New research suggests climate change makes it increasingly difficult for tree seedlings to regenerate following wildfires in low-elevation forests, which could contribute to abrupt forest loss.
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A new study has found predictable, traceable connections between changes in how the Atlantic Ocean flowed and operated with centuries-long droughts and changes in forest makeup.
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Human disturbance reduces forest density, biomass, and richness of species in sacred church forests of northern Ethiopia, according to new research.
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Vegetation biomass on grasslands increases in response to elevated carbon dioxide levels, but less than expected. Vegetation on grasslands with a wet spring season has the greatest increase.
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Biologists propose a better way to assess the conservation value of North American old-growth forests -- using lichens, sensitive bioindicators of environmental change. Old-growth forests are usually defined by tree age, but the authors argue this overlooks the importance of biodiversity in those habitats. Lichens are the ideal candidates to measure this biodiversity. Scorecards with suites of lichens specific to these forests can be developed for use by conservation biologists and forest managers.
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Scientists are puzzling out how to address the declining numbers of northern spotted owls (NSO) in their Pacific Northwest forest habitat. A new study explores the reasons why spotted owls are losing a foothold in their habitat, forecasts future habitat conditions and species interactions, and suggests best management practices.
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In a recent study, researchers explored the ways forest succession and climate variability interacted and influenced fires in Alaska's boreal forests over the past four centuries -- from 1550 to 2015.
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A new study of urban tree life in the Southeast shows pavement and concrete may have a bigger effect than longitudinal warming.
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A new drought monitoring method allows scientists to identify the onset of drought sooner, meaning conservation or remediation measures could be put into place sooner. The new method uses thermal stress -- the difference between air and surface temperatures at a site -- as a drought indicator.
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A new study shows how information revealed by a new method of analyzing tree rings matches the story told by more high-tech equipment over the short-term. Because trees are long-lived, looking back in their rings with this new approach may add decades or even centuries to our understanding of carbon storage and climate change in forests.
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To stabilize the Earth's climate for people and ecosystems, it is imperative to ramp up natural climate solutions and, at the same time, accelerate mitigation efforts across the energy and industrial sectors, experts argue in a new article.
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Tropical forests recovering from disturbance could be much more important to the conservation of forest bird species than first thought, according to a new study.
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Ecological restoration projects actively involving indigenous peoples and local communities are more successful. A new study places value on indigenous and local knowledge contribution in the restoring of degraded ecosystems, and highlights the need to engage them in these projects for ensuring a long-term maintenance of restored areas.
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Scientists are examining more data via simulations of wildfires in the Sierra Nevada to improve their understanding between prior and future wildfires. They hypothesized that prior wildfires and their influence on vegetation, coupled with a changing climate and its influence on vegetation recovery after a wildfire, would likely restrict the size of wildfires in the future.
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By tapping nutrients from bedrock, red alder trees play a key role in healthy forest ecosystems.
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A study examining the impact of deforestation on lizard communities in the Dominican Republic demonstrates differing outcomes at different elevations. In the lowlands, deforestation reduces the number of individuals, but not which species occur in an area. In the highlands, it's the opposite. When the forest is cut down at higher elevations, the newly created pastures become filled with species found in the warmer lowlands. But locally adapted mountain lizards cannot survive as temperature rises.
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On the mountain slopes of the western United States, climate can play a major role in determining which tree communities will thrive in the harshest conditions, according to new work. The findings are an important step in understanding how forest growth will respond to a climate altered by human activity.
https://ift.tt/2tEzNMC Amazon forest: Areas with higher rainfall variability are more resilient to climate change2/25/2019
The Amazon rainforest has evolved over millions of years and even through ice ages. Yet today, human influences and global climate change put this huge ecosystem at risk of large-scale dieback -- with major consequences for its capability as a global CO2 sink. New research now reveals a key player in shaping the resilience of the Amazon, and finds that regions with generally higher rainfall variability are more resilient to current and future climate disturbances.
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Lost to science for decades and thought perhaps extinct, Wallace's giant bee (Megachile pluto) has been rediscovered in an Indonesian rainforest.
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Several years ago, an international team of scientists raised sediments from the bottom of Lake Van in eastern Turkey reflecting the past 600,000 years. Soil scientists and paleobotanists have now evaluated the drill cores for residues of early fires -- with surprising findings. The fires did not mainly occur during particularly dry periods as assumed, but in comparatively humid and warm periods.
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To better understand the effects of climate change on the bird community in the Sierra Nevada region, researchers examined the impacts to birds from a recent extreme drought (2013-2016). The drought resulted in the widespread death of pine trees due to attacks by bark beetles, potentially impacting wildlife habitat. While the results were varied, researchers found that many bird species responded positively to the climate conditions associated with the drought, potentially offsetting the negative habitat impacts of the dead trees.
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Researchers have succeeded in constructing, from scattered data, a world map of the diversity of tree species. Climate plays a central role for its global distribution; however, the number of species in a specific region also depends on the spatial scale of the observation, the researchers report. The new approach could help improve conservation.
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Simply protecting small forests will not maintain the diversity of the birds they support over the long run, a new study says. Forests need to be carefully monitored and managed to maintain their ecological integrity.
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Significantly less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times -- this is the temperature to which global warming should be limited, according to the Paris Climate Agreement. In a current study, a research team shows that previous efforts to reduce greenhouse gases through human land use are insufficient.
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Forest fires are more harmful than previously imagined, causing stunted growth in children who were exposed to smoke while in the womb, according to new research.
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