The surprising reason timber plantations explode into megafires

​Industrial forests, packed with evenly spaced trees, face nearly 50% higher odds of megafires than public lands. A lidar-powered study of California’s Sierra Nevada reveals how dense plantations feed fire severity, but also shows that proactive thinning could prevent forests from collapsing into shrubland ecosystems.

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Rainforests News — ScienceDaily

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Half of Amazon insects could face dangerous heat stress

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Climate models may be missing massive carbon emissions from boreal wildfires

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Climate models may be missing massive carbon emissions from boreal wildfires

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For every known vertebrate species, two more may be hiding in plain sight

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Atacama surprise: The world’s driest desert is teeming with hidden life

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Massive asteroid impact 6.3 million years ago left giant glass field in Brazil

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Congo basin blackwater lakes are releasing ancient carbon into the atmosphere

​Deep in the Congo Basin, vast peatlands quietly store enormous amounts of Earth’s carbon — but new research suggests this ancient vault may be leaking. Scientists studying Africa’s largest blackwater lakes discovered that significant amounts of carbon dioxide...
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Congo basin blackwater lakes are releasing ancient carbon into the atmosphere

​Deep in the Congo Basin, vast peatlands quietly store enormous amounts of Earth’s carbon — but new research suggests this ancient vault may be leaking. Scientists studying Africa’s largest blackwater lakes discovered that significant amounts of carbon dioxide...
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Climate change is accelerating but nature is slowing down

​As the planet warms, many expected ecosystems to change faster and faster. Instead, a massive global study shows that species turnover has slowed by about one-third since the 1970s. Nature’s constant reshuffling appears to be driven more by internal ecological...
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Europe’s “untouched” wilderness was shaped by Neanderthals and hunter-gatherers

​Long before agriculture, humans were transforming Europe’s wild landscapes. Advanced simulations show that hunting and fire use by Neanderthals and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers reshaped forests and grasslands in measurable ways. By reducing populations of giant...
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