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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.

2024

Abstract

The Climate Laboratory in Tromsø offers excellent facilities for controlled growth experiments. In an attempt to provide for future needs to perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of plant growth and plant traits at the laboratory scale, UiT and NIBIO have jointly implemented state-of-the-art monitoring and imaging systems as part of the strategic project ABSORB (https://site.uit.no/absorb/). Here, we present a 3D multi- and 2D hyper-spectral imaging platform, augmented with thermal analysis capabilities, tailored for plant phenotyping in both research and teaching contexts. The 3D imaging component of the PlantEye F600 laser scanner provides effortless and accurate non-invasive assessments of plant architecture and growth dynamics. Three complementary 2D hyperspectral cameras deliver more detailed spectral information across a 400-1700 nm range of wavelengths, supporting in-depth analysis of biochemical composition and stress responses at the macro- and micro-scales. We showcase the platform's versatility through two compelling experiments investigating drought-stress and light-inhibition, respectively. In the drought-stress experiment, we observed plant responses to water scarcity, tracking physiological changes and morphological adaptations with our integrated imaging system. In the light-inhibition experiment, we further explored the impact of light intensity on plant growth and development. We envision collaborative efforts to address the current challenges in plant biology, agriculture, and environmental science.

To document

Abstract

Polyploidy, or genome doubling, has occurred repeatedly through plant evolution. While polyploid plants are used extensively in agriculture and horticulture, they have so far found limited use in forestry. Here we review the potentials of polyploid trees under climate change, and investigate if there is support for increased use. We find that polyploid trees like other plants have consistent increases in cell sizes compared to diploids, and that leaf-area based rates of photosynthesis tend to increase with increasing levels of ploidy. While no particular trend could be discerned in terms of biomass between trees of different ploidy levels, physiology is affected by polyploidization and several studies point towards a high potential for polyploid trees to adapt to drought stress. The ploidy level of most tree species is unknown, and analysis of geographical patterns in frequencies of polyploid trees are inconclusive. Artificial polyploid trees are often created by colchicine and in a few cases these have been successfully applied in forestry, but the effects of induced polyploidization in many economically important tree species remains untested. Polyploids would also be increasingly useful in tree breeding programs, to create synthetic hybrids or sterile triploids that could control unwanted spreading of germplasm in nature. In conclusion, this review suggests that polyploid trees may be superior under climate change in some cases, but that the potential of polyploids is not yet fully known and should be evaluated on a case-to-case basis for different tree species.