forests

Dried mushrooms slow climate warming in northern forests

harminka — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:18:45 -0600

The fight against climate warming has an unexpected ally in mushrooms growing in dry spruce forests covering Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and other northern regions, a new UC Irvine study finds.

Lichens function as indicators of nitrogen pollution in forests

harminka — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:15:45 -0500

Scientists have found lichens can give insight into nitrogen air pollution effects on Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino mountain ecosystems, and protecting them provides safeguards for less sensitive species.

Study reveals homeowner perceptions in fire-prone areas

harminka — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:32:54 -0500

Most residents in fire-prone communities surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest have taken steps to protect their homes from wildland fires, according to a U.S. Forest Service study completed this summer.

Pine bark beetles affecting more than forests

harminka — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:46:35 -0500

Pine bark beetles appear to be doing more than killing large swaths of forests in the Rocky Mountains. Scientists suspect they are also altering local weather patterns and air quality.

Photo reveals rare okapi survived poaching onslaught

harminka — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:07:55 -0500

A set of stripy legs in a camera trap photo snapped in an African forest indicates something to cheer about, say researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society. The legs belong to an okapi—a rare forest giraffe—which apparently has survived in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park, despite over a decade of civil war and increased poaching.

Paying to save tropical forests could be a way to reduce global carbon emissions

harminka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:09:35 -0500

Wealthy nations willing to collectively spend about $1 billion annually could prevent the emission of roughly half a billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year for the next 25 years, new research suggests.

Measuring the stress of forested areas

harminka — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:59:54 -0500

Plants undergo stress because of lack of water, due to the heat or the cold or to excess of light. A research team from the University of the Basque Country have analysed the substances that are triggered in plants to protect themselves, with the goal of choosing the species that is best suited to the environment during reforestation under adverse environmental conditions.

Wisconsin's woodland could complicate forests' response to climate change

harminka — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:30:05 -0500

If a warmer Wisconsin climate causes some northern tree species to disappear in the future, it's easy to imagine that southern species will just expand their range northward as soon as the conditions suit them.

Complex dynamics underlie bark beetle eruptions

harminka — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:00:31 -0500

Climate change and biological processes at large and small scales drive outbreaks now killing forests in the American West

Forest canopies help determine natural fertilization rates

harminka — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:54:16 -0500

In this week’s issue of Science, a team of researchers from the United States and Sweden report on a newly identified factor that controls the natural input of new nitrogen into boreal forest ecosystems. Nitrogen is the primary nutrient that dictates productivity (and thus carbon consumption) in boreal forests.

Scientists remove thousands of aspens to glimpse forest's future

harminka — Sat, 24 May 2008 04:19:27 -0500

Armed with chainsaws and pry bars, University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues recently hastened the end for nearly 7,000 mature aspen and birch trees in a large-scale, long-term experiment to glimpse the Great Lakes region's future forests.

Amazon under threat from cleaner air

harminka — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:09:13 -0500

The Amazon rainforest, so crucial to the Earth’s climate system, is coming under threat from cleaner air say prominent UK and Brazilian climate scientists in the leading scientific journal Nature.