The carbon content of Australia’s soil has been mapped in incredible detail for the first time. Carbon levels have been measured across every 90 square metres of the country using soil sampling data and some sensory technology and modelling. Lead researcher on the CSIRO project, Dr Raphael Viscarra Rossel, says this is the first time …
And just what is it that the govt burns kill when thousands of ha of forest is torched annually? ‘Ecological burning’ it is NOT! Jill It wasn’t just people, animals and trees that were affected by radiation exposure at Chernobyl, but also the decomposers: insects, microbes, and fungi Nearly 30 years have passed since the …
Research shows that where dingoes are trapped and poisoned, the ecosystem changes for the worst.“…we provide evidence that multiple cascade pathways induced by lethal control of an apex predator, the dingo, drive unintended shifts in forest ecosystem structure. We compared mammal assemblages and understorey structure at seven sites in southern Australia. Each site comprised an …
Poisoning of dingoes – the top predators in the Australian bush – has a deleterious effect on small native mammals such as marsupial mice, bandicoots and native rodents, a UNSW-led study shows. The research, in forested National Parks in NSW, found that loss of dingoes after baiting is associated with greater activity by foxes, which …
Large old trees are critical organisms and ecological structures in forests, woodlands, savannas, and agricultural and urban environments. They play many essential ecological roles ranging from the storage of large amounts of carbon to the provision of key habitats for wildlife. Some of these roles cannot be replaced by other structures. Large old trees are …
“It is a mistake to think that emissions from fossil fuels can be negated by increasing or protecting the storage potential of forests and other land based carbon.” So says a new report from Brussels-based NGO FERN. The report exposes the myth that fossil fuel emissions can be offset by planting trees or preserving forests. …
Large, older trees have been found to grow faster and absorb carbon dioxide more rapidly than younger, smaller trees, despite the previous view that trees’ growth slowed as they developed. Research published in the journal Nature this week shows that in 97% of tropical and temperate tree species, growth rate increases with size. This suggests …
In a finding that overturns the conventional view that large old trees are unproductive, scientists have determined that for most species, the biggest trees increase their growth rates and sequester more carbon as they age. In a letter published today in the journal Nature, an international research group reports that 97 percent of 403 tropical …
Forests are major components of the global carbon cycle, providing substantial feedback to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations1. Our ability to understand and predict changes in the forest carbon cycle—particularly net primary productivity and carbon storage—increasingly relies on models that represent biological processes across several scales of biological organization, from tree leaves to forest stands2, 3. …
Across south-eastern Australia this morning, people are waking up to forecasts of scorching heat for the week ahead. Players and spectators heading to the Australian Open should prepare for some baking hot days at the tennis: 35¬∞C today, rising to 41¬∞C on Tuesday, with temperatures in the high 30s or low 40s expected to linger …
