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
Authors
Petter Nilsen Line Tau StrandAbstract
The present paper deals with C and N storage in soil and vegetation, litter fall and CO2 efflux from the soil 32-33 years after early thinning in a Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stand in order to evaluate the effect of thinning regime on C sequestration. At 22 years old, the stand was reduced from 3190 to 2070, 1100 and 820 trees per hectare in four replicates. The N2070 treatment represents the recommended start density in practical forestry, while the other represent a moderate to large reduction in tree number at the present stand age. Aboveground biomass was estimated from single tree measurements of diameter and height based on allometric functions. Litter fall was collected during one and a half years and soil respiration was measured on five occasions during one summer. Ground vegetation was mapped and sampled for biomass, C and N determination. A significant decrease in aboveground tree (including stump-root system) C storage of 27% and 22% due to thinning was found in the N820 and N1100 treatments, respectively, compared to the N2070 treatment. Ground vegetation C storage was little affected by treatment, while litter fall C showed a non-significant decrease in the N820 and N1100 treatments compared to the N2070 treatment. Soil respiration was significantly lower in parts of the summer in the N2070 treatment compared to the N820 treatment. The reason for this is still unexplained since no differences in soil temperature, soil moisture or litter fall chemistry was found between the treatments. No significant treatment effects on humus and mineral soil C storage could be detected. With the present soil variability, the time period of 32 years is probably too short to detect soil C differences due to thinning. The N storage followed the same pattern as for C. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
Abdelhameed Elameen Siri Fjellheim Arild Larsen Odd Arne Rognli Leif Sundheim Susan Msolla Esther Masumba Kiddo Mtunda Sonja KlemsdalAbstract
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is the fifth most important crop in the developing countries after rice, wheat, maize and cassava. The amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method was used to study the genetic diversity and relationships of sweet potato accessions in the germplasm collection of Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro and Sugarcane Research Institute, Kibaha, Tanzania. AFLP analysis of 97 sweet potato accessions using ten primer combinations gave a total of 202 clear polymorphic bands. Each one of the 97 sweet potato accessions could be distinguished based on these primer combinations. Estimates of genetic similarities were obtained by the Dice coefficient, and a final dendrogram was constructed with the un-weight pair-group method using arithmetic average. AFLP-based genetic similarity varied from 0.388 to 0.941, with a mean of 0.709. Cluster analysis using genetic similarity divided the accessions into two main groups suggesting that there are genetic relationships among the accessions. Principal Coordinate analysis confirmed the pattern of the cluster analysis. Analysis of molecular variance revealed greater variation within regions (96.19%) than among regions (3.81%). The results from the AFLP analysis revealed a relatively low genetic diversity among the germplasm accessions and the genetic distances between regions were low. A maximally diverse subset of 13 accessions capturing 97% of the molecular markers diversity was identified. We were able to detect duplicates accessions in the germplasm collection using the highly polymorphic markers obtained by AFLP, which were found to be an efficient tool to characterize the genetic diversity and relationships of sweet potato accessions in the germplasm collection in Tanzania.
Abstract
The relationships between measures of forest structure as derived from airborne laser scanner data and the variation in quantity (Q) and vitality (V) of young trees in a size-diverse spruce forest were analyzed. A regeneration success rate (Q), leader length (V), relative leader length (V), and apical dominance ratio (V) were regressed against 27 different laser-derived explanatory variables representing three different spatial scales. The resulting 81 different models for each response variable were ranked according to their Akaike information criterion score and significance level. Each laser variable was then associated with four categories. These were scale, return, fraction, and type. Within the scale category, laser variables were grouped according to the spatial scale from which they originated. Similarly, within the return, fraction, and type categories, the variables were grouped according to if they originated from first or last return echoes; if they originated from lower, middle, or upper fraction of the range of laser heights or values derived from the full range of laser pulses, and if they were canopy height or canopy density metrics. The results show that the laser variables were strongest correlated with the quantity of small trees and that these variables could be attributed to large-scale, last return, lower fraction, and density metrics. The correlations with the vitality responses were weaker, but the results indicate that variables derived from a smaller scale than for the quantity were better in order to explain variation in leader length, relative leader length, and apical dominance ratio. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
Trine A Sogn Susanne Eich-Greatorex Oddvar Røyset Anne Falk Øgaard Åsgeir Rossebø AlmåsAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Geir Kjølberg Knudsen Maria Bengtsson Sverre Kobro Gunnhild Jaastad Trond Hofsvang Peter WitzgallAbstract
Apple fruit moth Argyresthia conjugella is a specialist seed predator of rowan Sorbus aucuparia. Large-scale synchronous fluctuation of seed production in rowan (i.e. named masting) drives the apple fruit moth to seek alternative host plants such as apple, during years when rowan berries are not available for oviposition. The role of plant volatile compounds in the attraction of gravid apple fruit moth females is studied in a laboratory wind tunnel. Volatiles from rowan branches with green berries stimulate female moths to fly upwind and to land at the odour source. By contrast, females are not attracted to rowan branches without green berries, and they are not attracted to apple, demonstrating that the chemical stimulus from rowan berries is required for attraction. Attraction to synthetic compounds identified from rowan, anethole and 2-phenyl ethanol confirms the role of plant volatiles in host finding. These two compounds, however, show a discrepant behavioural effect in wind tunnel and field tests. Field traps baited with 2-phenyl ethanol capture female moths but anethole does not produce significant captures. Wind tunnel tests produce the opposite results: moths fly upwind towards the anethole lure, whereas 2-phenyl ethanol is not attractive at all. Wind tunnel attraction to 2-phenyl ethanol is achieved by adding odour from a rowan branch without berries, which is not attractive on its own. This finding demonstrates that interaction with the background odour contributes to the behavioural effect of plant volatile stimuli in the field.
Abstract
A Canadian model that simulates the course of frost tolerance in winter wheat under continental climatic conditions was adopted and further developed for use in an oceanic climate. Experiments with two cultivars were conducted during two winters in Central Norway. All plants were hardened at the same location. After hardening, in mid November, they were distributed to three locations with contrasting winter climates. Plants were sampled several times during autumn and winter and tested for frost tolerance, expressed as LT50 (the temperature at which 50% of the plants were killed). Results from the experiment were used in parameterization and cross validation of the new model, called FROSTOL, which simulates LT50 on a daily basis from sowing onwards. Frost tolerance increases by hardening and decreases by dehardening and stress, the latter caused by either low temperatures, or by conditions where the soil is largely unfrozen and simultaneously covered with snow. The functional relationships of the model are all driven by soil temperature at 2 cut depth. One of them is in addition affected by snow cover depth, and two of them are conditioned by stage of vernalization. Altogether five coefficients allotted to four of the functional relationships produced a good agreement (R-2 = 0.84) between measured and modelled values of LT50. A cross validation of the model indicated that the parameters were satisfactorily insensitive to variation in winter weather. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Quota regulations that prevent output expansion of farms and reallocation of output between farms can cause lower growth in output and productivity. The aim of this study was to explain the output growth rate of Norwegian dairy farms since 1976, and to decompose it into output, input, socioeconomic and technical change components. Instead of using the standard distance function approach for multi-output technologies, we use a growth rate formulation, which automatically removes the farm-specific effects. This formulation also helps to impose non-negativity constraints on marginal products of inputs (input elasticities), which are often violated for many observations, especially when flexible functional forms are used. The farm-level panel data cover three periods: before the quota scheme was introduced (1976-1982); the period with the most output-restricting quota scheme (1983-1996); and the period with a more flexible quota scheme (from 1997 onwards). Results show that the milk quota regulations had a significant constraining effect on output growth, in particular on milk output in the period 1983-1996. Furthermore, the output mix has shifted towards meat production for the average farm. What emerges from this study is that output growth and technical change are negatively influenced by policy aims where productive performance has not been the primary objective, and that there is scope for increased farm growth if the quota regime is liberalised.
Authors
Arvid Steen Turid Strøm Aksel BernhoftAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
G Søgaard Ø. Johnsen Jarle Halvard Nilsen Olavi JunttilaAbstract
No abstract has been registered