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 once-majestic oak tree is all but dead: battered by repeated heat waves, it has shut down vital functions to conserve water and is slowly dying in a French forest.
Ecology
May 29, 2026
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32
According to two recently published studies led by scientists from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the Brazilian Amazon is already beginning to experience scenarios previously projected for the coming ...
Environment
May 28, 2026
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18
In the far north regions of Earth, where forests stretch across Alaska and Canada, climate change is unfolding at an accelerated pace. Arctic and boreal regions are warming two to four times faster than the global average, ...
Environment
May 28, 2026
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14
Wild pigs are generally considered among the world's most problematic invasive mammals. But a major new study from Aarhus Universitet shows that the introduced animals may actually have beneficial effects in North American ...
Plants & Animals
May 28, 2026
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271
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell last year to its lowest level since 2019, according to a report published Wednesday that will be seen as good news for leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Environment
May 27, 2026
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13
If you look at the trees as you're driving on the Trans-Canada Highway toward Banff National Park, you will see Englemann spruce on the cooler, wetter northeast-facing slopes of the Three Sisters. Across the valley—on the ...
Plants & Animals
May 26, 2026
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17
The history of a forest might be measured by the trunks and branches looming overhead. But for some researchers at Michigan State University, a forest's future lies in what's growing under their feet. Every summer for nearly ...
Ecology
May 26, 2026
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13
Southern California is emerging from yet another round of wildfires just as the wildfire season gets underway. It's been less than 18 months since catastrophic wildfires hit the communities of Altadena and Pacific Palisades.
Environment
May 26, 2026
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7
Cattle ranching is the biggest driver of tropical deforestation, but it is also a key livelihood for nearly 1 billion smallholder farmers. A global study by Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) shows that this tension can ...
Ecology
May 26, 2026
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21
An international team of scientists has used artificial intelligence and 35 years of satellite data to uncover the shocking scale of environmental destruction in one of the world's most important ecosystems.
Environment
May 26, 2026
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10
