By GAYATHRI VAIDYANATHAN of ClimateWirePublished: January 15, 2010 Tree death rates could increase globally because of rising temperatures and prolonged droughts linked to climate change, according to multiple studies. The reasons for tree mortality in a warmer, drier world have been narrowed down to three main scenarios — greater prevalence of insects and diseases in […]
By John Roach for National Geographic News December 10, 2009 A decade ago, global climate change was largely considered a problem for the distant future. But it seems that future has come sooner than predicted. One of the most remarkable, and alarming, environmental changes to occur over the last decade is the melting of Antarctic […]
By the end of July 2009, California was well into its third dry year in a row. On average, the state’s reservoirs were running low. In particular, the San Luis reservoir had reached only 18 percent of its capacity by July 28, said the Drought Operations Center for the State of California. The San Luis […]
Laboratory measurements of the response of reactive N gas emissions and soil respiration to changes in soil temperature in (A) dry soil from beneath L. tridentata, (B) dry soil from plant interspaces, and (C) wetted soil from beneath L. tridentata. In arid environments such as deserts, nitrogen is often the most limiting nutrient for biological […]
By Krishna Ramanujan Ithaca NY (SPX) Nov 10, 2009 – As the climate gets warmer, arid soils lose nitrogen as gas, reports a new Cornell study. That could lead to deserts with even less plant life than they sustain today, say the researchers. As the climate gets warmer, arid soils lose nitrogen as gas, reports […]
Botanists at Britain’s Kew Gardens have collected seeds from 10 percent of the world’s wild plants, their first goal in a long-term project to protect all endangered species, they said Thursday. … With it the project reaches its target to collect, bank and conserve seeds from 10 percent of the world’s most under-threat wild plant […]
By Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News How towns and cities cause the extinction of local plants has been revealed for the first time. An international team of botanists has compared extinction rates of plants within 22 cities around the world. Both Singapore and New York City in the US now contain less than one-tenth of […]
By JANET ZIMMERMAN, The Press-Enterprise A breeze stirs the silence at Joshua Tree National Park as a red-tailed hawk takes flight from the spiky arm of one of the namesake plants in search of breakfast. It’s a scene that national parks protector Mike Cipra has witnessed many times. Still, he can’t contain his enthusiasm on […]
