were found at the first sampling date. At this date non-hibernating females were the most abundant. A sharp decrease in non-hibernating females, nymphs and males was, however, seen from mid-October to mid-November; also numbers of hibernating females decreased, but not as fast. The relative abundance of hibernating females compared to non-hibernating females increased from 32.2% at the first collection (October 12) to 97.7% at the last collection (February 2). This study confirms that N.floridana survives the winter as a semi-latent hyphal body infection, protected inside live hibernating females. It is therefore ready to develop and sporulate as soon as climatic conditions permit, resulting in early season infection of T. urticae.
Authors
Arild Andersen An Tran Thi Thien Einar NordhusAbstract
The present distribution and host plant preferences of the polyphagous pest species Liriomyza sativae, L. huidobrensis, L. trifolii and L. bryoniae within the different provinces of Vietnam is discussed. For each species also the possible further spread within Vietnam is discussed.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
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
Chemical methods to assess bioavailability in soil and sediment often use synthetic polymers that mimic uptake of organic compounds in organisms or microbial degradation. In this paper we have assessed a biomimetic extraction method using hydroxyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) to estimate uptake of the two insecticides alpha-cypermethrin (alpha-CYP) and chlorfen-vinphos (CFVP) in the earthworm Eisenia fetida. Additionally, a novel approach was developed to estimate the efficiency of biomimetic extractions. The study revealed that HP-beta-CD is a suitable surrogate for estimating the bioaccessibility of hydrophobic chemicals in soil. If one uses a 3.5 times higher amount of HP-beta-CD than soil, effective and reproducible extractions can be achieved within 48h. At these conditions, inclusion of dissolved chemicals by HP-beta-CD mimics uptake of a given compound into earthworms and takes into account sorption-related aspects that control biological uptake. The data indicate that, with increasing hydrophobicity, the affinity of organic chemicals to HP-beta-CD does not increase to the same degree as to soil organic matter. Therefore, a high surplus of HP-beta-CD is necessary to provide a sufficient extraction capacity in biomimetic extractions.
Authors
Johanne E. Schjøth Anne-Marte Tronsmo Leif SundheimAbstract
Visual assessment of maize ears and Fusarium spp. isolation from kernels were compared to determine resistance in 20 Zambian maize hybrids. The mean percentage Fusarium spp. isolations in non-inoculated field experiments varied between years (12-62%). Symptomless infection by Fusarium spp. had domination over symptomatic. More than 95% of the Fusarium species isolated were F. vertcillioides. A disease severity index and the percentage of visibly diseased, discoloured and damaged kernels did not differentiate hybrids with respect to Fusarium spp. ear rot under natural conditions. Artificial inoculation provided a good estimate of Fusarium spp. resistance based on visual symptoms in a year of moderate disease pressure, but not in a year of high disease pressure. The percentage Fusarium spp. isolations showed significant differences between hybrids after inoculation, and it was significantly negatively correlated with the number of days from planting to midsilk. Parental line L5522 contributed to hybrid resistance to Fusarium. The hybrids MM 701-1 and MM 752 were the most resistant among the 20 hybrids.
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.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The effect of night temperature on short day (SD) floral induction has been studied in three June-bearing strawberry cultivars of different geographic origin and compared with yield performance in the cool Nordic environment. At the optimum day temperature of 18 degrees C, the SD flowering response of the cultivars 'Florence' and 'Korona' increased significantly with increasing night temperature from 9 to 18 degrees C, while an optimum was reached at 15 degrees C in the cultivar 'Frida' that is selected under cool-environment conditions in Norway. Also, while saturated flowering response was obtained with 3 weeks of SD treatment at all temperatures in 'Frida', several plants of 'Florence' and 'Korona' failed to initiate flowers at 9 degrees C night temperature even with 5 weeks of SD. The effect of extended SD period was particularly pronounced in 'Florence'. The slow SD floral induction response of 'Florence' was associated with a 2 week delay of anthesis in subsequent long day (LD) conditions at 21 degrees C. Yield performance of the same cultivars during 2 years under field conditions at Nes Hedmark and in North Norway also demonstrated that the yield potential of 'Florence' was not realized under the climatic conditions prevailing at these locations. In both years the yields varied significantly among the cultivars,'Frida' having the highest yields followed by 'Korona', with 'Florence' far below. It is concluded that, in the Nordic environment, autumn (September) night temperatures are obviously suboptimal for yield performance of some June-bearing strawberry cultivars, and that this effect is mediated by autumn temperature effects on flower initiation responses. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Abstract
The environmental control of flowering in five populations of Fragaria virginiana ssp. glauca and three populations of F virginiana ssp. virginiana (henceforth referred to as F virginiana), obtained as seed from the National Plant Germplasm Repository, Corvallis, OR, USA, has been studied under controlled environment conditions. Except for the F virginiana ssp. glauca population PI 551648 from the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, which was truly day-neutral across a 9 degrees - 27 degrees C temperature range, all the other populations of both sub-species behaved as quantitative (facultative) short-day (SD) plants with earlier and more abundant flowering under SD than under long-day (LD) conditions. Flowering of the remaining F virginiana ssp. glauca populations was governed by a significant interaction of photoperiod and temperature. The SD dependence for flowering increased with increasing temperature from 9 degrees C to 27 degrees C. The optimum temperature for the SD flowering response was 15 degrees - 21 degrees C. While SD promotion of flowering was more pronounced in the F virginiana populations, temperature had no significant main effect on flowering in this sub-species, demonstrating a wide temperature tolerance for flowering. Vigorous runner formation was observed in all populations, in both SD and LD, with a highly significant advancement effect of increasing temperature. The flowering and runnering responses of these E virginiana populations are discussed in relation to their putative paternity of perpetual-flowering F. X ananassa cultivars. It is concluded that, with the complex inheritance in these octoploid plants, the flowering responses of the populations studied here are not reflected in the LD flowering response of cultivated everbearing strawberries.