Hopp til hovedinnholdet

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

Sammendrag

Microbial source tracking (MST) has been recognised as an effective tool for determining the origins and sources of faecal contamination in various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Thus, it has been widely applied in environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys to define specific animal- and human-associated faecal eDNA. In this context, identification of and differentiation between anthropogenic and zoogenic faecal pollution origins and sources are pivotal for the evaluation of waterborne microbial contamination transport and the associated human, animal, and environmental health risks. These concerns are particularly pertinent to diverse nature-based solutions (NBS) that are being applied specifically to secure water safety and human and ecosystem well-being, for example, constructed wetlands (CWs) for water and wastewater treatment. The research in this area has undergone a constant evolution, and there is a solid foundation of publications available across the world. Hence, there is an early opportunity to synthesise valuable information and relevant knowledge on this specific topic, which will greatly benefit future work by improving NBS design and performance. By selecting 15 representative research reports published over 20 years, we review the current state of MST technology applied for faecal-associated contamination measures in NBS/CWs throughout the world.

Til datasett

Sammendrag

Climate change, landscape homogenization and the decline of beneficial insects threaten pollination services to wild plants and crops. Understanding how pollination potential (i.e. the capacity of ecosystems to support pollination of plants) is affected by climate change and landscape homogenization is fundamental for our ability to predict how such anthropogenic stressors affect plant biodiversity. Models of pollinator potential are improved when based on pairwise plant-pollinator interactions and pollinator´s plant preferences. However, whether the sum of predicted pairwise interactions with a plant within a habitat (a proxy for pollination potential) relates to pollen deposition on flowering plants has not yet been investigated. We sampled plant-bee interactions in 68 Scandinavian plant communities in landscapes of varying land-cover heterogeneity along a latitudinal temperature gradient of 4–8 C°, and estimated pollen deposition as the number of pollen grains on flowers of the bee-pollinated plants Lotus corniculatus, and Vicia cracca. We show that plant-bee interactions, and the pollination potential for these bee-pollinated plants increase with landscape diversity, annual mean temperature, plant abundance, and decrease with distances to sand-dominated soils. Furthermore, the pollen deposition in flowers increased with the predicted pollination potential, which was driven by landscape diversity and plant abundance. Our study illustrates that the pollination potential, and thus pollen deposition, for wild plants can be mapped based on spatial models of plant-bee interactions that incorporate pollinator-specific plant preferences. Maps of pollination potential can be used to guide conservation and restoration planning.

Til dokument

Sammendrag

The ability to identify locations that have a high risk of fungal decay is important for service life planning and analysing changes in risk can help inform scenarios where climate change may shift some areas into states that are more suitable for decay. The ERA5-Land database was used to obtain soil moisture and temperature data, which was applied in a dose–response model for in-ground wood decay. Dose was used as an indicator of decay risk and to produce hazard maps over Germany for the past two climate normals (1963–1992 and 1993–2022). There was an increase of 3.16 dose days over Germany. Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, had the highest decay risk in both climate normals and southern states experienced the lowest decay risk. In Germany, larger dose increases were seen in central to southern latitude regions and mid to high altitudes. With further climate change, conditions that are most suitable for in-ground wood decay may shift to locations that previously did not experience such risk. It is important to be informed of the durability requirements of wood products in areas where increased resistance may be required.

Til dokument

Sammendrag

Decision Support Indicators (DSIs) are metrics designed to inform local and regional stakeholders about the characteristics of a predicted (or ongoing) event to facilitate decision-making. In this paper, the DSI concept was developed to clarify the different aims of different kinds of indicators by naming them, and a framework was developed to describe and support the usage of such DSIs. The framework includes three kinds of DSI: hydroclimatic DSIs which are easy to calculate but hard to understand by non-experts; impact-based DSIs which are often difficult to calculate but easy to understand by non-experts; and event-based DSIs, which compare a current or projected state to a locally well-known historical event, where hydroclimatic and impact-based DSIs are currently mainly used. Tables and figures were developed to support the DSI development in collaboration with stakeholders. To develop and test the framework, seven case studies, representing different hydrological pressures on three continents (South America, Asia, and Europe), were carried out. The case studies span several temporal and spatial scales (hours-decades; 70–6,000 km2) as well as hydrological pressures (pluvial and riverine floods, drought, and water scarcity), representing different climate zones. Based on stakeholder workshops, DSIs were developed for these cases, which are used as examples of the conceptual framework. The adaptability of the DSI framework to this wide range of cases shows that the framework and related concepts are useful in many contexts.

Til dokument

Sammendrag

1. Wild pollinators are crucial for ecosystem functioning and human food production and often rely on floral resources provided by different (semi-) natural ecosystems for survival. Yet, the role of European forests, and especially the European forest herb layer, as a potential provider of floral resources for pollinators has scarcely been quantified. 2. In this study, we measured the potential nectar production (PNP) of the forest herb layer using resurvey data across 3326 plots in temperate forests in Europe, with an average time interval of 41 years between both surveys in order to assess (i) the importance of the forest herb layer in providing nectar for wild pollinators, (ii) the intra-annual variation of PNP, (iii) the overall change in PNP between survey periods and (iv) the change in intra-annual variation of PNP between survey periods. The PNP estimates nectar availability based on the relative cover of different plant species in the forest herb layer. Although PNP overestimates actual nectar production, relative differences amongst plots provide a valid and informative way to analyse differences across time and space. 3. Our results show that the forest herb layer has a large potential for providing nectar for wild pollinator communities, which is greatest in spring, with an average PNP of almost 16 g sugar/m2/year. However, this potential has drastically declined (mean plot-level decline >24%). 4. Change in light availability, associated with shifts in canopy structure and canopy composition, is the key driver of temporal PNP changes. 5. Synthesis. Our study shows that if management activities are carefully planned to sustain nectar-producing plant species for wild pollinators, European forest herb layers and European forests as a whole can play key roles in sustaining wild pollinator populations.

Til dokument

Sammendrag

Income comparisons between farm and non-farm households play a crucial role in many aspects of farm policy. Using household income data from tax returns of all Norwegian taxpayers in the period 2006–2015 we study these income differences. We find that the unconditional mean income is higher for farm households, but with important differences depending on the comparison group considered. We also find that the income difference is reduced when we control for differences in the personal characteristics of the different non-farm comparison sub-groups. This finding implies that income comparison using unconditional means, as frequently done in agricultural policy making, is potentially misleading. We also show that the income effect of personal characteristics is not the same for different comparison sub-groups, as has been assumed in previous studies of income disparities. Differences in personal characteristics, and the income effect of those characteristics, therefore need to be accounted for if income comparisons between farmers and non-farmers are to inform farm support policies.

Til dokument

Sammendrag

Aims To develop a methodology to study uptake and redistribution by plants of NH4+ from deep soil, applying it to investigate deep root N uptake by cultivated grassland species. Methods A slow-release 15NH4+ label adsorbed to clinoptilolite was placed into soil (depth 42 cm) well below the densest root zone in well-established monospecific stands of five grass and two clover species. Species showing a variety of deep rooting patterns, N acquisition strategy, forage qualities, and persistence in hemiboreal conditions were chosen. The label was placed in early spring and tracked throughout one or two growing seasons in two repeated experiments. Results After two growing seasons ~ 90% of the label was tracked in the soil and harvested herbage of grasses, less in clovers. Deep N uptake was limited in spring, increased during mid-season, and was strongest in autumn in all species, despite lower herbage yield in autumn. Species differed in ability to recover and maintain 15N in the soil–plant system. In one growing season, Lolium perenne L., Phleum pratense L., Schedonorus pratensis (Huds.) P.Beauv. and Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort herbage recovered ~ 65% of the label, Poa pratensis L. 54%, and Trifolium pratense L. and Trifolium repens L. 36–48%. Label transport to topsoil was observed, mainly attributable to plant nutrient redistribution rather than physical diffusion. Conclusions The innovative slow-release 15N label enabled tracing species differences and seasonal changes in uptake of NH4+ from deep soil. Among the tall-growing grasses, growth vigor appeared as important for deep N uptake as expected root depth.