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.
A study has found New Zealand's native forests are absorbing more carbon dioxide (CO2) than previously thought. Study leader, NIWA atmospheric scientist Dr. Beata Bukosa says the findings could have implications for New Zealand's ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 17, 2025
0
29
For millennia, First Nations people have shaped Australian ecosystems through the purposeful and skillful use of fire. This cultural burning is an important way for Aboriginal people to connect to and care for Country.
Ecology
Jun 17, 2025
0
19
In a recent study published in New Phytologist, researchers at Michigan State University have uncovered how Amazon rainforest canopy trees manage the intense sunlight they absorb—revealing resilience to hot and dry conditions ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 15, 2025
0
123
Ten thousand years ago, mastodons vanished from South America. With them, an ecologically vital function also disappeared: the dispersal of seeds from large-fruited plants. A new study led by the University of O'Higgins, ...
Ecology
Jun 13, 2025
0
387
A lot can change in a year for Earth's forests and vegetation, as springtime and rainy seasons can bring new growth, while cooling temperatures and dry weather can bring a dieback of those green colors. And now, a novel type ...
Environment
Jun 5, 2025
0
25
Africa needs its forests for sustainable development, poverty reduction, food security, and to make the continent more resilient to climate change. They take up 23% of the continent. At 674 million hectares in extent, these ...
Environment
Jun 4, 2025
0
27
Forests in the Peruvian Amazon aren't growing back after gold mining—not just because the soil is damaged by toxic metals, but because the land has been depleted of its water. A common mining method known as suction mining ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 2, 2025
0
217
A short walk beneath the dense Amazon canopy, the forest abruptly opens up. Fallen logs are rotting, the trees grow sparser and the temperature rises in places sunlight hits the ground. This is what 24 years of severe drought ...
Environment
May 29, 2025
0
28
Forests once hailed as reliable carbon sinks are rapidly becoming "super‑emitters" as record‑breaking wildfires sweep boreal, Amazonian, and Australian landscapes. Today's climate policies and voluntary carbon markets seldom ...
Earth Sciences
May 22, 2025
0
22
The Amazon Basin lost about 27,000 square kilometers of forest each year from 2001 to 2016. By 2021, about 17% of the basin had been deforested.
Earth Sciences
May 19, 2025
0
62
