Tag: International

Climate change worsens heatwaves

by Virginia McDaniel, Science Writer  • 
Since the 1980s, climate change has increased the impact of heatwaves. They arrive earlier, last longer, have higher temperatures, and cover wider areas. Their effects across the globe, however, vary by location and income level. USDA Forest Service scientist Jeffrey Prestemon contributed to a study, led by Mohammad Reza Alizadeh at McGill University, that shows…  More 

Fires change forests

by Stephanie Siegel, USDA Forest Service Contract Science Writer  • 
A study spanning four continents and 67 years suggests that frequent fire is causing grasslands to replace savannas. The effects of changing fire frequencies may take several decades to become substantial, reports the study led by Stanford University researcher Adam Pellegrini, with contributions from USDA Forest Service research plant physiologist Mary Anne Sword Sayer and…  More 

Webinar Series on Forests & Food Across the Globe

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
A new webinar series explores the value of the food and medicine forests provide. “Many Americans eat berries, nuts, and edible mushrooms from forests,” says Jim Chamberlain, USDA Forest Service researcher. Every year, hundreds of thousands of pounds of food are gathered from public lands. Chamberlain is organizing the webinar series as part of his…  More 

The Transformation of Wood

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Wood can be hewn, sawed, bored, and planed. It can also be fractionated – which means splitting it into its chemical components of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose. These compounds are tightly locked together. Together, they give trees the strength to stand tall. Separately, some of them are used to make: Paper, rayon, and cellophane; Food…  More 

Putting Mangrove Data to Work in East Africa

by Christine Chumbler, freelance writer  • 
Mangrove forests are among the most carbon-rich ecosystems on the planet. Their stilt-like roots trap carbon and other nutrients that rivers have carried to the coastal deltas where mangroves grow. They act as a buffer, protecting coastlines and the people who live there from increasingly strong seas and storm surges. People depend on mangrove forests…  More 

Mangroves of Mozambique

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Whether small and shrubby or tall and majestic, mangroves have an unusual ability – they are specially adapted to grow in brackish water, and can tolerate ocean waves lapping at their stilt-like roots. As stands mature, soil and decaying plant matter becomes captured in the intricate web of their roots. “The soil in mangrove ecosystems…  More 

Estimating Ecosystem Water Use

by Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications  • 
For more than a decade, U.S. Forest Service and Chinese scientists have collaborated to understand how human activities affect carbon and water cycles in managed ecosystems. Working through the U.S.-China Carbon Consortium, scientists share data from a network of eddy covariance flux towers across the two countries. The towers measure the flow of water vapor,…  More 

In the Amazon Rainforest, Small Roads Have Big Impacts

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Cars, trucks, and other vehicles leave noise, pollution, and roadkill in their wake. But if those impacts are subtracted, what about the roads themselves? “We wanted to untangle the effects of a road from the effects of driving vehicles on that road,” says U.S. Forest Service scientist Daniel Saenz. The issue is especially important in…  More 

An Assignment in Africa Connects Forests, Water, and People

by Stephanie Worley Firley, Eastern Forest Threat Center  • 
Steve McNulty, Ge Sun, and Erika (Cohen) Mack hiked for three hours on a winding trail over steep hills through land thick with trees and vines. They arrived at a pool and looked up at a towering waterfall. If they had stood at the top of the waterfall, they would have seen forested land stretching…  More 

Dry Tropical Forests in the Caribbean and Latin America under Threat

by Zoё Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
The climate and fertile soils of the dry tropical forests of Latin America and the Caribbean have been important to humans as areas to grow crops since pre-Columbian times. Because of this and more recent use for intensive cultivation and cattle grazing, many of these forests have been cleared, with less than 10 percent of…  More