Deforestation is the large-scale, often permanent removal of forest cover, typically through logging, burning, or land conversion for agriculture, infrastructure, or resource extraction, resulting in the reduction or fragmentation of forest ecosystems. As a research topic, it encompasses quantifying forest loss using remote sensing and geospatial analysis, assessing impacts on carbon stocks, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, hydrological cycles, and soil integrity, and examining social-ecological drivers such as governance, commodity markets, and land-use policies. Deforestation studies also investigate feedbacks to climate systems, resilience thresholds, and the effectiveness of interventions including protected areas, certification schemes, and zero-deforestation supply-chain commitments.
An international team of scientists from Queen Mary University of London, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and other institutions has uncovered surprising new behavior in ...
Evolution
Apr 15, 2026
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Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, World Forest ID, University of Sheffield and international collaborators have developed a new technique that can identify where soybeans—the third largest driver of tropical deforestation—are ...
Ecology
Apr 13, 2026
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As large floods occur more frequently worldwide, many wonder what led to such devastating events. Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, improper land management and forest removal increase flood frequencies and ...
Environment
Apr 9, 2026
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Some 39 Australian mammals have gone extinct since Australia was colonized in 1788.
Plants & Animals
Apr 8, 2026
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Tropical rainforests are home to almost two-thirds of all vertebrate species and three-quarters of all tree species: they are the most species-rich terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. However, over half of these diverse rainforests ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 8, 2026
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A new study reveals that most fatal landslides occur in human-transformed environments. Conducted by an international team of researchers from the University of Vienna, Ankara University, Istanbul Technical University, Bursa ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 8, 2026
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Why do trees fall in the forest? The Answer is Changing. New research suggests that in just 15 years, the causes of most tree loss have flipped from human hands to a handful of natural causes.
Ecology
Apr 7, 2026
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Tropical forests are hot, steamy places. But when large numbers of trees are cut down, they get even hotter. Our recent research in Nature Climate Change shows that clearing large areas of the rainforest exposes hundreds ...
Environment
Apr 5, 2026
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It's a well-established fact that forests and water are deeply connected. For decades, paired-watershed experiments—a scientific method for evaluating land-use impacts on water quantity or quality—have shown that when we ...
Environment
Apr 4, 2026
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A United Nations-backed framework for protecting tropical forests could allow governments to collect income from carbon credits without advancing forest conservation. The weakness lies in how the program calculates baselines, ...
Environment
Apr 2, 2026
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