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 rainforest is of crucial importance to the Earth's ecosystem, given its capacity to store substantial amounts of carbon in its vegetation. In 2023, the region experienced unusually high temperatures, reaching 1.5°C ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 16, 2026
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201
Deforestation in the Amazon is causing significant regional changes in climate compared to areas with forest cover above 80%. The loss of vegetation leads to an increase in surface temperature, a decrease in evapotranspiration, ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 16, 2026
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48
Most people think of microbes in simple terms: Some make you sick, while others help keep you healthy. But microbes' influence stretches far beyond human bodies. These astonishingly complex organisms regulate the health of ...
Ecology
Feb 13, 2026
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54
Billions of American chestnut trees once covered the eastern United States. They soared in height, producing so many nuts that sellers moved them by train car. Every Christmas, they're called to mind by the holiday lyric ...
Ecology
Feb 12, 2026
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97
A research team from the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has clarified how deposited nitrogen is retained in forest ecosystems and how this process contributes to carbon sequestration ...
Environment
Feb 11, 2026
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19
Microbes could help oak trees cope with environmental change. Publishing in Cell Host & Microbe, a study observing oaks growing in a natural woodland found that the trees' above- and below-ground microbiomes were resilient ...
Ecology
Feb 11, 2026
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23
Deep soils found in forests may be less effective at storing carbon in the long term than previously assumed, potentially reducing the net climate benefits of tree planting, a University of Stirling professor has warned. ...
Ecology
Feb 10, 2026
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84
In terms of area, forest is the most important means of avalanche protection. It is also the most cost-effective and is naturally renewable. This insight hit home after the winter of 1951, when over 1,000 avalanches caused ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 9, 2026
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22
The boreal forest—the world's largest terrestrial biome—is warming faster than any other forest type. To understand the changing dynamics of boreal forests, Min Feng and colleagues analyzed the biome from 1985 to 2020, leveraging ...
Environment
Feb 9, 2026
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1042
Eucalyptus trees, laden with flammable oils, could spread into Portugal's south-central region by 2060 if changing climate conditions make the area more hospitable to their growth, creating wildfire hotspots that would evade ...
Environment
Feb 7, 2026
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22
