5,531 results
5,531 results for: Forests
- Earth
They’re not briquettes, but they’ll do
Chunks of fossil charcoal found in ancient sediments in north central Pennsylvania suggest that cycles of wildfire plagued Earth more than 360 million years ago.
- Earth
New test traces underground forest carbon
An unusual method of studying soil respiration by girdling trees may clear up several vital mysteries in the way carbon cycles through forests.
- Humans
Small Steps: World Summit delegates wrangle over eco-friendly future
Twenty thousand delegates from around the world met in Johannesburg last week for a contentious World Summit on Sustainable Development.
- Paleontology
Veggie Bites: Fossil suggests carnivorous dinosaurs begat vegetarian kin
Chinese rocks have yielded fossil remains of a creature that had rodentlike incisors and a hefty overbite, providing the first distinct dental evidence for plant-eating habits among theropod dinosaurs.
- Health & Medicine
Immune gene linked to prostate cancer
An immune-cell gene plays a role in predisposing men to prostate cancer.
- Anthropology
Iceman mummy shares last meals
DNA analyses of food remains from the intestines of a 5,000-year-old mummified man found in Europe's Tyrolean Alps indicate that his last two meals included meat from mountain goats and red deer, as well as wild cereals.
- Ecosystems
Insects, pollen, seeds travel wildlife corridors
Strips of habitat boost insect movement, plant pollination, and seed dispersal among patches of the same ecosystem.
- Earth
Wildfire Below: Smoldering peat disgorges huge volumes of carbon
Set alight by wildfires, thick beds of decaying tropical plant matter can pump massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, rivaling those produced globally each year from the combustion of fossil fuels.
- Earth
Bursting in Air: Satellites tally small asteroid hits
On average, a small asteroid slams into Earth's atmosphere and explodes with the energy of 1,000 Hiroshima-size blasts once every thousand years or so, a rate that is less than one-third as high as scientists previously supposed.
- Ecosystems
Worm Attacks: Invading earthworms threaten rare U.S. fern
An unusual study of the effects of invading earthworms on North American plants finds that the exotics might be on the way to killing off a rare fern.
- Animals
Frogs Play Tree: Male tunes his call to specific tree hole
Borneo's tree-hole frog may come as close to playing a musical instrument as any wild animal does. [With audio file.]
- Animals
Ant Traffic Flow: Raiding swarms with few rules avoid gridlock
The 200,000 virtually blind army ants using a single trail to swarm out to a raid and return home with the booty naturally develop three traffic lanes, and a study now shows that simple individual behavior makes the pattern.
