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
Authors
Nina Trandem Olle Anderbrant Glenn P. Svensson Christer Löfstedt Elisabeth Ôberg Ann-Kristin Isaksson Hanh Huynh Kimmo Rumpunen Line Beate Lersveen Sigrid Mogan Gunda Thöming Marja RantanenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
May Bente BrurbergAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Genetic variation and performance of up to 40-year-old Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) families from half-diallel crosses made in natural populations where studied, and the results were compared with results from nursery test of seedlings (1-2 years from seed) and short-term farm-field tests at 6-10 years from seed. The diallel analyses revealed significant levels of additive genetic variance for growth and phenology traits. The non-additive genetic variance was generally small to moderate. Strong genetic correlations for growth performance were found between the short-term and long-term trials but not between the nursery and long-term trials. Similarly, genetic correlations for phenology traits were strong between short-term trials and long-term trials, whereas the nursery tests generally did not predict phenology at older age well. The findings indicate that early selection for growth and adaptive traits based on short-term trials is effective for improvement of long-term performance in field if the test site is not outside the normal range of deployment of the reproductive material.
Abstract
Female flowering and cone production took place in three Norway spruce progeny tests at ages 17 and 20 years, each planted with full-sib families from a half diallel. The number of cones on individual trees were scored in five classes. More than 50 % of the trees produced cones, and a considerable variation was found among families for the ability to produce cones (precocity) and for the number of clones scored in classes (fruitfulness). Both traits were strongly related to tree heights and diameters at the individual and at the family level. In general, tall trees produced the highest number of cones. However, some families produced many cones even if their average heights were low. In two of the half diallels, estimates of GCA variance components for the number of cones produced had twice the value of the SCA component, indicating additive genetic inheritance of cone production. Heritability estimates of cone scores were 0.10, 0.17 and 0.23, and the genetic correlations between cone production and tree heights were 0.40, 0.50 and 0.35 in the three half-diallels, respectively.
Abstract
Semi-natural grasslands are amongst the most species-rich habitats in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe. However, the ecological values of these habitats are threatened, by intensification of agriculture in some areas and by abandonment in others. A key question is whether current measures aiming to protect this biodiversity in Norway are in fact successful. We evaluated, in the field, the condition of 55 localities of semi-natural pastures and hay meadows recorded in the Norwegian nature database, Naturbase. We found that only 20 localities (36%) were receiving the agri-environmental subsidies for which they were all eligible. All but one of the localities receiving the subsidies were in fair to good condition, compared with just 41% of the localities that did not receive subsidies. However, only four the 16 most valuable localities, those classed as nationally important, received agri-environmental subsidies. Through a questionnaire to landowners, we found that many were not aware of the biodiversity value on their properties. Of 33 respondents, 20 (61%) knew that they had these valuable ecosystems on their property, whilst 13 (39%) did not. Further, twenty respondents were not aware that they were eligible for financial support to maintain their species-rich grasslands. We conclude that to achieve long-term conservation in habitats dependent on management, it is essential to improve dialogue with landowners.
Authors
Jaime Puértolas Pedro Villar-Salvador Enrique Andivia Ishita Ahuja Claudia Cocozza Branislav Cvjetković Jovana Devetaković Julio J. Diez Inger Sundheim Fløistad Petros Ganatsas Barbara Mariotti Marianthi Tsakaldimi Alberto Vilagrosa Johanna Witzell Vladan IvetićAbstract
Drought hardening is a nursery technique aimed to enhance early forest plantation establishment under dry conditions, which is a main limiting factors for plantation success. However, the quantitative effectiveness of drought hardening remains unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the influence of different factors in the effectiveness of drought hardening on seedling post-planting survival and growth. Overall, drought hardening did not significantly affect survival or growth, as several factors induced great heterogeneity, but analyses of those factors explained its effectiveness, especially on survival. A longer time between hardening and transplanting strongly reduced survival. Indoor-grown seedlings did not benefit more from hardening than outdoor-grown seedlings. Evaluations of drought hardening effectiveness in pots showed positive effects on survival but negative effects on growth, while no effects were found in large bed experiments. In field experiments, hardening significantly increased survival and growth with site aridity. Survival benefits were independent of species drought tolerance, measured by osmotic potential at the turgor loss point (πtlp), in moderate to high aridity sites. However, in low aridity sites, hardening increased survival in drought-tolerant species but decreased it in drought-intolerant species. Field results showed that hardening benefited shrubs more than trees in angiosperms. In conclusion, drought hardening at the end of nursery cultivation tend to increase post-planting seedling performance particularly in scenarios limiting post-planting root growth such as in arid climates and pot experiments. Our findings highlight the importance of future research on modelling the interaction between these technical features and species water use strategies..
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Jorunn Børve Katharina Pampus Tuuli Haikonen Andrea Podavkova Gaute Myren Roland W. S. WeberAbstract
Ascospores discharged at rainfall and dispersed by wind can provide long-distance spread of the European canker fungus, Neonectria ditissima. Ascospores are produced by perithecia which are the sexual reproductive stage. Diffuse knowledge exists on the seasonal pattern of perithecium formation under different climatic conditions. Therefore, the development of perithecia was observed for several successive seasons at five sites in three Northern European countries. In Norway and Finland, ripe perithecia were commonly recorded throughout the year, and on individual cankers continuously for up to 28 months. In contrast, asexual reproductive structures (sporodochia) were confined to the growing season in both countries. In Northern Germany an average of 51% of cankers developed ripe perithecia by late winter, and perithecial senescence ensued in late spring. On average, ripe perithecia were present on cankers for 22 weeks. In contrast, sporodochia were observed all year round. The timing of perithecium maturation correlated with the number of days with > 2 mm rainfall in July–September. The presence of mature perithecia and sporodochia for different lengths of time in different countries has implications for regional disease management strategies.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Julian Helfenstein Samuel Hepner Amelie Kreuzer Gregor Achermann Tim Williams Matthias Bürgi Niels Debonne Thymios Dimopoulos Vasco Diogo Wendy Fjellstad Maria Garcia-Martin Józef Hernik Thanasis Kizos Angela Lausch Christian Levers Jaan Liira Franziska Mohr Gerardo Moreno Robert Pazur Tomasz Salata Beatrice Schüpbach Rebecca Swart Peter H. Verburg Anita Zarina Felix HerzogAbstract
Current agricultural practices in Europe are increasingly aggravating societal and environmental safety concerns. This creates social and regulatory pressures on farmers, which can lead to declining material and social status of farmers, farmer discontent, and anti-regulation protests. These tensions are rooted in conflicting value systems for agricultural development, which can range from productivist pathways (i.e. valuing production above all else) to increasing multifunctionality pathways (i.e. valuing agriculture for its contribution to multiple economic, environmental and societal needs). It is largely unknown to what degree individual farms and agricultural landscapes are transitioning towards increasing productivism or multifunctionality in practice. Here, we mapped landscape changes and interviewed farmers (n = 274) to examine the diversity of agricultural development pathways in 17 study sites across Europe over the last 20 years (2000–2020). We also assessed the associations between the development pathways and farmers’ perceptions of socio-economic outcomes, namely job satisfaction, societal valuation, and economic performance. Farm-level development was largely aligned with productivist pathways, while landscape-level changes aligned more closely with an increasing multifunctionality pathway. Farmers on pathways of increasing multifunctionality did not perceive improved outcomes on livelihood indicators as compared to productivist farmers. Furthermore, farms on increasing multifunctionality pathways were concentrated in sites with very high management intensities that face strong pressure from environmental regulations, as well as low-intensity, mountainous sites, where opportunities for intensification are limited. These results suggest that current pathways that increase multifunctionality arise mostly by necessity. Successful agricultural transformation will therefore require policy to create enabling environments that provide socioeconomic benefits for farmers to increase multifunctionality, and a civil society and market conditions that value sustainable agriculture.