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
This paper addresses water governance in the context of dissolved organic matter emissions into water bodies and cultural eutrophication. Through a comparative interdisciplinary analysis of cases from Norway, the Czech Republic, and China, it seeks to identify core principals of effective water governance and suggest strategies for achieving good ecological and chemical status of raw water. The analysis presents each case by exploring natural and societal processes, emphasising the interdependence between society and nature, and applying a theoretical framework. In this way, the paper contributes to the broader field of water governance studies. The central conclusion is that raw water quality results from “muddling through” processes involving stakeholders with diverse and sometimes conflicting interests. Building the capabilities to manage such contingencies is essential for successful governance. Four critical dimensions are identified as key to this capability: (i) robust environmental knowledge and literacy; (ii) stronger representation of non-human interest; (iii) regulatory measures and economic incentives to enhance raw water quality; and (iv) integrated multi-level governance combining top-down and bottom-up approaches. Strengthening these dimensions can also help mitigate the structural economic pressure driving the exploitation of “cheap nature”.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Thiago InagakiAbstract
This presentation examines how organo-mineral associations (OMAs) are affected by climate differences, and how they contribute to carbon persistence and enhance soil quality across different regions. The talk will combine results obtained from micro- to field-scale studies in natural and agricultural environments, showing relationship between OMAs, microorganisms, and soil structure.
Authors
Lone PolletAbstract
Although community supported agriculture (CSA) is generally considered a potent alternative to the globalized food system, the capacity of CSA farms to foster community support in agriculture has been questioned due to low engagement of members at the farm and high member turnover rates. In this study, I consider the case of member-driven CSA farms and explore the potential of this CSA model to increase member engagement in CSA farming. Using an inductive, phenomenon-first approach to research, I compare the cases of four Norwegian member-driven CSA farms to describe how they engage members at the farm and explore the factors influencing member engagement. The on-farm participant observation, focus group interviews with farm coordinators and members survey revealed that Norwegian member-driven CSAs significantly engage members in all aspects of the farm operations. Yet, the differences observed between cases showed that member engagement depend on the capacity of the farm to create the right conditions for collaboration. Although the member-driven model has the potential to increase member engagement in CSA farming, the preferences of members, the opinions and engagement of coordinators, the size of the farm, the number of years of operation and the external support received by the farm, are five factors that affect the capacity of the CSA farm to collaborate with members. Ultimately, this study concludes that achieving community engagement in member-driven CSAs depends less on their organizational model and more on the specific conditions that facilitate collaboration and member engagement.
Authors
Marthe Jordbrekk Blikra Tone Mari Rode Annelise Sabine Chapman Marit Gjerstad Dagbjørn Skipnes Danielle Gallagher Oisin Klinkenbergh Dag Einar Finne Florent Govaerts Dmitry Kechasov Dharm KapletiaAbstract
The C-FAARER CSA project was created with the overall aim of supporting marine innovators, entrepreneurs, and other pioneers in the Atlantic and Arctic Sea basin in transitioning towards the use of community-driven sustainable business models for regenerative ocean farming. The project previously defined regenerative ocean farming as “a form of marine venture that gives back more than it takes out, leaving nature in a better state that benefits future generations” (Kapletia et al., 2024). Community-driven regenerative ocean farming was defined as “concerned with creating a sustainable and mutually-beneficial balance between social, economic and environmental interests, providing renewable and systemic benefits to all who hold an interest in the future wealth of marine and coastal life.” This report provides the basis for Deliverable 4.1 within the Valorisation of the regenerative aquaculture products work package (WP4). Processing is a part of this WP, and processing technologies were included as an integral part of regenerative ocean farming since seaweed deteriorates rapidly post-harvest and needs rapid processing to maintain quality. Furthermore, the principles of community-driven regenerative ocean farming, as stated in Deliverable 1.1 (Kapletia et al., 2024), include the following (principle 3): “Farming and processing equipment is low impact, energy efficient, and suited for area/volume and environmental goals.” The objectives of WP4 are to assess the market potential of the downstream value chain and collaboratively identify and analyse potential applications, critically examine the dynamic relationship between production and processing, identify opportunities to increase value and reduce risk, and facilitate and explore the problem-opportunity space, where technological solutions may have a role to play in supporting valorisation. This deliverable presents case studies of members of the Norwegian Seaweed Association (NSA) in the context of their processing practices and product development. Within regenerative aquaculture, “products” include traditional products such as food, feed, and biostimulants. It can also be argued that other alternative revenue streams, like ecosystem services and social services, can also be considered “products”. This report takes a Case Study approach, in which ten semi-structured interviews with ten NSA seaweed businesses preceded follow-up consultations with a select few of these companies. A case study from outside the NSA was included as a comparison.
Authors
Teresa Gómez de la Bárcena Tatiana Francischinelli Rittl Eva Farkas Daniel Rasse Christophe Moni Cédric Plessis Loiuse Malot Helge Meissner Trond Henriksen Randi Berland FrøsethAbstract
Background and aims Cover crops are an important measure for carbon (C) sequestration in agriculture. However, little is known about the potential of cover crops to increase C under Nordic conditions and the efficiency of this measure over time. Here, we quantify the potential contribution of different cover crops to soil organic carbon (SOC) and organic matter fractions, and study how this is affected by the origin of the C input (aboveground or belowground residues). Methods We conducted a 13 CO 2 pulse-labelling experiment during the growing season of four cover crops adapted to Nordic conditions, representing different plant functional types. The assimilated 13 C was traced in soil during the following two years. We investigated the fate of cover crop C in two organic matter fractions, Particulate Organic Matter (POM) and Mineral-Associated Organic Matter (MAOM), known to have different persistence in soil. Results Carbon derived from aboveground residues decayed two to three times faster as compared to belowground C. Belowground C inputs were similar among cover crops despite their contrasting root traits and differences in root biomass C. Rhizodeposited-C was consistently the largest belowground C input. Cover crop species affected the quantity of POM-C and MAOM-C, but MAOM-C was preferentially formed from belowground C (ranging from 0.63 ± 0.2 to 0.25 ± 0.1 Mg MAOM-C ha −1 across different cover crops), regardless of the species. Conclusions Cover crop species that can combine large belowground biomass production with root traits that promote physical and physico-chemical protection of OM will contribute most effectively to the long-term SOC pool. These aspects need to be balanced with considerations related to agricultural management.
Authors
Katherine Mary Dunlop Antti Eloranta Karl Øystein Gjelland Sigurd Slåteng Jenny Lovisa Alexandra Jensen Rune Knudsen Mikko Kiljunen Hallvard Jensen Martin Svenning Vegar Seljestokken Rune Muladal André FrainerAbstract
Presentation at the 4th International Seminar on Pink salmon in the Barents region and in Northern Europe 2025
Authors
Kristiina Matilda Maria Visakorpi Zafar A. Reshi Oriol Grau Anne Muola Anna Orczewska Koenraad Van Meerbeek Bente Jessen GraaeAbstract
Invasive species are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. However, our understanding of how these species persist and spread in novel environments remains limited. Specifically, the relative importance of species interactions versus environmental conditions and the role of rapid evolutionary adaptation are not fully understood. Here, we investigate the impact of these factors on the distribution of the invasive Himalayan balsam ( Impatiens glandulifera ). We examined whether the climatic niche of the species is pre-adapted to the environmental conditions in the introduced range through niche modeling. Field surveys were conducted to assess the importance of herbivory and competition, and greenhouse treatments were used to investigate local adaptation. We found that the species has not yet fully occupied the suitable climatic space in its introduced range in Europe. Our results suggest that the species may have experienced enemy release while also facing increased biotic pressure at the northern range edge. We identified adaptive differentiation in flowering time, which enhances reproductive success when plants grow in climates similar to their origin. Our results indicate that Himalayan balsam has rapidly adapted to differences in growing season length in its introduced range, with trait plasticity providing an adaptive advantage. Together, these findings suggest that the species may continue to spread across its introduced range in Europe.
Abstract
Fine-scale, spatially explicit forest attribute maps are essential for guiding forest management and policy decisions. Such maps, based on the combination of National Forest Inventory (NFI) and remote sensing datasets, have a long tradition in the Nordic countries. Harmonizing the pixel size among national forest attribute maps would considerably improve the utility of the maps for users. However, the maps are often aligned with the NFI plot size, and the influence of creating these maps at different spatial resolutions (i.e. pixel sizes) is little studied. We assess the stand-level uncertainty (RMSE) of biomass, volume, basal area, and Lorey’s height estimates resulting from the aggregation of maps across varying spatial resolutions. Models fit at 16 m native resolution using more than 14 000 NFI plots were applied for predictions at pixels sizes (side lengths) of 1, 5, 10, 16, and 30 m. For independent validation, we used more than 600 field plots – that cover a total area of 24 ha and were clustered within 65 stands across Norway. For all attributes, the lowest RMSEs, ranging from 6.86% for Lorey’s height to 13.86% for volume, were observed for predictions at pixel sizes of 5 m to 16 m. The RMSE changes across resolutions were generally small (< 5%) for biomass, volume, and basal area. For Lorey’s height, changing the spatial resolution resulted in large RMSEs of up to 25%. Overall, our findings suggest that the main forest attributes can be mapped at a finer resolutions without complex adjustments.
Authors
Zsofia KomaAbstract
No abstract has been registered