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News articles on Temperate Forests

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Mongabay.com news articles on temperate forests in blog format. Updated regularly.

Carbon uptake by temperate forests declining due to global warming
(1/3/2008) North American forests are storing less carbon due to warmer autumns, reports a study published in the journal Nature by an international team of researchers.


Beetle droppings help forests recover from fire
(12/4/2007) Armed with a pair of tweezers and a handful of beetle droppings, University of Alberta forestry graduate Tyler Cobb has discovered why the bug-sized dung is so important to areas ravaged by fire.


Global warming will drive North American trees northward
(12/4/2007) Climate change is expected to drive trees northward according to the most extensive and detailed study to date of North American tree species. The research, published in the December 2007 issue of BioScience, reports that expected climate change this century could shift the ranges of 130 tree species northward by hundreds of miles (kilometers) and shrink their ranges by more than half.


Hurricane Katrina released large amounts of carbon by destroying 320m trees
(11/15/2007) The destruction of 320 million large trees by Hurricane Katrina reduced the capacity of forests in the Southern United States to soak up carbon, reports a new study published in the journal Science. The research shows that hurricanes and other natural disturbances "can affect a landscape's potential as a 'carbon sink' because the dead vegetation then decays, returning carbon to the atmosphere, and because the old vegetation is replaced by smaller, younger plants."


California fires release 8M tons of CO2
(11/1/2007) Southern California wildfires released 7.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in just the one-week period of October 19-26--the equivalent of about 25 percent of the average monthly emissions from all fossil fuel burning throughout California--according to researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado at Boulder.


Boreal forest fires important source of emissions
(10/31/2007) Forest fires in the boreal forests of Canada are an important source of greenhouse gas emissions reports a new study published in the journal Nature.


Threatened Amur tiger shows signs of recovery
(10/31/2007) In a world where many animals are under siege, the Amur tiger -- popularly known in the West as the Siberian tiger -- offers an encouraging message: the population of the huge cat is showing signs of recovery.


Melting permafrost affects greenhouse gas emissions
(8/10/2007) Permafrost -- the perpetually frozen foundation of the north -- isn't so permanent anymore, and scientists are scrambling to understand the pros and cons when terra firma goes soft.


Temperate forests not a fix for global warming
(8/10/2007) Carbon sequestration projects in temperate regions -- already facing doubts by scientists -- were dealt another blow by Duke University-led research that found pine tree stands grown under elevated carbon dioxide conditions only store significant amounts of carbon when they receive sufficient amounts of water and nutrients.


U.S. could offset 20% of emissions through reforestation of marginal lands
(5/3/2007) Reforesting marginal agricultural land could significantly slow the increase of carbon in the atmosphere reports a new study based on NASA data, though it would be no magic bullet in fighting global warming since temperate forests have been shown to increase regional temperatures by absorbing more sunlight. Still, reforestation has the potential to offer other ancillary benefits including watershed services and erosion control.


Global warming could cause Canadian forests to absorb more carbon
(2/18/2007) Researchers say they have found links between seasonal temperature changes and the uptake and loss of carbon dioxide.


Forest fires may cool climate
(11/16/2006) Boreal forest fires may actually cool climate according to research published in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science. Researchers at the Univerisity of California, Irvine (UCI), found that cooling may occur in regions where burned trees -- and reduced canopy cover -- exposes more snow, which reflects the sun's rays back into space. This effect may outweight the climate warming impact of the grenhouse gases released by forest burning.


Boreal forests worth $250 billion per year worldwide
(9/25/2006) Boreal forests provide services worth $250 billion per year globally according to estimates by Canadian researchers. Mark Anielski, an Edmonton economist, says that environmental services from the boreal -- including carbon capture and storage, water filtration and waste treatment, biodiversity maintenance, and pest control -- are worth about $160 per hectare, or $93 billion per year in Canada alone.


Logging may increase the risk of forest fire
(1/5/2006) Logging increases the risk of fire according to a new assessment in the aftermath of a large fire in Oregon. The study also found that undisturbed areas may be at lower fire risk.


Temperate forests may worsen global warming, tropical forests fight higher temperatures
(12/5/2005) Growing a forest might sound like a good idea to combat global warming, since trees draw carbon dioxide from the air and release cool water from their leaves. But they also absorb sunlight, warming the air in the process. According to a new study from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, planting forests at certain latitudes could make the Earth warmer.


Types of Rainforests
(3/1/2005) Rainforests are found throughout the world, not only in tropical regions, but also in temperate regions like Canada, the United States, and the former Soviet Union. These forests, like tropical rainforests, receive abundant, year-round rainfall, and are characterized by an enclosed canopy and high species diversity, but lack the year-round warmth and sunlight associated with tropical rainforests. However this book focuses on tropical rainforests, and these are the only forest forms discussed here.



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