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Stories about: forest


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Excessive Drought Kills Millions of Trees in Texas

Experts have already agreed on the fact that climate change can be correlated with significant ecosystem shifts. At this point in time, this phenomenon is also being associated with an excessive drought that has affected up to 500 million trees only in Texas. Unfortunately, its impact goes beyond the condition of t...

22 December 2011
07:47 GMT

Climate Change Correlated with Important 'Ecosystem Shifts'

NASA relies on a computer modeling study to demonstrate that climate change would generate dramatic environmental changes by 2100. Experts from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California have succeeded in highlighting how land-based ecosystems, like forest...

19 December 2011
04:14 GMT

Brazilian Forest Code Vote Delayed Until 2012

The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies has announced it would postpone the new Forest Code vote until March 2012. Their decision can trigger different effects. First of all, this means that major players from the agribusiness sector could carry on with their activities and further threaten the balance of Brazilian fores...

15 December 2011
08:33 GMT

Gibbons on Verge of Extinction Because of Habitat Loss

Climate change correlated with other natural and man-made factors draws up a tough challenge for twenty three primates, representing all that is left of the once numerous Hainan gibbons (Nomascus hainanus) species. A recent study issued by Greenpeace indicates habitat loss is one of the powerful main elements pushi...

5 December 2011
09:03 GMT

Biofuel Linked to Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Scientists know that the biofuel industry generates a considerable amount of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) through its manufacturing processes. Experts have warned major companies operating on this market that cutting down forests to obtain premium eco-friendly fuel is a rather messy business. A recent study issu...

1 December 2011
04:59 GMT

Brazilian Demonstrators Contest Proposed Changes to Forest Law

Thousands of people from Brazil are discontent with the expected changes applied to the Forest Law. In their opinion, the House of Representatives and Federal Senate doesn't do good job representing the national interests, since it tends to favor only a few major players pulling the strings in “agribusines...

30 November 2011
03:20 GMT

British Woodlands Are More Exposed to Threats Than a Century Ago

An independent study launched by 20 forestry and wildlife organizations from the UK reveals that Britain's woodlands feel the impact of a wide series of threats at an "unprecedented scale." According to the researchers involved in this project, the issues and opportunities UK forests face at this point in time...

28 November 2011
05:14 GMT

Aggressively Planted Exotic Trees Disrupt the Natural Balance of East African Forests

As the International Year of Forests is coming to an end, the situation of African woodlands remains the same. While a few governments and environmentally-friendly organizations are saying that planting exotic trees in the endangered ecosystem represents an efficient response to severe drought and climate change, mos...

26 November 2011
04:52 GMT

Indonesian Governor Faces 5 Years in Prison for Approving Oil Palm Plantation

WAHLI, an environmental group from Indonesia, will file papers in court against Aceh's governor, Irwandi Yusuf, accused of disrupting the natural balance of forests after approving a palm oil plantation located in Tripa peat swamp, earlier this year. He now risks spending the next five years in prison. The or...

24 November 2011
07:18 GMT

Indonesia Launches Seedling Program Worth $55.6 Million (€41.1 Million)

The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry is excited to announce that it is counting on two billion tree seedlings for planting all across the country, available thanks to a special budget allocation and financial support coming from a few eco-conscious companies. This strategy supports President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyon...

17 November 2011
03:42 GMT

Tropical Mountains Hide Six Times More Insects

People have discovered only a small percentage of all the living creatures on this planet and the last issue that scientists had to solve was the approximate number of insect species in the world.A new research carried out by Umeå University researcher, Genoveva Rodríguez-Castañeda, found that the...

6 September 2010
08:25 GMT

Brazilian Deforestation Rate is Slowly Decreasing

New figures released by the Brazilian government show that the deforestation in the Amazon decreased by 47.5% over the last 12 months.This decline is showed by images taken by a low-resolution satellite, and the figure is the highest since anti-deforestation measures began in 1988.If this data is confirmed by a secon...

3 September 2010
09:22 GMT

Plants Could Saturate in CO2

New satellite data shows that carbon storage by plants is decreasing, in spite of the climate warming, say ecologists Maosheng Zhao and Steve Running at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana, in a paper published today in Science.Normally, as temperatures rose during the last decades, so did the amount of ca...

20 August 2010
08:52 GMT

Tree Electricity Prevents Forest Fires

Researchers from MIT discovered that trees carry a small amount of electrical power, and they founded a company which would harness it and use it as a source of power.Through their newly-founded Voltree company, the scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are trying to tap on tree energy and use it ...

2 October 2008
03:58 GMT

More Food and Fuel, Less Forests

The Rights and Resource Initiative warns that by 2030 yet another massive chunk of the tropical rainforest will be gone in favor of agriculture as the demand for food and biofuels increases. The organization also points out that the governments of developing countries are rather reluctant in applying any reforms at a...

14 July 2008
09:46 GMT

Deforestation Renders Frogs Smaller

It seems that the effect is not manifested only on populations, but on individuals as well. Many of the subtropical environments with high moisture levels have significantly different foliages, some being heavily covered with forests while others have almost no wood at all. Johanna Delgado-Acevedo and Carla Restrepo ...

27 May 2008
10:23 GMT

Sloths Are Not that Lazy

Sloths really deserve their name: 11 % of the sloths move only 38 m (126 ft) daily, and 38 % of them cannot move at all for 24 hours. Captive two-toed sloths are active about 7 hours each day. Moreover, coming to increase the impression of laziness is the fact that, since sloths are nocturnal, they just sleep or doze...

15 May 2008
02:44 GMT

4 Things About Woodpeckers

The real woodpeckers may not be able to put on performances like Woody the Woodpecker, but they still make a special group of birds nonetheless. 1. The closest relatives of the woodpeckers are the honeyguides. Out of 204 species of woodpeckers, only the two species of wrynecks (Jynx) do not drill and drum the wood. T...

9 May 2008
09:02 GMT

9 Things About Hornbills

1. Hornbills are famous for their huge bills, flattened and curved, with toothed edges and bony helmets over the upper jaw. These large birds have a common origin with the hoopoes. Today, hornbills inhabit only tropical Africa and Asia, but the oldest known species, the Geiseloceros robustus, lived in Saxony (norther...

8 May 2008
10:00 GMT

The Smallest Tiger

The world's most beautiful tiger is at the same time the smallest: the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae). This tiger subspecies inhabits the island of Sumatra and is today reduced to a number of 600-800 individuals. The Siberian tiger is the largest cat ever to exist, measuring up to 2.8 m (9.3 ft) witho...

23 April 2008
10:00 GMT

Planet's Last Wild Spaces

Wild spaces are crucial for the survival of the planet: they contribute to the maintenance of the clime variation, rainfall and snowfall, but, most important, they are a reserve for preserving the biodiversity. With the increasing of human activity, the last wild spaces of the planet are fast disappearing under the a...

17 April 2008
09:39 GMT

The Indians Of the Orinoco

Until 1951, nobody knew the source of the Orinoco River. Accumulating continuously torrents and rivers, Orinoco grows gradually while heading northward through the territory of Venezuela on over 2,000 km (1,250 mi) of thick jungle. In some places, the waters of Orinoco are as big as those of the Amazon and discharge ...

11 April 2008
17:51 GMT

The Fastest Raising Mountains

The Sino-Tibetan mountainous chain, also called the "the Alps of Sichuan", are located between Tibet and China. The highest peak is Gongga (7,556 m or 25,186 ft), China's highest peak outside Himalaya, located in the Hengduan Mountains. The Sino-Tibetan chain is the place on Earth where the terrestrial crust exp...

11 April 2008
08:46 GMT

The Spanish Jewel: Doana

Doana National Park is located in southwestern Spain, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. It was created in 1969, initially having a surface of 37,000 hectares. In 1978, the park was augmented to 50,720 hectares, to which 26,540 hectares of protected areas, located at its periphery, are added.The park is in a conti...

9 April 2008
10:09 GMT

The First Ever Lungless Frog

So far, scientists have known about some salamanders (of the family Plethodontidae) and caecilians (worm-like amphibians) that had lost their lungs. Now they can add a frog on the list of lungless tetrapod vertebrates: the Kalimantan jungle toad (Barbourula kalimantanensis). This amphibian takes all the oxygen it ne...

8 April 2008
03:56 GMT

World's Smallest Monkeys and Chimerism

These are the world's smallest monkeys. The marmosets (22 species are found in Brazil and few in adjacent tropical countries) live in both dry and wet forests. Most of them have a body 25 cm (10 in) long, with a 35 cm (14 in) long tail, while the weight is around 250 grams (0.55 pounds). The long tail, used for ...

1 April 2008
10:10 GMT

One Miracle: The Petrified Forest

One of the wonders of the American southwest is found in northeastern Arizona: an enormous petrified forest, a real geological treasure the scientists learned about to the end of the 19th century. Petrified Forest National Park from Arizona comprises a surface of 218,533 acres (341.5 sq mi; 885 km) of petrified wood...

20 March 2008
10:19 GMT

Who Are the Fang People?

One of the main Bantu tribes in central Africa is represented by the Fangs, who inhabit Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and Gabon. The Fangs came from Nigeria recently, during the Bantu expansion. Fang legends speak about terrible battles their ancestors fought against warriors covered by long clothes and riding horses. ...

26 February 2008
15:21 GMT

The Chinese Stone Forest

The most spectacular calcareous relief in the world could be considered the Chinese Stone Forest. The Stone Forest National Park of Shilin-Lunan (Yunnan) is located in the Lunan Yu Autonomous County, 126 km (79 mi) southeast of Kunming, at altitudes of 1,700-2,000 m. It has an area of over 340 square km (135 square m...

26 February 2008
08:51 GMT

10 Things About the Japanese Civilization

1. Japan is an archipelago made of 4 large islands: Honshū (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyūshū and Hokkaidō, and by numerous small islands and islets. The center of the country is crosses by the Japanese Alps, volcanic mountains that make 80 % of the surface of the country and which reach the highe...

14 February 2008
11:11 GMT

New Monkey Species Discovered!

In the 21th century, when we thought that all that is larger than a mouse has already been described by zoologists, the surprises keep coming. A new species of uakari monkey has been described in the International Journal of Primatology. Its discoverer is the New Zealand primatologist Jean-Phillipe Boubli of the Univ...

6 February 2008
05:09 GMT

Let's Visit The Funky Forest Ecosystem! It's All Interactive...

This is what happens when art and advanced technology collide. The Funky Forest project, developed by Theodore and Emily Gobeille, is one of the most interactive and crazy stuff for kids I've ever seen, as it consists of a cool interactive ecosystem where children can create trees and flowers using their own bod...

14 January 2008
10:04 GMT

7 Fossil Forests

1.A rain forest represents an explosion of life, the peak of biological diversity on Earth. But the trees that make the current rainforest emerged during the Cretaceous, at the sunset of the dinosaur realm. So, when did the first rainforest appear? And how did it look like?The underground workings of a coalmine, in ...

20 December 2007
10:23 GMT

New Cat Sized Rat Species!

Most cats are chicken enough not to face regular rats. But this rat would fight from equal to equal with a cat. An expedition made by an American-Indonesian team in a remote jungle in western New Guinea, in the area Papua province of Indonesia, has found a giant rat and a tiny possum that seem to be new undescribed ...

18 December 2007
05:01 GMT

8 Amazing Things about Reindeer

Waiting for Rudolph to bring you Santa Claus with the presents? Well, here is some data about this amazing Ice Age deer. 1.Reindeer are believed to have appeared during the last glaciation, 15,000 years ago. Their roots seem to be in South America. 5 million years ago, South America and North America got united throu...

15 December 2007
06:50 GMT

Why Sloths Are Special?

Do you know which are the most abundant mammals on the tropical South American forest? Monkeys? Wrong! Sloths...Sloths are solitary and arboreal (tree dwellers) mammals. Today, there are 2 genera of sloths: three toed sloths (Bradypus) and two toed sloths (Choelepus), each one in its own family (thus, not so closely ...

13 December 2007
11:57 GMT

The South Chinese Tiger, Saved in South African Reserve!

Last year, the South China Tiger, also known as Amoy tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), a subspecies native of south China, was catalogued as the fourth race of tiger extinct in the wild in just 100 years. The last one was seen in the wild in 1964. In 1994, the last known wild South Chinese tiger was shot by poachers...

10 December 2007
05:50 GMT

The Best Fruits of the Taiga

The taiga or northern coniferous forest harbors about 50 plants producing berries, most of them edible. These fruits are vividly colored, have a strong aroma and are rich in vitamins and minerals. They also contain fibers that help stabilize the blood's sugar level and lower the cholesterol level. Their flavone ...

7 December 2007
12:31 GMT

Who Are the Pygmies?

Europeans regarded them as part of myths for long, the old Egyptian and Greek texts mentioned the existence of very short people in Africa. Ancient Greeks spoke about "Pugmaeus" ("foot" as a measure unit). But in 1874, a German explorer met the first pygmies ever seen by a European in the current Congo republic. Stil...

30 November 2007
13:21 GMT

The Mighty Amazon: Records and Fragility

It is the "father of all rivers". With 6,800 km (4,250 mi) in length, it overpasses the Nile (6,695 km or 4,184 mi). But the Amazon's debit is 60 times bigger than that of the former: 200,000 cubic meters/second (the largest in the world, delivering 20 % of the freshwater volume penetrating the oceans). While th...

24 November 2007
04:00 GMT

Kilimanjaro, The Highest African Mountain: Records and Puzzles

It is considered the roof of Africa. When German missionaries reported in 1848 a snow-covered mountain in equatorial Africa, everybody in Europe laughed. But later expedition confirmed this. Kilimanjaro is located in northeastern Tanzania, close to the border with Kenya, standing at only 3 degrees south of Equator (3...

21 November 2007
10:36 GMT

Amazing Orchids: Some May be Tricksters, Some May Stink

You may not like flowers, but if you like vanilla, you actually like ... orchids. Vanilla is the only comestible orchid and the vanilla stick is nothing else than the fermented and blackened pod of an orchid, Vanilla planifolia that is to be found in Mexico. (in fact "vanilla" means "little pod" in Spanish). Did you ...

17 November 2007
04:02 GMT

Rare Bearded Monkey Warns About the Speed of the Climate Change

Scientists were taken by surprise when they found out about the existence of a new population of De Brazza's monkeys, a threatened species in eastern Africa, in Kenya, far away from the wet forests of central Africa, good news for those hoping to save the world's primates.A recent report signaled that habit...

6 November 2007
07:09 GMT

New Giant Forest Pig Discovered!

These are the New World's native wild boars: the peccaries. And till now, the largest pig-like species have stood hidden from scientists in the southeastern Amazon region of Brazil. It is the largest peccary in the world, about the size of a large dog.The new species, the forest giant peccary (Pecari maximus) wa...

5 November 2007
03:56 GMT

Fast Melting Glaciers Expose 7,000 Years Old Fossil Forest

Melting ice has 'provided' us with frozen mammoths and even frozen people, like the famous Oetzi from the Alps, as if they were kept in a fridge. No wonder that melting glaciers in Western Canada, which recently reached a historic minimum, have unveiled 7,000-year-old tree stumps. The prehistoric tree stump...

1 November 2007
06:00 GMT

Gibbons: 5 Unknown Issues

1. Gibbons are the smallest living apes. They are restricted to the southeastern Asia (Indochina, and three big islands of Indonesia: Borneo, Sumatra and Java). Gibbons split from the line that evolved towards humans over 10 million years ago. Experts say that all living gibbons evolved from one species, 2 million ye...

22 October 2007
14:06 GMT

9 Things You Did Not Know About Orangutans

1. The Orangutan is the only Asian ape, closely related to humans, chimps and gorillas, from which they split more than 8 million years ago. Today they live in the islands of Borneo and Sumatra (southeastern Asia). Till recently, they were believed to represent the same species, but DNA analysis showed there are two ...

18 October 2007
13:06 GMT

Fresh Cattle Blood Is Booming the Number of Vampires

If you think vampires exist just in books, movies and the rich imagination of some people, you're wrong. There are real vampires which have bat wings, are nocturnal, feed on blood and kill tens of people every year.But the similarities with Bram Stroker's character Dracula - who served as the 'prototyp...

16 August 2007
13:06 GMT

Indeed, Greenland Was Once Green

Today's Greenland is an icy polar desert; just on the southern coast, there is some tundra vegetation, with its giants represented by dwarf birch and willows that do not grow taller than 1-2 ft (0.3-0.6 m). The name "Greenland" was given by the first Viking explorers just to attract colonists to the area. Wood d...

6 July 2007
04:06 GMT

Why is Amazon the River of the Superlatives?

This is the river of the superlatives. Nile is consensually considered the longest river on Earth, with 6,695 km in length, but some say the Amazon has this honor, with 6,800 km in length. Some researchers even state that Amazon is 7,100 km long. The problem is that nobody could tell where Amazon ends, due to its hug...

3 July 2007
12:10 GMT


More: next 50 >>

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