Forests

Escalating human pressure has transformed the Southeastern Amazon into a carbon source, with significant implications for global climate and regional precipitation patterns. Urgent measures are required to mitigate this trend and safeguard the Amazon’s ecological and climatic functions.The Amazon rainforest could approach a tipping point, which could lead to a large-scale collapse with serious implications for the global climate system. A new Nature study by an international research team including scientists from the…

Scientists have discovered Tudors’s Coffee-Snake, a new species endemic to Ecuador’s cloud forests. Found by biologist Alejandro Arteaga, it resides in coffee plantations at high elevations. This discovery highlights the need for conservation in cloud forests and surrounding habitats, with the species naming aiding in such efforts. Credit: Alejandro ArteagaResearchers from Khamai Foundation and Liberty University have identified a new species of coffee snake, endemic to the cloud forests in northwestern Ecuador.Biologist…

It's difficult to imagine the Earth without its forests, but it wasn't until the Devonian just 400 million years ago that the first awkward tree sprouted like fuzz from Earth's pubescent chin.What little we know of critical periods of ancient arborescence, or tree development, is mostly based on stumps and roots preserved in rock, with a scattering of leaves and branches squished flat between layers of mud and stone.A 2.3 meter (7.5 foot) long by roughly 2 meter wide block of stone stored at Canada's New Brunswick Museum…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Forests, which cover a third of Earth's land surface, are pivotal in carbon storage and the water cycle, though the full scope of their impact remains to be fully understood. In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers from Stockholm University and international colleagues provide new insights into the complex role forests play in the climate system and water cycle.…

Scientists have discovered how forest emissions affect cloud formation and climate, emphasizing the need for better climate models and the role of forests in combating global warming. Credit: SciTechDaily.comForests, which cover a third of Earth’s land surface, are pivotal in carbon storage and the water cycle, though the full scope of their impact remains to be fully understood. In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers from Stockholm University and international colleagues provide new insights into…

The beautiful thing about fractals, the self-repeating patterns found throughout nature, is their enchanting repetition which runs infinitely deep.Zoom in on the branching found in objects like fern fronds and snowflakes and you'll see they repeat in miniature – sometimes all the way down to atomic and quantum matter.Mesmerizing as they are, such geometric patterns can have their limits. According to a new study that has found forest canopies don't replicate the fractal patterns of individual trees.Given how common…

A new report by the U.S. branch of the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency says that investment interest and government tax incentives are fuelling intense mining exploration in remote northern B.C. — raising concerns about the environmental impacts of the work and its financial implications.The report focuses on the transboundary region, which falls along the border between the Alaska panhandle and the province of B.C. Much of this exploration is focused on the so-called Golden Triangle, which in many areas is…

Lateral expansion of Sphagnum mosses over mineral soil forest in Salamajärvi national park. Credit: Teemu Juselius-Rajamäki.A recent study from the University of Helsinki has revealed that the northern peatlands have been expanding in size over the past centuries. This finding contrasts with the previous belief that the growth of peatlands in Fennoscandia had either stopped or slowed down considerably, as it was assumed that all the flat regions conducive to peat development had already been transformed into peatlands.The…

John Slapcinsky, manager of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s invertebrate zoology collection, named nine new species of carnivorous land snails found in Papua New Guinea. Credit: Florida Museum photo by Jeff GageNine recently discovered species of meat-eating land snails have been identified in the secluded forests of Papua New Guinea, known for its rich variety of species. A recent research paper details these tiny creatures, each so small that all nine could collectively rest on a U.S. nickel. These snails offer…

Canada's forestry sector is responsible for far more greenhouse gas emissions than show up in official tallies, potentially leading to policies that aren't in line with the country's climate goals, a new study suggests.The peer-reviewed study, published in the academic journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, found that annual greenhouse gas emissions attributable to forestry between 2005 and 2021 were, on average, nearly 91 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent — which would put the sector on par with…