If a tree falls in the forest—whether or not anyone registers the sound—one thing is for sure: there are lots of fungi around. Within a forest's soil, hundreds of species decompose debris, mobilize nutrients from that ...
Leaf litter, as a multifunctional legacy of plants, plays an essential role in driving biogeochemical cycles, while providing important habitat and food resources for soil organisms. Litter traits and soil fauna play a crucial ...
Climate change can be characterized as the Grim Reaper or some other harbinger of dire times for humanity and natural environment, including forests. Previous studies reporting a decline in forest productivity due to climate ...
Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage's Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia's forests were kept open through frequent burning by First Nations people. Advocates for widespread ...
The Himalayas are home to a vast diversity of species, consisting of 10,000 vascular plants, 979 birds and 300 mammals, including the snow leopard, the red panda, the Himalayan tahr and the Himalayan monal.
To properly protect forests and evaluate the state of natural resources, conservation practices and environmental policies, it is important to have accurate information on an area's forest extent.
Tree planting is one of the nature-based solutions being used to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Trees absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Many of these tree planting projects target Africa's rangelands (open grasslands or ...
Earth's atmosphere maintains a constant level of oxygen, whether it is a wintry, rainy day or hot summer. Across the ocean, oxygen concentrations vary enormously between different places and over time. Sometimes oxygen levels ...
Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbor vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these "long unburnt" habitats can be eliminated by a single blaze.
Why are we crossing ecological boundaries that affect Earth's fundamental life-supporting capacity? Is it because we don't have enough information about how ecosystems respond to change? Or are we unable, even unwilling, ...
