Testing grass species and varieties for land reclamation in Iceland

During this century, increasing effort has been put to the reclamation of eroded areas in Iceland, both in the lowlands along the coast and in the interior of the country. The seeding of grass species along with the application of chemical fertilizers has formed the core of the reclamation work. At least 450 different varieties consisting of about 50 grass species have been tested in variety trials, but only few varieties, all of northern origin, proved valuable. Their performance is strongly dependent on environmental conditions, and it is proposed that a mixture of adapted varieties, subjected to natural selection at each location, would yield belter results

The Agrodiversity Experiment: three years of data from a multisite study in intensively managed grasslands

Intensively managed grasslands are globally prominent ecosystems. We investigated whether experimental increases in plant diversity in intensively managed grassland communities can increase their resource use efficiency. This work consisted of a coordinated, continental-scale 33-site experiment. The core design was 30 plots, representing 15 grassland communities at two seeding densities. The 15 communities were comprised of four monocultures (two grasses and two legumes) and 11 four-species mixtures that varied in the relative abundance of the four species at sowing. There were 1028 plots in the core experiment, with another 572 plots sown for additional treatments. Sites agreed a protocol and employed the same experimental methods with certain plot management factors, such as seeding rates and number of cuts, determined by local practice. The four species used at a site depended on geographical location, but the species were chosen according to four functional traits: a fast-establishing grass, a slow-establishing persistent grass, a fast-establishing legume, and a slow-establishing persistent legume. As the objective was to maximize yield for intensive grassland production, the species chosen were all high-yielding agronomic species. The data set contains species-specific biomass measurements (yield per species and of weeds) for all harvests for up to four years at 33 sites. Samples of harvested vegetation were also analyzed for forage quality at 26 sites. Analyses showed that the yield of the mixtures exceeded that of the average monoculture in >97% of comparisons. Mixture biomass also exceeded that of the best monoculture (transgressive overyielding) at about 60% of sites. There was also a positive relationship between the diversity of the communities and aboveground biomass that was consistent across sites and persisted for three years. Weed invasion in mixtures was very much less than that in monocultures. These data should be of interest to ecologists studying relationships between diversity and ecosystem function and to agronomists interested in sustainable intensification. The large spatial scale of the sites provides opportunity for analyses across spatial (and temporal) scales. The database can also complement existing databases and meta-analyses on biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships in natural communities by focusing on those same relationships within intensively managed agricultural grasslands

Variability in drift ice export from the Arctic Ocean to the North Icelandic Shelf over the last 8000 years: A multi-proxy evaluation

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Variability in drift ice export from the Arctic Ocean to the North Icelandic Shelf over the last 8000 years: A multi-proxy evaluation journaltitle: Quaternary Science Reviews articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.06.012 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Weed suppression greatly increased by plant diversity in intensively managed grasslands: A continental-scale experiment

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Grassland diversity can support sustainable intensification of grassland production through increased yields, reduced inputs and limited weed invasion. We report the effects of diversity on weed suppression from 3 years of a 31-site continental-scale field experiment. At each site, 15 grassland communities comprising four monocultures and 11 four-species mixtures based on a wide range of species' proportions were sown at two densities and managed by cutting. Forage species were selected according to two crossed functional traits, “method of nitrogen acquisition” and “pattern of temporal development”. Across sites, years and sown densities, annual weed biomass in mixtures and monocultures was 0.5 and 2.0 t DM ha−1 (7% and 33% of total biomass respectively). Over 95% of mixtures had weed biomass lower than the average of monocultures, and in two-thirds of cases, lower than in the most suppressive monoculture (transgressive suppression). Suppression was significantly transgressive for 58% of site-years. Transgressive suppression by mixtures was maintained across years, independent of site productivity. Based on models, average weed biomass in mixture over the whole experiment was 52% less (95% confidence interval: 30%–75%) than in the most suppressive monoculture. Transgressive suppression of weed biomass was significant at each year across all mixtures and for each mixture. Weed biomass was consistently low across all mixtures and years and was in some cases significantly but not largely different from that in the equiproportional mixture. The average variability (standard deviation) of annual weed biomass within a site was much lower for mixtures (0.42) than for monocultures (1.77). Synthesis and applications. Weed invasion can be diminished through a combination of forage species selected for complementarity and persistence traits in systems designed to reduce reliance on fertiliser nitrogen. In this study, effects of diversity on weed suppression were consistently strong across mixtures varying widely in species' proportions and over time. The level of weed biomass did not vary greatly across mixtures varying widely in proportions of sown species. These diversity benefits in intensively managed grasslands are relevant for the sustainable intensification of agriculture and, importantly, are achievable through practical farm-scale actions.We thank the many colleagues who have assisted this work. We thank M. Coll for her early contribution. Co-ordination of this project was supported by the EU Commission through COST Action 852 ‘Quality legume-based forage systems for contrasting environments’. M.T.S., R.L. and A.R. were supported by the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness through projects CARBOAGROPAS (CGL2006-13555- C03- 01/ BOS) and BIOGEI (CGL2013-49142- C2- 1- R) and the Ministry of the Environment through OPS (209/PC08/3-08.2). L.K. was supported by an award from Science Foundation Ireland (09/RFP/EOB2546). A.L., J.A.F., J.C. and M.S. were partly supported by the EU FP7 project ‘AnimalChange’ under grant agreement no. 266018.Peer Reviewe

Maan kasvuunpalauttamisessa käytettävien heinälajien ja -lajikkeiden testaaminen Islannissa

During this century, increasing effort has been put to the reclamation of eroded areas in Iceland, both in the lowlands along the coast and in the interior of the country. The seeding of grass species along with the application of chemical fertilizers has formed the core of the reclamation work. At least 450 different varieties consisting of about 50 grass species have been tested in variety trials, but only few varieties, all of northern origin, proved valuable. Their performance is strongly dependent on environmental conditions, and it is proposed that a mixture of adapted varieties, subjected to natural selection at each location, would yield belter results.Islannissa on 1900-luvun mittaan panostettu lisääntyvässä määrässä toimenpiteitä erodoituneiden alueiden saattamiseksi uudelleen kasvuston peittoon. Työn perustan on muodostanut eri heinälajien kylväminen ja viljeleminen kemiallisia lannoitteita käyttäen. Kenttäkokeissa on tutkittu vähintään 450 lajiketta noin 50 heinälajista, mutta vain muutamat, pohjoista alkuperää olevat lajikkeet ovat osoittautuneet käyttökelpoisiksi. Lajikkeiden menestyminen on voimakkaasti riippuvainen ympäristöoloista ja onnistuneen tuloksen saavuttamiseksi suositellaan sopeutuneiden lajikkeiden seosviljelyä eri paikoilla vallitsevan luonnonvalinnan alaisena

"Digitalize or die trying" : Does digitalization enhance collaboration of involved actors throughout the planning process? Reflections of actors involved in the Stockholm Royal Seaport project

Urbanization is causing increased agglomerations in cities, this in return has made urban planning an increasingly crucial element in developing cities. Simultaneously as cities are growing in size, aspiration for sustainable development arise. The contemporary planning process faces multiple challenges, one of these is that it comprises multiple actors, with different interests, which need to coordinate in an effective way. As a response to this challenge, multiple concepts have surfaced, such as collaborative planning, institutional capacity and communicative planning. What these concepts have in common is that they all emphasize the importance of collaboration. However, what these concepts lack to acknowledge is the application of digital technology by means to support collaboration. Even though digitalization has received increased recognition within multiple disciplines of our society in the last couple of decades, it still has not paved its way into the discipline of contemporary urban planning. In Sweden, multiple initiatives have been constructed for the purpose of digitalizing the planning process, both on a municipal and national level. However, these are quite recent and are thus not fully established. This master thesis focuses on collaboration supported by digitalization and aims at identifying the opportunities and difficulties brought about by this. It assembles and compares opinions from both private and public actors involved in the Royal Seaport project in Stockholm. The results are obtained from data assembled through semi-structured interviews, with both public and private actors involved in the Royal Seaport project, and literature review. The answers were analyzed, and a comparison was made of the answers of public actors on one hand and private actors on the other hand. The results indicate that opinions of the actors, involved in the Royal Seaport project, towards digitalization in general are quite positive. However, private actors seem to be more aware of the opportunities brought about by digitalization. Main opportunities regarding collaboration supported by increased digitalization include a more cohesive information flow, equal information access, increased efficiency and thus streamlining the planning process, simplified communication and reduced number of possible mistakes made in the later stages of the planning process. Whereas, the main challenges identified are that actors have different background, are of different generations and cultures, the different administrations within the municipality, information and data are not standardized, there is no one in charge of coordinating the data and implementing digitalization in practice within the municipality, it is time-consuming and the available digital tools are often too advanced. However, the results illustrated that collaboration can be enhanced by implementing a shared database accessible to all actors involved in the planning process. In that way digitalization can enhance collaboration. Overall, digitalization is seen as having potential to simplify the collaboration of diverse actors in the planning process

"Digitalize or die trying" : Does digitalization enhance collaboration of involved actors throughout the planning process? Reflections of actors involved in the Stockholm Royal Seaport project

Urbanization is causing increased agglomerations in cities, this in return has made urban planning an increasingly crucial element in developing cities. Simultaneously as cities are growing in size, aspiration for sustainable development arise. The contemporary planning process faces multiple challenges, one of these is that it comprises multiple actors, with different interests, which need to coordinate in an effective way. As a response to this challenge, multiple concepts have surfaced, such as collaborative planning, institutional capacity and communicative planning. What these concepts have in common is that they all emphasize the importance of collaboration. However, what these concepts lack to acknowledge is the application of digital technology by means to support collaboration. Even though digitalization has received increased recognition within multiple disciplines of our society in the last couple of decades, it still has not paved its way into the discipline of contemporary urban planning. In Sweden, multiple initiatives have been constructed for the purpose of digitalizing the planning process, both on a municipal and national level. However, these are quite recent and are thus not fully established. This master thesis focuses on collaboration supported by digitalization and aims at identifying the opportunities and difficulties brought about by this. It assembles and compares opinions from both private and public actors involved in the Royal Seaport project in Stockholm. The results are obtained from data assembled through semi-structured interviews, with both public and private actors involved in the Royal Seaport project, and literature review. The answers were analyzed, and a comparison was made of the answers of public actors on one hand and private actors on the other hand. The results indicate that opinions of the actors, involved in the Royal Seaport project, towards digitalization in general are quite positive. However, private actors seem to be more aware of the opportunities brought about by digitalization. Main opportunities regarding collaboration supported by increased digitalization include a more cohesive information flow, equal information access, increased efficiency and thus streamlining the planning process, simplified communication and reduced number of possible mistakes made in the later stages of the planning process. Whereas, the main challenges identified are that actors have different background, are of different generations and cultures, the different administrations within the municipality, information and data are not standardized, there is no one in charge of coordinating the data and implementing digitalization in practice within the municipality, it is time-consuming and the available digital tools are often too advanced. However, the results illustrated that collaboration can be enhanced by implementing a shared database accessible to all actors involved in the planning process. In that way digitalization can enhance collaboration. Overall, digitalization is seen as having potential to simplify the collaboration of diverse actors in the planning process

Testing grass species and varieties for land reclamation in Iceland

vokKirjasto Aj-KMaan kasvuunpalautumisessa käytettävien heinälajien ja -lajikkeiden testaaminen Islanniss

"Digitalize or die trying" : Does digitalization enhance collaboration of involved actors throughout the planning process? Reflections of actors involved in the Stockholm Royal Seaport project

Urbanization is causing increased agglomerations in cities, this in return has made urban planning an increasingly crucial element in developing cities. Simultaneously as cities are growing in size, aspiration for sustainable development arise. The contemporary planning process faces multiple challenges, one of these is that it comprises multiple actors, with different interests, which need to coordinate in an effective way. As a response to this challenge, multiple concepts have surfaced, such as collaborative planning, institutional capacity and communicative planning. What these concepts have in common is that they all emphasize the importance of collaboration. However, what these concepts lack to acknowledge is the application of digital technology by means to support collaboration. Even though digitalization has received increased recognition within multiple disciplines of our society in the last couple of decades, it still has not paved its way into the discipline of contemporary urban planning. In Sweden, multiple initiatives have been constructed for the purpose of digitalizing the planning process, both on a municipal and national level. However, these are quite recent and are thus not fully established. This master thesis focuses on collaboration supported by digitalization and aims at identifying the opportunities and difficulties brought about by this. It assembles and compares opinions from both private and public actors involved in the Royal Seaport project in Stockholm. The results are obtained from data assembled through semi-structured interviews, with both public and private actors involved in the Royal Seaport project, and literature review. The answers were analyzed, and a comparison was made of the answers of public actors on one hand and private actors on the other hand. The results indicate that opinions of the actors, involved in the Royal Seaport project, towards digitalization in general are quite positive. However, private actors seem to be more aware of the opportunities brought about by digitalization. Main opportunities regarding collaboration supported by increased digitalization include a more cohesive information flow, equal information access, increased efficiency and thus streamlining the planning process, simplified communication and reduced number of possible mistakes made in the later stages of the planning process. Whereas, the main challenges identified are that actors have different background, are of different generations and cultures, the different administrations within the municipality, information and data are not standardized, there is no one in charge of coordinating the data and implementing digitalization in practice within the municipality, it is time-consuming and the available digital tools are often too advanced. However, the results illustrated that collaboration can be enhanced by implementing a shared database accessible to all actors involved in the planning process. In that way digitalization can enhance collaboration. Overall, digitalization is seen as having potential to simplify the collaboration of diverse actors in the planning process