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.
2026
Authors
Nhat Strøm-Andersen Julia Szulecka Markus M. Bugge Ellen-Marie ForsbergAbstract
The sustainability transitions literature suggests that individual firms struggle to move toward sustainability unless the broader socio-economic system also evolves. Despite firms' willingness to change, existing systemic challenges often impede their progress. This paper employs paradox theory to address this struggle and examines how firms balance economic and societal concerns in their transition from business thinking to sustainability thinking. Based on a qualitative case study of the food industry's collaboration initiatives on food waste reduction and prevention in Norway, the study identifies the systemic challenges and sustainability paradoxes that the industry faces. We find that the firms' efforts to reduce food waste collide with established food industry agreements, standards, business strategies, regulations, and agricultural policies, impeding a systemic and structural transformation of the industry. The paper discusses how the food industry may navigate these challenges collectively and draws implications for the sustainability transitions literature. Primarily, the conclusions signal a need for governance and incentive structures at the system level beyond the action space of individual firms, and secondarily, illustrate how such governance approaches to sustainability transitions are sector-specific and geographically embedded.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Dafni Foti Stephen Amiandamhen Eleni Voulgaridou Elias Voulgaridis Costas Passialis Stergios AdamopoulosAbstract
Abstract This study investigated the incorporation of various waste materials including wastepaper, Tetra Pak, wood chips and scrap tire fluff into flue gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum and cement mortar matrices to produce sustainable composite materials. Four distinct composite types based on the waste materials were developed and evaluated for selected properties including thermal and acoustic insulation. The proportion of the waste materials was varied between 10 and 40 vol% of the base matrix. The compressive strength of the filled gypsum composites was in the range of 4.17–10.39 N/mm² while the pure gypsum was 11.38 N/mm². The addition of the wastes in gypsum composites reduced compressive strength by about 10% for the best recipe and as large as 60% for the worst combination. However, the measured strength still exceeds the strength of typical gypsum wallboard with a compressive strength of about 3–4 N/mm² for whole-board crushing tests and it is much lower for point loads. The normal-incidence sound absorption coefficient indicated that the waste-filled samples absorbed around 80% of the incident sound energy between 2000 and 3000 Hz, comparable to some commercial acoustic foams. The results highlight the potential of utilising these waste-based composites in environmentally friendly construction applications. Depending on the waste type and matrix used, the results revealed trade-offs between multi-functional performance and sustainability benefits.
Abstract
Potato field management in Europe is already optimized for high production and tuber quality; however, numerous environmental challenges remain if the industry is to achieve “green economy” targets, such as less resources utilized, and less nitrate leached to the environment. Strategic co-scheduling irrigation and nitrogen (N) fertilization might increase resource use efficiency while minimizing reactive losses such as nitrate leaching. This study aimed to quantify the combined effect of irrigation and N fertilization on potato production, growth, and resource use efficiencies. A field experiment was conducted from 2017 to 2019 on a coarse sandy soil in Denmark, with a drought event occurring in 2018. Full (Ifull, maximized), deficit (Idef, 70–80 % of Ifull) and low irrigation treatments (Ilow, minimized amount to keep crop survival), each under full (Nfull, maximized) and variable (Nvar, variable amount according to the crops’ needs) N fertilization were applied. The analyses results show that Ilow limited potato growth under a drought-heat event; otherwise, potato growth was comparable between Ifull and Idef treatments, with 31–32 % higher irrigation efficiency (IE) under Idef than under Ifull. Nitrate leaching was variable and not significantly different among the treatments, being in general 9–13 % lower under Idef in absolute terms than under Ifull. Unexpectedly, outcomes from Nvar were statistically lower compared to those from Nfull. Radiation use efficiencies (RUEs) from Ilow and Nvar were significantly lower than from Ifull and Idef (14–19 %), and from Nfull (9–11 %). N use efficiencies (NUE) were comparable between N fertilization treatments but significantly different among different irrigation treatments. Overall, this study confirms that Idef is the best irrigation strategy. Future efforts should focus on developing improved approaches for detecting in-season crop N status and further quantifying N requirements, as well as promoting the co-scheduled management of irrigation and N fertilization. Remote sensing approaches have great potential to assist with this.
2025
Authors
Ivan M De-la-Cruz Femke Batsleer Dries Bonte Carolina Diller José Luis Izquierdo Sonja Still Sonia Osorio David Posé Aurora de la Rosa Martijn L. Vandegehuchte Anne Muola Timo Hytönen Johan A StenbergAbstract
Climate change creates novel environmental conditions that plant species must adapt to. Since plants are finely tuned to the seasonality of their environments, shifts in their phenology serve as some of the most compelling evidence of climate change’s impact. Understanding how key fitness-related phenological traits, such as flowering onset, respond to novel environments is crucial for assessing species’ plasticity and/or adaptive potential under climate change. Here, we investigated the onset of flowering in Fragaria vesca (woodland strawberry; Rosaceae) by translocating genotypes between four sites along a south–north gradient in Europe, encompassing its entire latitudinal distribution range with varying temperatures, precipitation patterns, and photoperiods. At each site, we included a reduced precipitation treatment using rainout shelters to simulate drought conditions and assess their impact on flowering onset. Our findings revealed that southern and central European genotypes exhibited a delayed onset of flowering when translocated to the northernmost site. In contrast, no difference among genotypes was found in the onset of flowering when grown in more southerly sites. Reduced precipitation accelerated flowering across several sites and all genotypes, irrespective of their latitudinal origin. Overall, northern European genotypes showed a greater capacity to adjust their onset of flowering in response to the different photoperiods and temperatures across the latitudinal gradient compared to southern European genotypes, suggesting that they may be more resilient to shifting environmental conditions. Differences in phenotypic plasticity among genotypes translocated to higher versus lower latitudes highlight the role of photoperiod in evaluating a species’ capacity to cope with climate change.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Climate change and human activities are prone to cause the shrinkage of lakes and soil salinization in arid areas, thereby affecting regional ecological security. Biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration in shrinking lake areas have attracted more attention. We have investigated the changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) content and microbial community diversity under different vegetation restoration measures, such as the species of Carex, Salicornia, Tamarisk, reed, and grass restoration in the lakeshore of Dalinor lake in Inner Mongolia. Results showed that the soil pH and water-soluble salt content are relatively high in the Carex and Salicornia restoration areas compared to the bare land, and the changes in SOC and TN content are not significant. Still, the contents of AP (available phosphorus) and AK (available potassium) are significantly increased. For the Tamarisk, reed, and grass restoration areas, the level of soil salinization has significantly decreased. At the same time, the contents of SOC and TN are increased by 23.1% and 116.2% compared with the bare land, respectively. With the different vegetation restoration measures, soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) content was, on average, 62.4% higher than that of bare land. The high-throughput sequencing data showed that different vegetation restoration measures have significantly changed the composition of soil bacterial communities, the alpha diversity indices of Chao1 and Shannon increased by 73.6% and 19.7%, respectively, and the abundance of microbial species related to soil carbon and nitrogen cycling also showed an enrichment trend. Taken together, our study, built on the joint efforts of Chinese and Norwegian partners, has provided valuable information for the future adaptive management of climate change risks and biodiversity conservation related to the shrinkage of lakes in arid areas.
Authors
Fride Høistad ScheiAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Alexandro B. Leverkus María Medina Alba Lazaro-Gonzalez Laura Levy Olivia Lorente-Casalini Marino P. Reyes Martín Enrique Andivia Alessandro Bizzarri Henrik Böhlenius Vito E. Cambria Claudia Cocozza Branislav Cvjetkovic Giovanbattista de Dato Lenka Ehrenbergerova Peter Ferus Lorena Gomez-Aparicio Arndt Hampe Kjersti Holt Hanssen Marcin Jakubowski Ivona Kerkez Jankovic Marcin Klisz Wojciech Kowalkowski Klaus Kremer Jelena Lazarevic Dagnija Lazdina Emanuele Lingua Magnus Löf Manuel E. Lucas-Borja Adrian Łukowski Paula Maia Paola Mairota Alberto Maltoni Barbara Mariotti Raffaella Marzano Lucia Mondanelli Antonio Montagnoli Maria Cristina Monteverdi Francisco B. Navarro Reyes Juan A. Oliet Maria S. Patrício Zoran Poduska Vladan Popovic Radosław Puchałka Piotr Robakowski Piotr Sewerniak Carmen Urena-Lara Pedro Villar-Salvador Johanna Witzell Nicolo Anselmetto Inger Sundheim FløistadAbstract
Seedling emergence constitutes a critical recruitment step, and early growth relates to plant competitive ability. Understanding their drivers has implications for forestry and forest ecosystem conservation, restoration, and adaptation to climate change. We seeded 6984 acorns in an experiment with 97 cases at 45 sites in 15 European countries, encompassing 12 oak species. We tested whether the quality of the acorn batch, site-level weather and soil characteristics, year of seeding, and species’ mean specific leaf area (SLA) affected the emergence and early growth of seedlings after the first summer. Germination potential and acorn dry weight, measured under controlled conditions, were positively associated with emergence and early growth. Seedling emergence was negatively associated with the mean monthly temperature and cumulative winter precipitation, and it was higher in the seedling cohort that was spared from the 2021 drought. Additionally, seedling emergence was positively related to soil nutrient concentration and negatively to increasing soil pH, but not to water-holding capacity, and growth was unrelated to soils. Species-level SLA was not related to either response. The four main study species –Quercus cerris, Q. ilex, Q. petraea, and Q. robur– responded similarly to weather but not to soil conditions. We conclude that, at a continental scale, and assuming that species establish within their current distributions, (a) oak seedling emergence and early growth are associated with acorn quality rather than species identity or SLA, (b) they are highest at sites with low winter precipitation and temperature, (c) emergence is reduced in dry years, and d) soil properties play a secondary role at this early recruitment stage.
Authors
Paulina Jedynak Mariona Bustamante Matthieu Rolland Vicente Mustieles Cathrine Thomsen Amrit Kaur Sakhi Azemira Sabaredzovic Maria Foraster Mireia Gascon Maria Dolores Gómez-Roig Elisa Llurba Ioar Rivas Isabelle Ouellet-Morin Sam Bayat Sarah Lyon-Caen Oscar J. Pozo Martine Vrijheid Jordi Sunyer Rémy Slama Payam Dadvand Claire PhilippatAbstract
No abstract has been registered