https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. When and how quickly can ecosystems "tip" and how will they develop in the future? Researchers from the University of Potsdam, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and the Technical University of Munich have developed a new method for measuring how close an ecosystem is to a catastrophic tipping point. They are applying their findings to predict glacier surges, as well as rapid changes in other ecosystems. They have now published their study in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-glacier-surges-ecological.html Earth Sciences Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:30:01 EST news689608546 Deforestation is having a more devastating effect on the Amazon rainforest than earlier data suggested. While cutting down large swaths of trees destroys vital habitats, it also harms the region's ability to generate its own rainfall. According to a new study published in the journal Nature, the Amazon could reach a tipping point and experience major forest dieback (where large areas of the rainforest dry out and turn into a savanna) sooner than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-deforestation-drying-amazon-rainforest-faster.html Earth Sciences Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:30:01 EST news688832237 U.S. forests have stored more carbon in the past two decades than at any time in the last century, an increase attributable to a mix of natural factors and human activity, finds a new study. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-forests-carbon-natural-human-factors.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Jan 2026 12:33:35 EST news688221181 A comprehensive new review synthesizing decades of research warns that the Brazilian Cerrado—a biodiversity hotspot, known for its vast inverted forests—is facing a massive, multi-faceted ecological crisis. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-cerrado-native-vegetation-lost-reveals.html Plants & Animals Sun, 18 Jan 2026 11:50:02 EST news687782753 Think of the destruction of Earth's rainforests and a familiar image may come to mind: fires or chainsaws tearing through enormous swaths of the Amazon, releasing masses of planet-warming carbon dioxide. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-small-scale-rainforest-majority-carbon.html Earth Sciences Wed, 07 Jan 2026 11:12:49 EST news687006731 Across Australia, forests are quietly changing. Trees that once stood for decades or centuries are now dying at an accelerating rate. And this is not because of fire, storms, or logging. The chronic stress of a warming climate is killing them. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-forest-trees-die-age-climate.html Environment Wed, 07 Jan 2026 10:19:45 EST news687003542 In communities around the Amazon Rainforest, there's a pervasive belief that large landowners use their money to influence local politics to benefit their operations. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-political-agricultural-expansion-amazon.html Economics & Business Wed, 07 Jan 2026 09:41:32 EST news687001261 Australia's forests are losing trees more rapidly as the climate warms, a new study examining decades of data said Tuesday, warning the trend was likely a "widespread phenomenon." https://phys.org/news/2026-01-climate-tree-deaths-australian-forests.html Ecology Tue, 06 Jan 2026 10:08:05 EST news686916453 A new LMU study estimates that land use changes in conjunction with climate change could lead to the loss of up to 38% of the Amazon rainforest by the end of the 21st century. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-amazon-forest-century.html Earth Sciences Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:20:47 EST news685027201 The Amazon rainforest is slowly transitioning to a new, hotter climate with more frequent and intense droughts—conditions that haven't been seen on Earth for tens of millions of years. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-hypertropical-climate-emerging-amazon-exposing.html Earth Sciences Wed, 10 Dec 2025 11:00:25 EST news684583506 The Amazon rainforest has yielded yet another new species, according to a recent study published in Zootaxa. Discovered in the mountains of the Serra do Divisor National Park (SDNP) in Brazil, this ground-dwelling bird has been identified by a research team as a new species of Tinamus, a genus of birds in the Tinamou family Tinamidae. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-remarkably-tinamou-species-amazon-mountains.html Plants & Animals Sat, 06 Dec 2025 09:40:02 EST news684158564 Dr. Magali Nehemy stood on the banks of the Tapajós River in the Amazon rainforest when the community's chief—a man in his seventies who had lived there his whole life—looked out over the bare shoreline and shook his head. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-amazon-ability.html Earth Sciences Thu, 04 Dec 2025 08:17:26 EST news684058621 New research warns that Africa's forests, once vital allies in the fight against climate change, have turned from a carbon sink into a carbon source. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-africa-forests-absorbing-emitting-carbon.html Environment Fri, 28 Nov 2025 05:00:01 EST news683390282 Ten years ago the world's leaders placed a historic bet. The 2015 Paris agreement aimed to put humanity on a path to avert dangerous climate change. A decade on, with the latest climate conference ending in Belém, Brazil, without decisive action, we can definitively say humanity has lost this bet. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-world-lost-climate-gamble-dangerous.html Environment Mon, 24 Nov 2025 10:52:04 EST news683203922 Researchers at Northern Arizona University and the Smithsonian found an unconventional method to understand how rainforests will survive with climate change—making tea with living leaves at the top of the rainforest canopy. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-tea-leaf-tropical-forests-climate.html Ecology Sat, 22 Nov 2025 07:12:50 EST news683017941 Temperate rainforests are among the rarest habitats on Earth, supporting unique biodiversity and providing vital benefits from climate regulation and natural flood management to supporting human well-being. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-temperate-rainforests.html Ecology Wed, 19 Nov 2025 09:21:04 EST news682766462 Human influence across centuries continues to define biodiversity and carbon storage in the world's largest rainforest, according to a new international study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences led by the University of Amsterdam and Florida Tech. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-ancient-colonial-legacies-amazon-forest.html Ecology Tue, 18 Nov 2025 16:20:01 EST news682704935 The world's climate leaders are conceding that Earth's warming will shoot past a hard limit they set a decade ago in hopes of keeping the planet out of a danger zone. But they're not conceding defeat. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-climate-leaders-overshoot-danger-zone.html Environment Fri, 14 Nov 2025 10:32:45 EST news682338759 World leaders and delegates are meeting in the northern Brazilian city of Belém for COP30, this year's major UN climate summit. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-brazil-environmental-leader.html Environment Mon, 10 Nov 2025 22:20:02 EST news681999324 The extraordinary anti-predator strategy of two tiny, orb-weaving spider species has been uncovered by scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Florida. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-tropical-spiders-craft-giant-doppelgngers.html Evolution Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:00:37 EST news681994117 A new study reveals that the impact humans are having on the Amazon rainforest is so profound it is even changing the evolutionary history and functionality of the forests. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-human-impact-amazon-forests-ecological.html Evolution Mon, 10 Nov 2025 05:10:02 EST news681730382 An odor of oil hung over last year's UN climate conference in Baku, capital of fossil fuel-rich Azerbaijan. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-amazon-poised-host-toughest-climate.html Environment Mon, 10 Nov 2025 04:30:01 EST news681970997 A Peking University research team led by Wang Heyuan and Wang Kai at the Institute for Carbon Neutrality (ICN) used AI models to determine that the global land carbon sink has drastically shrunk due to an abrupt and extreme jump in global temperature. Their study, "AI-tracked halving of global land carbon sink in 2024," was published in Science Bulletin. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-global-carbon-halved-ai.html Earth Sciences Tue, 04 Nov 2025 15:51:03 EST news681493861 Massive birds whose loud wingbeats and rollicking cries resound through tropical rainforests, African hornbills were a common sight in my experience working in Gabon, Central Africa, 30 years ago. Highly gregarious, African hornbills are impossible to miss as they fly around in large, boisterous flocks in search of fruiting trees, and I had the pleasure of seeing them often during that time. Ten years later, I returned to the African rainforests, this time in Ghana. But something was missing, I soon realized… the hornbills I had consistently encountered previously were nowhere to be seen. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-fatal-international-african-hornbills-extinction.html Plants & Animals Thu, 30 Oct 2025 11:35:55 EDT news681042945 Look up in the woods and you may see a familiar sight: squirrels using tree limbs like a leafy highway, crossing a patch of land without putting their paws on the ground. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-rainforest-animals-tourist-walkways-clues.html Plants & Animals Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:52:04 EDT news680367122 Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) rose faster in 2024 than in any year since records began—far faster than scientists expected. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-carbon-dioxide-amazon-faltering-satellite.html Environment Tue, 21 Oct 2025 15:55:46 EDT news680280939 The world's tropical coral reefs have almost certainly crossed a point of no return as oceans warm beyond a level most can survive, a major scientific report announced on Monday. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-world-coral-reefs-survival-limit.html Ecology Mon, 13 Oct 2025 05:50:01 EDT news679550272 A new study by researchers at the European Commission's Joint Research Center reveals that the Amazon rainforest has just undergone its most devastating forest fire season in over two decades, which triggered record-breaking carbon emissions and exposed the region's growing ecological fragility despite a slowing trend in deforestation. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-amazon-unprecedented-carbon-emissions-ecosystem.html Earth Sciences Wed, 08 Oct 2025 02:00:01 EDT news679070582 Four of the most important interconnected parts of the Earth's climate system are losing stability, according to a review article based on observational data published in Nature Geoscience. The researchers succeeded in highlighting the warning signals for destabilization of the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the Amazon rainforest, and the South American monsoon system. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-central-climate-components-stability.html Earth Sciences Wed, 01 Oct 2025 14:56:18 EDT news678549369 Droughts have withered crops in Peru, fires have scorched the Amazon and hydroelectric dams in Ecuador have struggled to keep the lights on as rivers dry up. Scientists say the cause may lie high above the rainforest, where invisible "flying rivers" carry rain from the Atlantic Ocean across South America. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-amazon-flying-rivers-weaken-tree.html Environment Tue, 30 Sep 2025 10:12:16 EDT news678445930