By Tilo Arnhold, tilo.arnhold@ufz.de Phone +49 341 235 163516 December 2011 Chicago/Leipzig (UFZ) – Large forest regions in Canada are apparently about to experience rapid change. Based on models, scientists can now show that there are threshold values for wildfires just like there are for epidemics. Large areas of Canada are apparently approaching this threshold […]
By Ker Than for National Geographic NewsOctober 18, 2010 Around the world, surface winds are slowing down, a new study says. Strangely enough, the alleged culprits aren’t new buildings but new trees. The easing breezes—if also detected higher up—could affect movements of air pollution but may not necessarily give the wind power industry a case […]
Northward expansion of insect herbivores such as the winter moth in northernmost Fennoscandia (intact mountain birch forest is shown in green, severely defoliated forest during the most recent outbreak in 2005 to 2008 is in dark brown, and tundra beyond the tree line is in white; reports of local winter moth outbreaks before the last […]
AMES, Iowa, September 15, 2009 (ENS) – The emerald ash borer is eating its way through all of the native ash trees across the United States, but Iowa horticulturalist Mark Widrlechner is locked in a battle with the devastating insect. He is collecting and storing ash tree seeds as fast as he can – seeds […]
By Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public RadioSeptember 15, 2009 St. Paul, Minn. — A new article by University of Minnesota ecologists says Minnesota’s forests could shrink more rapidly than expected, as droughts, fires, and growth of native and exotic species accelerate the changes caused by global warming. The authors argue that prairie lands could expand by […]
NAIROBI, Kenya, September 14,2009 (ENS) – A multimillion dollar appeal to save the Mau Forests Complex, the most important source of water for human consumption in the Rift Valley and Western Kenya, was launched by the government of Kenya at a forum hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme last week. Continued destruction of these […]
(Penn State) “The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past,” says Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University. Post leads a large, international team that carried out ecosystem-wide studies of the biological response to Arctic warming during the fourth International Polar Year, which ended in 2008. […]
Figure 3.6. Graph of the acreage of piñon pine (Pinus edulis) and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) dieback from 1997–2004 in the Four Corners States of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Based upon annual aerial forest insect and disease activity inventories by the U.S. Forest Service. Thresholds of Climate Change in Ecosystems [pdf], U.S. […]
By Josia Razafindramanana, special to mongabay.com A small group of crowned sifaka lemurs Propithecus coronatus have been located in the corridor d’Amboloando-Dabolava, Miandrivazo district-Madagascar, but are immediately threatened with local extinction. The small, fragmented, and isolated forest shelters a group of only six adults and one baby. Interviews with local people revealed that once several […]
Another excellent reason to legalize it. Marijuana growers are chopping down U.S. national forests to establish plantations for illicit drug production, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to an article written by Stephanie Simon and published September 3rd, the recent border crackdown has pushed marijuana cartels to cultivate crops in the United States rather than […]
