Researchers trekked through the forests and coffee fields of Costa Rica to study how tropical birds were faring in a changing agricultural landscape. Through painstaking banding of individual birds, they asked whether the expansion of coffee plantations is reducing tropical bird biodiversity.
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A genetic and computational analysis of birds suggests that the Andean and Atlantic tropical forests, which are now almost a thousand kilometers apart, were connected via the Cerrado in the distant past.
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In as few as 25 years, climate change could shrink and dry 60-80% of Western Hemisphere cloud forests, finds a study published today. If greenhouse gas emissions continue increasing as they have been, 90% of Western Hemisphere cloud forests would be affected as early as 2060. The current cloud and frost environment of the highly diverse alpine ecosystems above these equatorial cloud forests, known as páramo, will nearly disappear.
http://bit.ly/2UpzKz8
Researchers report that the distribution of forest types worldwide is based on the relationships plant species forged with soil microbes to enhance their uptake of nutrients. These symbioses could help scientists understand how ecosystems may shift as climate change alters the interplay between plants, microbes and soil.
http://bit.ly/2PiKyyf
An international team of conservationists highlights the importance of tree dens as a choice for pandas raising infants in native habitats. The study analyzed the difference in microhabitats of cave dens and tree dens used by female pandas. The result of the research suggests that conservation efforts need to take into account species use of microhabitats and habitat features as well as overall ecological systems.
http://bit.ly/2GsjgTr
The exploitation of farmland is being intensified with a focus to raising yields. The degree to which yields actually increase as a result and the extent of the simultaneous loss of biological diversity have to date been under-researched factors. An international team of scientists has now evaluated data from worldwide research in which both yield and biodiversity were examined before and after intensification measures.
http://bit.ly/2Z6gPgH
A study has used data collected by volunteer bird watchers to study how the importance of wildlife habitat management for British birds depends on changing temperatures.
http://bit.ly/2I8g7Ky
As companies seek and are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the world's carbon markets are expanding. A government-run program in the Amazon rainforest in northwestern Brazil transforms forest carbon value into public wealth by focusing on labor rather than land rights. In the Brazilian state of Acre, some of the revenue from carbon credits is distributed to rural laborers and family farmers without land rights. A new study examines the benefits and risks associated with Acre's unique approach.
http://bit.ly/2Uyl84U
A few years ago, the Peruvian government launched a program to protect the rainforest. However, an analysis shows that its effect is small. But the researchers also have good news: Three measures could probably significantly increase effectiveness.
http://bit.ly/2OORrqK
A groundbreaking two-year study in southern Oregon found greater abundance and diversity of wild bees in areas that experienced moderate and severe forest fires compared to areas with low-severity fires.
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The Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) is well known around the world today and has been an important part of human subsistence strategies in the Amazon forest from at least the Early Holocene. These trees can live for hundreds of years and are managed today by humans for their valuable, energy-filled nuts. Patterns in the establishment and growth of living Brazil nut trees in Central Amazonia reflect over 400 years of changes in human occupation, politics, and socioeconomic activities in the region.
https://ift.tt/2Ia0zVH
Human-caused pollution spurs the production of climate-changing particles known as secondary organic aerosols much more than previously thought. Researchers made the finding by analyzing air samples that were captured aboard a research aircraft as it zigzagged between pristine air over the Amazon rainforest and polluted air over the nearby city of Manaus. It was like a trip back (and forth) through time, as scientists weaved between the two vastly different settings.
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International plans to restore forests to combat global warming are flawed and will fall far short of meeting 1.5C climate targets, according to new research.
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A new study finds that Medicare costs tend to be lower in counties with more forests and shrublands than in counties dominated by other types of land cover. The relationship persists even when accounting for economic, geographic or other factors that might independently influence health care costs, researchers report.
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A sixth of all emissions resulting from the typical diet of an EU citizen can be directly linked to deforestation of tropical forests. Two new studies shed new light on this impact, by combining satellite imagery of the rainforest, global land use statistics and data of international trade patterns.
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Relationships between tree diversity and pest diversity follow a hump-shaped curve. That's the finding of a national study of US forests that compared two county-level data sets.
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A new study shows that damage inflicted on trees in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria was unprecedented in modern times, and suggests that more frequent big storms whipped up by warming climate could permanently alter forests not only here, but across much of the Atlantic tropics.
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When more women are involved in group decisions about land management, the group conserves more - particularly when offered financial incentives to do so, according to a new study.
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Thawing permafrost in high-altitude mountain ecosystems may be a stealthy, underexplored contributor to atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions.
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A new model quantifies how forest change affects local surface temperatures by altering sunlight-reflection and evapotranspiration properties, and predicts that Brazilian deforestation could result in a 1.45°C increase by 2050.
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Researchers warn of the effects of summer drought and competition for ground water.
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Scientists explain how differing climate model projections can be used collectively to reduce uncertainties in future climate change.
https://ift.tt/2CqA2jg Nitrogen pollution's path to streams weaves through more forests (and faster) than suspected3/15/2019
Scientists have completed one of the largest and longest examinations to trace unprocessed nitrate movement in forests. The team found that some nitrate occasionally moves too fast for biological uptake, resulting in 'unprocessed' nitrate bypassing the otherwise effective filter of forest biology.
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Researchers have been baffled by tropical rainforest diversity for over a century; 650 different tree species can exist in an area covering two football fields, yet similar species never grow next to each other. It seems like it's good to be different than your neighbors, but why?
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California sheephead and spiny lobsters may be helping control sea urchin populations in Southern California kelp forests, where sea otters -- a top urchin predator -- have long been missing, according to a new study. The research provides new insight into the complex predator-prey relationships in kelp forests that can be seen in the absence of sea otters.
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