Forest

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A forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities presently cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface (or 30% of total land area) in many different regions and function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of the most important aspects of the Earth's biosphere. Although a forest is classified primarily by trees a forest ecosystem is defined intrinsically with additional species such as fungi. A woodland, with more open space between trees, is ecologically distinct from a forest.

For more information about Forest, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with forest

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Climate projections underestimate CO2 impact

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity 2.8 / 5 (16) | comments 2

The climate may be 30-50 percent more sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide in the long term than previously thought, according to a recent study published in Nature Geoscience.


Greenhouse gas carbon dioxide ramps up aspen growth

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (8) | comments 6

The rising level of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be fueling more than climate change. It could also be making some trees grow like crazy.


Elevated CO2 levels may mitigate losses of biodiversity from nitrogen pollution

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (7) | comments 2

Rising levels of carbon dioxide may overheat the planet and cause other environmental problems, but fears that rising CO2 levels could directly reduce plant biodiversity can be allayed, according to a new study by a University ...


Sylvia atricapilla (Blackcap)

By feeding the birds, you could change their evolutionary fate

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 5

Feeding birds in winter is a most innocent human activity, but it can nonetheless have profound effects on the evolutionary future of a species, and those changes can be seen in the very near term. That's ...


Breakthrough in monitoring tropical deforestation announced in Copenhagen

Breakthrough in monitoring tropical deforestation announced in Copenhagen

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Tropical forest destruction accounts for some 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But quantifying these emissions has not been easy, particularly for tropical nations. New technology, developed by a team ...


Like humans, ants use bacteria to make their gardens grow

Like humans, ants use bacteria to make their gardens grow

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Leaf-cutter ants, which cultivate fungus for food, have many remarkable qualities.


Carbon and oxygen in tree rings can reveal past climate information

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (4) | comments 1

The analysis of carbon and oxygen isotopes embedded in tree rings may shed new light on past climate events in the Mackenzie Delta region of northern Canada.


Researchers learn why invasive plants are spreading rapidly in forests

Researchers learn why invasive plants are spreading rapidly in forests

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Invasive plants are advancing into Eastern forests at an alarming rate, and the rapid spread has been linked by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences to forest road ...


New chameleon species discovered in East Africa

New chameleon species discovered in East Africa (w/ Podcast)

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A new species of chameleon has been discovered in Tanzania by a team of scientists.


Study finds logging effects vary based on a forest's history, climate

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 02, 2009 | popularity 2 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A Smoky Mountain forest's woodland herb population has shown that climate may play a role in how forest understories recover from logging, according to Purdue University research.


Tropical forests affected by habitat fragmentation store less biomass and carbon dioxide

Tropical forests affected by habitat fragmentation store less biomass and carbon dioxide

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 09, 2009 | popularity 1 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Deforestation in tropical rain forests could have an even greater impact on climate change than has previously been thought. The combined biomass of a large number of small forest fragments left over after ...


Cautious conservation: How to ensure that slowing global warming will protect biodiversity

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

While it is clear that massive destruction of tropical rainforests poses a serious threat to the incredibly rich biodiversity found on Earth, other hazards are not so explicit. An international group of prominent scientists ...


New research provides insights into potential ecological costs and cobenefits of REDD

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A new paper just published in Global Change Biology examines the potential of a REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism to provoke ecological damage and/or promote ecological cobenefits. Such a ...


Time of day matters to thirsty trees, researcher discovers

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The time of day matters to forest trees dealing with drought, according to a new paper produced by a research team led by Professor Malcolm Campbell, University of Toronto Scarborough's vice-principal for research and colleagues ...


NASA Aircraft Flies Calif. Wildfire Post-Burn Mission

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's remotely piloted Predator B aircraft, named Ikhana, recently conducted post-burn assessments of two Southern California wildfire sites, the Piute Fire in Kern County and the Station Fire in the Angeles ...