Category: Climate Change
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Dead trees don’t drink water. Bark Beetles Also Damage Water Quality
In Colorado alone, the mountain pine beetle has caused the deaths of more than 3.4 million acres of pine trees. What effect do all these dead trees have on stream flow and water quality? Plenty, according to new research findings
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Himalayan Ecosystems Can Only Climb So High To Avoid Warming Climate
In India’s Western Himalayas, changes in altitude are so dramatic and steep that alluvial grasslands, subtropical forests, conifers and alpine meadows lie stacked almost on top of each other, producing a spectacular range of vegetation. Now, the myriad plants that inhabit these mountains are migrating upwards because of climate change — and some are in danger of being lost before anyone has even recorded their existence.
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Floral Biodiversity Crucial To Moderating Climate Change
Preserving diverse plant life will be crucial to buffer the negative effects of climate change and desertification in in the world’s drylands, according to a new landmark study.
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Is Amazon Deforestation Causing California’s Drought?
California regulators overseeing the state’s cap-and-trade program now have one more reason to recognize offsets generated by saving endangered rainforest in Latin America. On Monday, they learned that the destruction of trees in the Amazon rainforest will probably slash rainfall in the United States, depriving drought-choked California of even more drinking water.
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Reforestation Success? The right tree in the right spot
While scale is important for landscape restoration, we need to reconsider quality and not just quantity. When does the presence of a tree really make a difference, and when is it neither an environmental or economical solution to a host of complex issues? What are the implications for food security, biodiversity and landscape protection?
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Human Impact On Seed Dispersal Affecting Evolution
It has become increasingly apparent that plant species, particularly those dependent upon seed dispersal, may suffer disproportionately from the impact of the modern world.
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Tropical Fish Spreading, Devouring Temperate Marine EcoSystems
Tropical fish invading temperate waters warmed as a result of climate change are overgrazing algae, posing a threat to biodiversity and some marine-based industries
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Biochar Improves Soil’s Drought Tolerance
But most strikingly, biochar seemed to offer an additional protection for both bacterial and fungal communities, compared with the control soil.
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The Trees (gasp) Are Killing Us
The purple areas on this map show places where satellites have detected formaldehyde. This chemical forms from isoprene, a volatile organic compound that trees can give off when temperatures are hot.
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Forest As Efficient As Tech To Clean Pollution
So a 10,000-acre forest equals one average industrial scrubber. And in this part of Texas, where open land is ample, reforestation is within reach. The cost of the project not including the land would be about the same as using traditional forms of pollution control