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.
2022
Authors
Roger HoltenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Daniel Patel Mattia Natali Endre Mølster Lidal Julius Parulek Emilio Vital Brazil Ivan ViolaAbstract
The process of creating terrain and landscape models is important in a variety of computer graphics and visualization applications, from films and computer games, via flight simulators and landscape planning, to scientific visualization and subsurface modelling. Interestingly, the modelling techniques used in this large range of application areas have started to merge in the last years. This chapter is a report where we present two taxonomies of different modelling methods. Firstly we present a data oriented taxonomy, where we divide modelling into three different scenarios: the data-free, the sparse-data and the dense-data scenario. Then we present a workflow oriented taxonomy, where we divide modelling into the separate stages necessary for creating a geological model. We start the report by showing that the new trends in geological modelling are approaching the modelling methods that have been developed in computer graphics. We then introduce the process of geological modelling followed by our two taxonomies with descriptions and comparisons of selected methods. Finally, we discuss the challenges and trends in geological modelling.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Lisa ParuchAbstract
Microbial water quality is of vital importance for human, animal, and environmental health. Notably, pathogenically contaminated water can result in serious health problems, such as waterborne outbreaks, which have caused huge economic and social losses. In this context, the prompt detection of microbial contamination becomes essential to enable early warning and timely reaction with proper interventions. Recently, molecular diagnostics have been increasingly employed for the rapid and robust assessment of microbial water quality implicated by various microbial pollutants, e.g., waterborne pathogens and antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs), imposing the most critical health threats to humans and the environment. Continuous technological advances have led to constant improvements and expansions of molecular methods, such as conventional end-point PCR, DNA microarray, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), multiplex qPCR (mqPCR), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), digital droplet PCR (ddPCR), and high-throughput next-generation DNA sequencing (HT-NGS). These state-of-the-art molecular approaches largely facilitate the surveillance of microbial water quality in diverse aquatic systems and wastewater. This review provides an up-to-date overview of the advancement of the key molecular tools frequently employed for microbial water quality assessment, with future perspectives on their applications.
Abstract
Zoogenic faecal contamination of the environment is one of the indices included in the evaluation of ecological threats, health hazards and adverse impacts on various ecosystems. The risks and environmental concerns are associated with the fact that faeces of wild and domesticated animals constitute the largest source of environmental loading of enteropathogens associated with transmission of zoonotic diseases (enteric zoonoses). Although sick animals are more likely to transmit pathogens, healthy ones can also be the carriers and defecate them into the environment. This is of particular importance given the close human-animal interactions and health effects resulting from human and ecological exposures to faecal hazards from companion and farm animals. We have therefore set out to investigate whether healthy equines can carry and defecate human infectious pathogens. For this purpose, we set up a pilot study to examine the faecal DNA of horses using culture-independent molecular diagnostics – fluorescent probe-based quantitative real-time PCR. Our results revealed that among a total of 23 horses, 6 were found to carry Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni), and 5 had Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium). Moreover, Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) was found in 14 horses, while 19 were positive for Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens). Furthermore, the frequently reported protozoan parasites in livestock, Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) and Giardia lamblia (G. lamblia), were discovered in 8 and 7 samples, respectively. This pilot study shed new light on the phenomenon of healthy horses carrying C. jejuni and other human-health-related enteropathogens.
Abstract
Defense priming, the sensitization of inducible defenses, has been extensively studied in annual angiosperms. However, we are just beginning to explore defense priming in woody, long-lived plants. The natural compound methyl jasmonate (MeJA) has been used for over 20 years to study spruce inducible defenses. Recently, it was discovered that MeJA not only directly induces defense, but also primes defense responses in spruce. Metabolite and transcriptional analyses of mature trees treated with MeJA and subsequently wounded showed that while terpenes accumulate at the wound site in a primed manner, terpene biosynthesis genes are directly induced by MeJA. Pathogen resistance (PR) genes, on the other hand, are primed. Sequencing of miRNAs suggests that miRNAs have a regulatory role in MeJA-induced defenses in spruce. Additionally, a detailed transcriptional time course of 2- year-old spruce treated with MeJA indicated that the RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway is involved in the establishment and maintenance of primed defenses. When comparing mechanisms of defense priming in spruce to those in Arabidopsis, it seems that many mechanisms are conserved. However, some aspects, such as jasmonic acid-salicylic acid crosstalk, may be different. Identifying these differences and how they affect forest species is important for practical application of defense priming in forest management.
Authors
Pia C. Kristiansen Julie B. Myrås Thea T. Nørvåg Marit I. Kvernmoen Benedicte S. Nilssen Sebastian Eiter Wendy FjellstadAbstract
Participation in Linderud neighbourhood and community garden in Oslo is mostly motivated by social aspects and by the desire to grow organic food.
Authors
Ghislain Tchoromi Tepa-Yotto Robert L. Meagher Jeannette K. Winsou Borghero T. A. Dahoueto Manuele Tamò May Sæthre Rodney N. NagoshiAbstract
The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), has now become a pest of global concern. Originally known to be endemic to the Western Hemisphere, its first detection in Africa was followed by spectacular outbreaks and spread to almost all sub-Saharan countries. The rapid incursion of S. frugiperda on maize (Zea mays L.; Poaceae) fields in Africa highlighted a crucial need for a comprehensive assessment of integrated pest management strategies in most smallholder farms. However, these strategies cannot successfully function without efficient monitoring and surveillance efforts. These trapping studies were designed to provide an indication as to whether pheromone trap-lure combinations and simple changes in landscape and agricultural practices might mitigate fall armyworm infestations. Our data show that the commercially available Unitrap was the most effective design for fall armyworm captures among the traps tested. The inexpensive home-made 2 L jar trap was capable of consistently collecting fall armyworm during the first season of relatively moderate fall armyworm density. However, the number of fall armyworm captured by home-made trap were several fold lower than by the Unitrap under all conditions, and almost no fall armyworm was captured during the second season by home-made 2 L jar when fall armyworm density was low. Substantial differences were observed among the pheromone blends with respect to numbers of fall armyworm and non-targets captured. The 4-component blend attracted the most fall armyworm under all conditions. The 2-component blend was the most selective, with no non-target species found during the second season experiments.
Authors
Anne Catriona Mehlhoop Bram Van Moorter Christer Moe Rolandsen Dagmar Hagen Aksel Granhus Rune Eriksen Thor Harald Ringsby Erling Johan SolbergAbstract
Like large carnivores, hunters both kill and scare ungulates, and thus might indirectly affect plant performance through trophic cascades. In this study, we hypothesized that intensive hunting and enduring fear of humans have caused moose and other forest ungulates to partly avoid areas near human infrastructure (perceived hunting risk), with positive cascading effects on recruitment of trees. Using data from the Norwegian forest inventory, we found decreasing browsing pressure and increasing tree recruitment in areas close to roads and houses, where ungulates are more likely to encounter humans. However, although browsing and recruitment were negatively related, reduced browsing was only responsible for a small proportion of the higher tree recruitment near human infrastructure. We suggest that the apparently weak cascading effect occurs because the recorded browsing pressure only partly reflects the long-term browsing intensity close to humans. Accordingly, tree recruitment was also related to the density of small trees 5–10 years earlier, which was higher close to human infrastructure. Hence, if small tree density is a product of the browsing pressure in the past, the cascading effect is probably stronger than our estimates suggest. Reduced browsing near roads and houses is most in line with risk avoidance driven by fear of humans (behaviorally mediated), and not because of excessive hunting and local reduction in ungulate density (density mediated).
Authors
Shelemia Nyamuryekung'e Andres F. Cibils Richard Estell Dawn VanLeeuwen Sheri Spiegal Caitriana M. Steele Alfredo L. Gonzalez Matthew M. McIntosh Qixu Gong Huiping CaoAbstract
No abstract has been registered