One morning in 2009, I sat on a creaky bus winding its way up a mountainside in central Costa Rica, light-headed from diesel fumes as I clutched my many suitcases. They contained thousands of test tubes and sample vials, ...
Environment
Apr 23, 2021
5
170
A group of researchers led by Brazilians has used an innovative model to map gaps in the Amazon rainforest and identify factors that contribute to tree mortality. Water stress, soil fertility, and anthropic forest degradation ...
Environment
Apr 13, 2021
0
15
Marine heatwaves are dramatically affecting the marine ecosystems of the world and the Mediterranean is no exception. In the Mediterranean, these extreme climate episodes and its resulting massive mortality of species are ...
Ecology
Mar 18, 2021
0
3
An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has studied which types of forest, in terms of biodiversity, are the most effective in storing carbon. Inventory data from natural forests on five continents show ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 13, 2020
0
50
Characteristics of palm trees differ from those of other tropical trees in many ways. In a major new study led by scientists at Uppsala University, Sweden, and University of Campinas, Brazil, they have surveyed the actual ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 6, 2020
0
4
The cultivation of coffee, cocoa and vanilla secures the income of many small-holder farmers and is also a driver of land-use change in many tropical countries. In particular, cultivation in agroforestry systems, in which ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 16, 2020
0
1
A new tool maps the threats to the tropical dry forests in Peru and Ecuador. Bioscience engineers at KU Leuven combined data on possible threats to these forests—including fires and overgrazing—with data on the vulnerability ...
Ecology
Apr 22, 2020
0
6
Growing up in Tanzania, I knew that fruit trees were useful. Climbing a mango tree to pick a fruit was a common thing to do when I was hungry, even though at times there were unintended consequences. My failure to resist ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 15, 2019
0
10
It's tempting to think that our forests would be fine if we could simply stop trees being felled or burnt. But forests—particularly tropical ones—are more than just trees. They're also the animals that skulk and swoop ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 15, 2019
0
23
Sometimes even the largest natural wonders can remain hidden from human view for centuries. The Amazon is a dense place, full of life with new species of flora and fauna being discovered every other day. Now, using the same ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 12, 2019
0
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