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.
2005
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
About 22 % of the conventional dairy and cash crop farmers in Norway were considering or were planning to convert to organic farming during the next four years. For these farmers, here called potential converters, higher soil fertility, professional challenges, profitability, and organic farming payments were important motives for considering to convert.
Abstract
About 22 % of the conventional dairy and cash crop farmers in Norway were considering or were planning to convert to organic farming during the next four years. For these farmers, here called potential converters, higher soil fertility, professional challenges, profitability, and organic farming payments were important motives for considering to convert.
Authors
Erlend Ystrøm Haartveit Line HoemAbstract
Mergers and acquisitions have lead to an increase in company size for manufacturers as well as for distributors and retailers of structural lumber. The effect of this mutual dependency in customer-supplier relationships increases, opening for opportunities to search for efficiency improvements across company borders.This article report the findings from a case study involving a major lumber manufacturing corporation in Norway and its largest customer, a vertically integrated distributor and home improvement retailer. In particular, the order process extending from identification of demand at the retail store to fulfilment of demand was comprehensively mapped, and possible areas for improved efficiency in the supply chain were identified.Using this approach, simple solutions for process improvement are commonly found, simply because individual actors rarely focus on optimising the complete supply chain, but rather sub-optimise a small fraction of the chain.The article also discusses some of the problems encountered when developing measures of performance intended to monitor and improve the process across company borders. Creating measures for monitoring performance is technically and methodologically difficult when dealing with several actors in a complex system using different business systems. The challenge greatly increases when the actors business objectives and philosophies are traditionally conflicting.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Ivar Gjerde Magne Sætersdahl Jørund Rolstad Ken Olaf Storaunet Hans Blom Vegard Gundersen Einar HeegaardAbstract
We investigated the relationship between site productivity and diversity of vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, and polypore fungi in forests based on species richness data in 0.25 ha forest plots (grain size), selected from six 150-200 ha study areas (focus), and spanning over a latitudinal distance of 1350 km (extent) in Norway. We (1) searched for prevailing productivity-diversity relationships (PDRs), (2) compared PDRs among taxonomic groups and species found in different micro-habitats, and (3) investigated the effect of increasing plot (grain) size on PDRs. Using vegetation types as a surrogate for site productivity, we found a general pattern of increasing species richness with site productivity. On average total species richness doubled with a ten-fold increase in productivity. Lichens PDRs stood out as less pronounced and more variable than for other species groups investigated. PDRs of species associated with downed logs tended to level off at high-productive sites, a pattern interpreted as an effect of disturbance. Increasing the grain size >10-fold did not change the proportional difference in species richness between sites with high and low productivity.
Authors
Per Otto Flæte Erlend Ystrøm Haartveit Kjell VadlaAbstract
No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
Authors
Pål Tore Mørkved Anne Kristine Søvik Bjørn Kløve Lars R. BakkenAbstract
Laboratory incubations with varying O-2 and NO3 concentrations were performed with a range of filter materials used in constructed wetlands (CWs). The study included material sampled from functioning CWs as well as raw materials subjected to laboratory pre-incubation. N-15-tracer techniques were used to assess the rates of denitrification versus dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), and the relative role of nitrification versus denitrification in producing N2O. The N2O/(N-2 + N2O) product ratio was assessed for the different materials. Sand, shell sand, and peat sustained high rates of denitrification. Raw light-weight aggregates (LWA) had a very low rate, while in LWA sampled from a functioning CW, the rate was similar to the one found in the other materials. The N2O/(N-2 + N2O) ratio was very low for sand, shell sand and LWA from functioning CWs, but very high for raw LWA. The ratio was intermediate but variable for peat The N2O produced by nitrification accounted for a significant percentage of the N2O accumulated during the incubation, but was dependent on the initial oxygen concentration. DNRA was significant only for shell sand taken from a functioning CW, suggesting that the establishment of active DNRA is a slower process than the establishment of a denitrifying flora. Laboratory incubations with varying O-2 and NO3 concentrations were performed with a range of filter materials used in constructed wetlands (CWs). The study included material sampled from functioning CWs as well as raw materials subjected to laboratory pre-incubation. N-15-tracer techniques were used to assess the rates of denitrification versus dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), and the relative role of nitrification versus denitrification in producing N2O. The N2O/(N-2 + N2O) product ratio was assessed for the different materials. Sand, shell sand, and peat sustained high rates of denitrification. Raw light-weight aggregates (LWA) had a very low rate, while in LWA sampled from a functioning CW, the rate was similar to the one found in the other materials. The N2O/(N-2 + N2O) ratio was very low for sand, shell sand and LWA from functioning CWs, but very high for raw LWA. The ratio was intermediate but variable for peat The N2O produced by nitrification accounted for a significant percentage of the N2O accumulated during the incubation, but was dependent on the initial oxygen concentration. DNRA was significant only for shell sand taken from a functioning CW, suggesting that the establishment of active DNRA is a slower process than the establishment of a denitrifying flora.