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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.

2025

Abstract

Data from the Norwegian national forest inventory spanning from 1994 to 2022 were analyzed to explore the growth dynamics of pure and mixed stands of Norway spruce and Scots pine. The derived large dataset enabled the development of models designed to assess how stand characteristics and drought interactively affect volume increment at the stand and individual tree level. The analysis revealed that pine-dominated stands outperform spruce-dominated stands at lower site qualities, while the opposite was true at higher site qualities. Mixed stands exhibited overyielding, with productivity exceeding the expected combined pure stand productivity of the individual species components. Based on model predictions, relative overyielding increased with stand age and declined with increasing site quality. Transgressive overyielding, where mixed stands outperform pure stands of either species, was predicted for medium site qualities. Drought-induced productivity losses increased with spruce proportion, especially at lower site qualities, and with stand density. The presence of pine in mixed stands mitigated the negative effects of drought on spruce. The findings of this study suggest that pure spruce stands should be avoided on lower-quality sites while mixed stands with appropriate thinning interventions should be promoted to maintain productivity under changing climatic conditions.

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Abstract

The rising impact of the spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus L.) on Europe's forests is becoming a major concern, with climate change intensifying the problem. This situation has sparked discussion across Europe about adopting new, adaptive forest management strategies to mitigate the economic impacts on the forestry sector. Despite this, some regions have yet to fully embrace long-term strategies against bark beetle outbreaks from a climate change perspective. In our study, we examined the effects of integrating bark beetle risk into forest management strategies, considering both current and future climate change scenarios. Our findings indicate that reducing rotation length of low density stands with a high proportion of Norway Spruce situated in more productive sites yields substantial economic advantages. Particularly, regions with a history of bark beetle outbreaks, like Vestfold in Norway, stand to gain significantly from early harvesting. The economic gain from harvesting earlier in this region is projected to increase nearly tenfold over the next 50 years under climate change scenarios. Additionally, we recommend considering the use of mixed tree species within forests as another adaptation strategy, to enhance forest resilience against bark beetle infestations and other natural disturbances.

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Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pose significant environmental and human hazards due to their resistance towards natural degradation. Anthropogenic activities have resulted in worldwide spreading of PFAS, and soil remediation of PFAS is challenging due to its persistent and mobile nature. Amendment with commercial activated carbon (AC) of fossil origin is one of the preferred immobilization strategies for contaminated soil. However, waste-based sorbents may represent a greener alternative to AC. Here, we review the status and potential for the use of waste-based materials as PFAS sorbents in soil remediation. Key properties in the search of candidate materials are discussed, followed by an overview of potential sorbents. The materials reviewed are bark, protein-rich waste, chitosan, amine-modified waste, compost, biosolids, biochar produced from waste-based substrates, and a selection of industrial waste, notably bottom- and fly ash, char and slag. Performance and sorption behavior of these materials are compared for long- and short-chain PFAS, and their applicability is further discussed. Besides great sorption capacity and affinity, promising amendments combine high abundance, low cost, a potential for modification and low risk. Biochar emerges as the most mature and promising candidate of the materials reviewed. Other waste-based materials also show great PFAS sorption capacities, but their performances in soil have not been properly assessed. Besides sorption studies in environmentally relevant matrices, upscaling and long-term studies are needed to further examine the potential use of waste-based sorbents in remediation of PFAS contaminated soil.

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Abstract

Insect farming is gaining increasing attention because of the ability of insects to upscale a variety of waste and by-product biomass efficiently into proteins and lipids. In the European Union and in Norway, the use of insects is permitted in formulated pig, poultry, and fish feeds and more recently for human consumption. However, the European Food Safety Authority has highlighted the lack of data regarding the safety of processing pesticide-contaminated biomass by insects into feed or food products. Secondly, the presence of insecticide residues in plant biomass might negatively affect the growth or survival of the insects themselves. This study aimed to evaluate the fate of the insecticide pirimiphos-methyl (PM) in black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens, BSF) and yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor, YMW) larvae composting. PM is a dominant pesticide found in relevant insect biomasses. Newly hatched larvae were fed on a standard poultry feed substrate spiked with pirimiphos-methyl at different concentrations: 10, 20, and 40 mg/kg (wet base), under optimal breeding conditions. Poultry feed substrate spiked with methanol served as control group. When the feeding media were spiked with 20 and 40 mg/kg of PM, the survival of both BSF and YMW larvae decreased. Mean larvae mass for both species was reduced with increasing concentrations of PM. PM and 7 compounds were identified in a metabolites/transformation product screen that was aided by in silico predictions. One compound, dihydroxy-PM was uniquely detected in larvae. Neither insect species appears to accumulate PM metabolites, and 90% of PM was metabolised. Results indicate that these insects can be reared on PM-contaminated biomass without risk of PM accumulation.