Forest ecosystems are complex, multiscale ecological systems dominated by tree communities and structured by vertical stratification (canopy, understory, forest floor) that regulate energy flow, biogeochemical cycles, and habitat availability. They integrate interactions among primary producers, heterotrophs, decomposers, and abiotic factors such as climate, soils, and hydrology, resulting in distinct successional dynamics and disturbance regimes (e.g., fire, windthrow, pest outbreaks). Forest ecosystems play central roles in carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and water regulation, exhibit high spatial heterogeneity and biodiversity, and are key model systems for studying resilience, feedbacks between vegetation and climate, and anthropogenic impacts such as fragmentation, land-use change, and altered disturbance frequencies.
The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest. It harbors immense biodiversity and plays a crucial role in the global climate system by storing vast amounts of carbon in its vegetation.
Earth Sciences
Aug 20, 2025
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The odds of high-severity wildfire were nearly one-and-a-half times higher on industrial private land than on publicly owned forests, a new study found. Forests managed by timber companies were more likely to exhibit the ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 20, 2025
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An international network of 30 scientists drew up an inventory of 496 species and 147 subspecies of trees in the Mediterranean region. These data, which are available through open access and include details on species extinction ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 18, 2025
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Nature conservation policies are trying to safeguard forests all over the world, which is a good thing. But it seems like less-flashy ecosystems are getting left behind.
Ecology
Aug 18, 2025
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As the world grapples with the intertwined challenges of global forest degradation and climate change, traditional forest restoration approaches have shown critical shortcomings. These approaches, which have long focused ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 15, 2025
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North America has lost an estimated 3 billion birds since 1970—a nearly 30% drop across species—mostly due to habitat loss and degradation. So when a team of researchers repeated a bird population study they did 30 years ...
Ecology
Aug 7, 2025
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A forest fire sweeps everything in its path. It drastically alters the soil environment, causing extreme temperatures, reduced moisture, spikes in pH, the release of inorganic nitrogen, a sharp decline in organic matter and ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 7, 2025
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Most trees in the Amazon (90%), the Atlantic Forest (90%), or the Cerrado, the Brazilian savanna-like biome (60%), depend on animals to disperse their seeds, ensure their reproduction, and keep the forest standing. Birds, ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 6, 2025
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Forests play a central role in the global carbon cycle as trees store carbon in their trunks, branches, roots and leaves. However, climate change and human activities can change the ability of forests to absorb carbon and ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 1, 2025
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121
Forests cover about 40% of the EU's land area. Between 1990 and 2022, they absorbed around 10% of the continent's man-made carbon emissions. However, the carbon dioxide absorption capacity of forests, also known as carbon ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 1, 2025
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