rainforests

Brazilian Plane Crash Survivors Found By Indians

Denise Clay — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:53:55 -0500

A plane crashed deep in the Amazon rain forest on Thursday. Out of the eleven on board, nine Brazilian plane crash survivors were found safe by local Indians.

Tropical rainforest and mountain species may be threatened by global warming

harminka — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:07:42 -0500

Study warns that if tropical plant and animal species are driven uphill by global warming, lowland rainforests may be left without replacements

Can you rescue a rainforest?

harminka — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:41:23 -0500

Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rainforests were cut down, researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute took on a project that many thought was impossible - restoring a tropical rainforest ecosystem.

Amazon corridors far too narrow, warn scientists

harminka — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:42:43 -0600

Protected forest strips buffering rivers and streams of the Amazon rainforest should be significantly wider than the current legal requirement, according to pioneering new research by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Primary rain forest is irreplaceable

harminka — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:07:22 -0600

As world leaders prepare to discuss conservation-friendly carbon credits in Bali and a regional initiative threatens a new wave of deforestation in the South American tropics, new research from the University of East Anglia and Brazil's Goeldi Museum highlights once again the irreplaceable importance of primary rain forest.

Study offers solutions to balance development, conservation needs

harminka — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 10:41:42 -0500

An unprecedented development plan to link South America’s economies through new transportation, energy and telecommunications projects could destroy much of the Amazon rainforest in coming decades, according to a new study by Conservation International (CI) scientist Tim Killeen.

Refugia of Brazilian rainforest could be basis for its regeneration

harminka — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:05:21 -0500

During the last glaciation, which ended about 10 000 years Before Present (BP), the Brazilian Atlantic forest extended over all the eastern side of the country, covering more than 1 200 000 kmІ, 15% of Brazil’s territory. Now only 95 000 kmІ of this natural habitat survives, just 8% of its initial extent. It is still a large biodiversity reservoir in Brazil, second only to the Amazonian forest.

Successful conservation stories from across globe

harminka — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:05:18 -0500

A trio of new studies published in Science this week provides examples of successful conservation efforts on three continents.

Tropical insects to inform rainforest conservation

harminka — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:58:29 -0500

The long-held belief that plant-eating insects in tropical forests are picky eaters that stay “close to home” – dining only on locale-specific vegetation – is being challenged by new research findings that suggest these insects feast on a broader menu of foliage and can be consistently found across hundreds of miles of tropical forestland.

Rainforest protection works in Peru

harminka — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:44:15 -0500

A new regional study shows that land-use policies in Peru have been key to tempering rainforest degradation and destruction in that country. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology led an international effort to analyze seven years of high-resolution satellite data covering most (79%) of the Peruvian Amazon for their findings.

Sscientists show differing patterns of rainforest biodiversity

harminka — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:23:49 -0500

Rainforests are the world’s treasure houses of biodiversity, but all rainforests are not the same. Biodiversity may be more evenly distributed in some forests than in others and, therefore, may require different management and preservation strategies. That is one of the conclusions of a large-scale Smithsonian study of a lowland rainforest in New Guinea, published in the Aug. 9 issue of the journal Nature.

How ocean currents carried seeds from South America to Africa?

harminka — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:25:29 -0500

Celebrated in Buddhist temples and cultivated for its wood and cottony fibers, the kapok tree now is upsetting an idea that biologists have clung to for decades: the notion that African and South American rainforests are similar because the continents were connected 96 million years ago.