This great extinction event also disrupted forests in which the dinosaurs had lived with mostly low diversity and greatly disrupted food webs for millions of years.
By the time of these flies in the Eocene however forests had diversified again but this time with many new kinds of flowering plants that are familiar to us today such as birches maples and many others.
Along with these new rich forests came an expanding diversity of pollinators and herbivorous insects and with them diversification of their insect predators including these bigheaded flies.
Mark Harmon and Rob Pabst of the College of Forestry and Duncan Thomas of the College of Agricultural Sciences.
Harmon and his colleagues worked in forest plots--some created as early as the 1930s--at the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest east of Eugene and Mount rainier national park.
The National Science Foundation and the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service provided funding.
Under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Tropical forest Science Thomas and colleagues in Africa established a 123-acre forest research site in Cameroon in 1996.
They measured growth in about 495 tree species. CTFS does very important work facilitating collaboration between forest ecologists worldwide
and forests Thomas said. This model for collaboration was the basis of the Nature study. While the finding applies to individual trees it may not hold true for stands of trees the authors cautioned.
The acacia species Acacia hindsii which is native to tropical dry forests in Central america is such a myrmecophyte.
In 1948 Sir William Gowers reasoned that Ptolemy must have fought with forest elephants that fled from larger Asian elephants as Polybius described.
Did Ptolemy employ African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) or African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in the Battle or Raphia?
The markers also revealed that these Eritrean elephants have no genetic ties to forest or Asian elephants as other authorities have suggested.
whether there had been forest or Asian elephants in the Eritrean population at one time. In some sense mtdna is the ideal marker
The most convincing evidence is the lack of mtdna from forest elephants in Eritrea. Roca and Brandt hope their findings will aid conservation efforts.
Economically they are prized and heavily cut for their soft workable wood. In the past the Agathis resin known as manila copal was exploited for linoleum
and the University of Grenoble Alpes all in France as well as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to carry out the largest laboratory experiment ever to study such waves.
The original article was written by Michael Greenwood. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
although the diversity of diazotrophic microorganisms remains the same with the conversion from forest to pasture the types of species found are said different Rodrigues.
and a secondary forest that resulted from the abandonment of a pasture in 1999. The team used DNA analysis specifically the nifh gene that is characteristic of diazotrophs to measure the communities in the samples.
when compared to the primary forests. They theorize the pasture ecosystems rely on the diazotrophs more for nitrogen because of the continuous grazing from cattle requiring constant regrowth of grasses.
We observed a complete shift in the diazotrophic microbial community composition in response to the Amazon rain forest conversion to a pasture Mirza said.
because we did see partial recovery of diazotroph community composition in the secondary forest which have more plant species as compared to pasture.
and a secondary forest grew partial restoration of the original diazotrophic communities was achieved researchers said.
Growth of secondary forest is ongoing for about 50 percent of the abandoned pastures in the Amazon
but more needs to be done to encourage secondary forests and limit deforestation in the first place Rodrigues said.
#Study of African forest elephants helps guide research efforts in USCONSERVATION of a protected or endangered species requires frequent monitoring
Currently researchers at the University of Missouri are employing genotyping to study movement patterns of African forest elephants in protected and unprotected regions of Gabon to better understand how human occupation of these areas might affect elephants on the African continent.
Between 2002 and 2011 the population of Central African forest elephants declined by 62 percent
We're all affected by the health of the forests in Africa Central america and here in the U s. The fact that elephants are surviving in a place where drilling for oil is happening is exciting
Her study Using genetic profiles of African forest elephants to infer population structure movements and habitat use in a conservation
#Temperature most significant driver of worlds tallest treesunderstanding forest biodiversity and how carbon dioxide is stored within trees is an important area of ecological research.
of much forest carbon research a competitive advantage as they can place leaves at higher light levels
The new study explores the role of temperature in driving tree height a study which may allow us to forecast how forests adapt to climate change.
#79 years of monitoring demonstrates dramatic forest changein many forests of the western US increased potential for fires of uncharacteristic intensity
Extent of forest change and effect on understory vegetation over time are understood not well but such information is useful to forest management focused on restoring biodiversity and resilience to these ecosystems.
and understory vegetation (tree seedlings shrubs and herbaceous species) was quantified within quadrats in the old-growth condition in 1929 prior to logging later in 1929 after logging and again in 2007 or 2008.
We also compared forest structure in the MC plots with an adjacent unlogged control area
The above story is provided based on materials by USDA Forest Service-Pacific Southwest Research Station. Note:
Wildlife Conservation Society congratulates Chinese Government for sending strong anti-poaching messagethe Wildlife Conservation Society congratulates China's State Forestry Administration
The arrests were made by the Forestry Police of the Hunchun Municipal Forestry Bureau (HMFB) which is one of the members of LECF (Law enforcement Cooperation Framework) initiated by WCS in 2011.
and we used a lot of chipped wood and edible glue to make this chair. There were potential collectors that wanted it
So we won â¢t even need to use wood anymore. And the resin we use is green resin no formaldehyde.
There are other types of boards that are not wood, but I haven â¢t seen it being used in furniture and construction.
AECOM, a global  technical and management support services firm, designed an impressive concept for an urban food jungle.
AECOM â¢s Urban Food Jungle is conceptual design that responds to the threat of diminishing food security by bringing together sustainable food production, entertainment, education and culinary delight.
food harvested from the Urban Food Jungle can be used to supply local restaurants. At least in the concept images, this seems like a large space to just use for growing food.
a neighborhood that inspired Upton Sinclair's critical look at the meat-packing industry (among other things) in  The Jungle.
An urban forest might seem like an oxymoron. But according to a report from the United states Department of agriculture Forest Service, it's an important green infrastructure system for sustainable cities.
You'll have to revise your understanding of a forest because, technically, an urban forest refers to the public and privately owned trees within an urban area.
They're the trees that line streets, provide shade in backyards, and they're also the trees that make up parks and wooded areas.
There are an estimated 3. 8 billion urban trees that are valued at about $2. 4 trillion.
Not convinced about the value of urban forests? Here are some of the benefits of trees to cities according to the report.
Like anything, urban forest need to be managed thoughtfully and well planned. According to the report: The costs to maintain
and manage urban forests are substantial. A statewide survey of 18 California cities revealed an annual expenditure of close to $80 million.
However, most urban forests do not require such intensive management, and the overall benefits of urban forests likely outweigh their planning and management costs.
With proper planning and management, costs can be reduced and benefits enhanced. And certainly, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution.
things like forests and woodlands are in a league of their own. The seeds or saplings planted this year won't be a harvestable or marketable asset for potentially 30 to 40 years.
or a government agency determine how forests are replanted cut and managed. The software helps document the software of information needed for environmental compliance.
or forestry management organizations guide their own clients and partners as to the best uses for particular pieces of land.
you'll find that one of its clients is American Forest Management (AFM). In one recent project, the software helped guide a landowner's harvesting practices
Two of the tasks that DNR is charged with include fire prevention and timber harvest, along with conservation of habitat for plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act.
forest operations analyst for the State of Washington, had to say about the software as part of a published Remsoft case study:
Our biggest gains so far have been increased participation with our field foresters and stakeholders as well as being able to effectively advise our managers on complex issues with increased confidence.
says Bob Ewing, director of timberland strategic planning, for Weyerhaeuser. It allows us to meet our public and regulatory responsibilities,
Here's a current summary of the company's timberlands status, as reported in its ongoing corporate sustainability disclosures.
it simply allows them to manage forests and other assets better than the alternatives. We didn't want to tell people how to manage their land.
what happens in the forest, he said. Drop-off locations include the scenic Butte Chaumont and the ritzy Champs Elysã Â es.
Shwood Shwood Florence frames In 2009, Shwood began making eyeglass frames with sustainably harvested fresh woods,
Near thermokarsts, the forests often are called drunken, because the trees, whose roots have lost their solid support system,
Parks are like majestic clearings in the forest, only they are surrounded by amenities that help us survive
and forest groves--offers incomparable views of the Golden gate bridge. When: Throughout the year. 8. Melbourne, Australia Visit the Royal Botanic Gardens for its 12,000-plus species of plants, trees and flowers, the romantic Treasury Gardens, the greenhouses of the Fitzroy Gardens
For perspective, North american wood pellet production capacity was just 4. 2 Mt in 2008 according to the U s. Forest Service.
and North america is the best source of new supply, thanks to its healthy and growing forests, good infrastructure, efficient domestic logistics and supply chains, attractive pricing, access to ports
which sports 63 million hectares of timberland and currently holds the pole position as a global supplier of wood fibers, according to Rager.
The U s as a whole has about 204 million hectares of timberland (forests that are available for periodic harvesting.
While bad news for the landowners (including many Timberland Investment Management Organizations and Real estate Investment trusts,
which own about 7 percent of US timberland), this is all good news for feedstock supply.
Mississippi has two counties that are 50 to 70 percent covered in forest, but they can't get the timber out economically without rail.
They are trying to get 56 miles of rail built that would restore rail service from Chicago to the Gulf of mexico
Preserving heritage and nature in Hong kong s urban jungle is not new even fruit bats might escape habitat destruction after conservationist lobbying.
and in one of the rare organizational slips of the week, forgot about chef Eric Werner and left him alone in the woods for half of the day.
Phil Wood, from Sydney, cured swordfish like ham and dedicated the dish to the first Charlestonian he met that week:
Adriã Â grilled an 80-lb amberjack fish steps away from where pitmaster Rodney Scott roasted a whole hog over a wood-burning pit.
what does it cost to cut down a tree or a forest? Indian economist Pavan Sukhdev has led the global study on The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity.
a perennial herb that gave them energy as they wandered through the forests. This plant was used later by the Tropical Botanical garden
and night. 5m Project is also part of Forest City, a $10 billion real estate developer that we can thank for erecting strip malls across the country,
I should have noted that Forest City is focused also on adaptive reuse of historic locations, such as the residential project Presidio Landmark.
Even the restaurant's unbleached baking paper and plantation-timber cutlery can be processed through the composter.
we ll have to expand agriculture to our parks, forests and golf courses. When you increase production,
The project, Bosco Verticale (or Vertical Forest), is the first in a development called Biomilan
A fine example of this can be found in a forest region of India called Nongriat,
revealing which forests store the most carbon Hemp helps create greener homes More low-tech solutions on Smartplanet:
So says Bryan Pijanowski, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources at Purdue University. Pijanowski is championing an effort to create a field of science to study the ecological importance of sounds.
Whenever you're walking around in the tropical forests, there are lots of streams. Those streams are rushing and gushing right after a rainfall.
Nighttime recording of forest elephants trumpeting around a bai: This is taken at the middle of the night.
How do we use these new technologies to help conservation efforts, especially in the tropics and the temperate forests?
For many local authorities, the appeal is so great that they are willing to offer the tech company major incentives to set up shop in their neck of the woods.
If a tree falls in the forest and it completely  decomposes, then all the carbon in that tree goes back to the atmosphere.
Another major factor has been ITC's social and farm forestry initiatives, which added 13,333 hectares of plantations during 2009-2010.
Carbon is sequestered naturally in the environment, fixed in the wood of forests, the coral of reefs, the peat of bogs,
My transferring the charges for pollution from greenhouse gas release from fossil fuels into offsets invested in the protection of forest.
and investment banking sectors to look at securing assets in protecting forest and encouraging the renewal of degraded land by reforestation.
It is recognized also that a decade ago the Convention of Biological Diversity was achieved by a political mechanism
For example the forests in Costa rica and other parts of the tropics, and their marine equivalents in coral reef systems.
The monkeys will wearing radiation-measuring collars as they go deep into forests oe an area that has only been studied from the air via helicopters
We would like to know how much impact (the radiation has) on the natural world, such as forest, river,
This will help reveal the long term effects of radiation on animals as well as how radiation spreads in the forest as it transfers between animals and plants.
As the radiation moves from the forest to the ocean, it is important to set a baseline of knowledge to see how it affects humans and animals in the long run,
As many as 14 groups of monkeys are residing in those forests. As early as February
more mid and high rise buildings will be constructed with wood instead of concrete and steel. An article in CNN's Eco Solutions coverage asks,
Can wooden skyscrapers transform concrete jungles? Architect Michael Green is designing a 30 story building constructed with wood in Vancouver and advocates for more tall wood buildings:
We think we can go higher than 30 stories, says Green. We stopped exploring wood around 100 years ago (with the advent of steel and concrete;
now we're looking at a whole new system using mass timber products. Green says that the modern wood materials have been around for around 20 years,
but until recently they've been quite niche or used only in low-rise buildings. What has changed is the way in
The modern wood materials that Green mentions are laminated strand lumber (a composite of wood strands glued together) and cross-laminated timber (layers of wood fused together at right angles to each other.
Sourcing wood from sustainably managed forests also creates a more environmentally sensitive process. As for concerns of fire risk, large timbers are naturally fire-resistant
and perform better in fire than structural steel. Timbers form an insulating and fireproof layer of char that also protects the structural integrity.
Of course, as Green points out, any building material has to be cost effective to catch on in a big way.
His firm's research and designs of tall wood structures (pdf here) are offered for public use via a Creative Commons license.
Can wooden skyscrapers transform concrete jungles? CNN Image: Michael Green Architects
Working for Apple: Innovation by burnout? What is it actually like to work for one of the world's most famous tech firms?
The wood in the pyrolysis process comes out in this liquid--pyrolysis oil. They were extracting the chemicals for food additives from it.
These things are located generally near saw mills or other timber sources. They would give it back to the pulp
and giving it back to the guys who gave you the wood probably isn't the best way to deal with this.
and reducing sprawl in the hinterlands is an ever-present challenge. Within the city, we have pockets of low income, segregation,
Weve also worked with companies in the forestry industry. What were they studying? This was a while ago,
Steve Greenwood, Sun World's director of budgets and reporting, says the technology behind these changes was Cognos,
which protects forests and farmland and other outdoor spaces. WORKAC's design shifts the existing proportion of built environment
At least that's the idea behind Aà §à £o Verde's electronic forest management project in Mato grosso, Brazil.
Placing microchips into 2, 500 tree trunks within 247 acres of forest, the organization is testing
whether the chips could help promote Brazil's sustainable forestry industry. With radio-frequency identification, the chips,
the country lost about 10,000 square miles of forest each year between 2000 and 2010, according the UN Food and Agriculture Administration.
Gary Dodge, director of science and certification at the nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council, which has led a global push for lumber certification.
If there is fraud taking place between the forest owner and the mill, then a microchip would be great help in combating illegal logging,
but verifying the origins of wood could help sellers fetch higher prices at the market for lumber.
The Forest Stewardship Council certifies wood as responsibly harvested using criteria that spans from indigenous rights to its impact on biodiversity.
Sweden and South africa to see how satellite imagery might help better manage forests. Earlier this week, the Brazilian government announced it will begin allowing private companies to manage almost 42,000 square miles of the Amazon over the next 5 years.
The management of the logging concessions is meant to selectively cut some logs while keeping the forest largely intact.
Its production also has devastated million of acres of forests. As the population and demand for charcoal increases--and forests dwindle--the price has shot up.
In Maputo, Mozambique's capital, charcoal prices have doubled over the past three years, Cleanstar said.
Cloning vs. conservationsuppose you knew the rain forests would be destroyed totally in 20 years, no matter what.
some future technology could miraculously reconstruct every living thing in the forests on demand. Would you then be willing to take those steps
and pave over the forests tomorrow in the name of faster human progress? Recently, an economist publicly floated a version of that proposal,
I don't know that we're ever going to go into a forest unless the trees are dead already.
The one place you might see wood harvesting is in the southeast U s . because wood is cheap there.
Our facility is going to be colocated with a pulp mill. Â There are over 500 pulp mills in this country
where we're not using forest trimmings. It's a learning process. It's one thing to take wood chips in a lab and put them in my test tube,
Lufa Farms) Tomato plants grow over 20'high within the greenhouse (s). It's like a jungle in there,
but can we do them with wood as a way to reduce the carbon impact
Baker s idea to build an urban structure made of wood has been gaining momentum for a few years.
and both were built with a new class of extra-strong fabricated wood called cross-laminated timber.
 In May 2013, the firm released a trailblazing study the Timber Tower Research Project.
that you could build a high-rise made of wood that would reduce its carbon footprint
But not just any wood. You use laminated wood composites like glulam and cross-laminated timber.
These are solid panels similar to plywood in look, engineered for strength through layers of lamination.
They are large and dense and more stable than traditional timber. The smaller wood buildings in Melbourne and London use these as well.
But SOM s innovation is to deploy them in a unique way, by cantilevering each floor off of a main trunk,
The Timber Tower calls for cross-laminated timber slabs for the trunk, floors and walls,
In some ways, it s about using the right wood in the right spots, Â Baker said,
 Cross-laminated timber is engineered for strength by stacking panels at right angles and bonding them together.
laminated timber will char quickly in a fire, preventing the wood underneath from igniting. The analogy we use,
 Baker said, is that it s hard to start a camp fire with one log.
 But the use of massive amounts of wood in skyscrapers or what are being called woodscrapers  raises an inevitable environmental concern:
won t it devastate forests? The folks at SOM say no. Because the laminated-wood panels are engineered,
they don t need to come from trees in old-growth forests. They can come from smaller species, with smaller trunks,
in agriculturally managed forests and even from the millions of fir trees killed by beetle infestation each year in North america.
For instance, the Stadthaus architects conducted a case study that found a similar nine-story building would take 72 weeks to build compared with 49 weeks for the one built with the lighter timber.
Like other materials, laminated wood can be shipped across continents and oceans. But that, said SOM s Brian Lee,
This type of building will have more legs in places where you are able to be closer to sustainable forests,
mass timber high-rises could help offset billions of pounds of greenhouse gases. According to an estimate by Vancouver architect Michael Green, who designed an eight-story wood building in Prince George that will be the tallest in North america
the timber industry. SOM s Timber Tower Report was funded by the Softwood Lumber Board, a trade group based in forest-rich British columbia that looks to promote
and expand its market. The Prince George tower will be a monument to wood in its own backyard.
Architects like Green and the guys at SOM say qualities of wood, like its natural warmth,
flexibility and connection to nature, are key features for design. It s more relatable to human sensibilities, Â Lee said.
People respond to it in a way that has to do with the qualities of home and hearth and the sense of authenticity.
There are all these great old heavy-timber buildings in New york and Chicago and Philly and those are cool buildings.
an unlikely group of stakeholders is testing technology in a Northern Arizona forest that could improve forest health, bolster a small and struggling local timber industry,
There is no shortage of debate about how the U s. Forest Service should go about suppressing forest fires.
When it comes to preventive measures that reduce the fuel load inside forests there is more accord.
As a result, many forests are overgrown and full of tinder. Here's some perspective from The Nature Conservancy (TNC:
In 1875, the forest around Walker Lake north of Flagstaff, Ariz. was open with abundant grass cover.
The sparse tree cover and absence of dead wood on the ground reduced the chance of a high severity fire that would kill trees.
For years, the Forest Service has struggled to keep up with a backlog of thinning and prescriptive burn projects that would reduce the chances of large, highly destructive and dangerous fires across the increasingly arid West,
Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell says fire suppression claims nearly half of the agency's yearly budget.
the Forest Service's Technology and Development arm and two Arizona timber companies is testing
whether technology can help turn this tide. The largest contiguous Ponderosa pine forest in the world extends from northern Arizona to central New mexico
Currently, Forest Service employees hike through these pine forests and manually mark trees that should remain,
This translates into more thinned forests, less labor and likely more profits for timber companies.
This means the Forest Service still must mark trees to be removed. By next summer, though, upgrades will allow the software to upload thinning prescription plans that guide harvesters through forests,
quickly and efficiently removing appropriately sized and located trees, Graham says. Harvesting small-diameter trees is not a lucrative business,
With the closest mill 180 miles away, it's too costly to do much with the harvested timber except sell it as firewood in grocery stores,
is part of Future Forest LLC, a collaboration working specifically on reviving a logging industry in Arizona
while also thinning forests for wildfire resiliency. Neil Chapman, northern Arizona program restoration manager for TNC, says the data already being collected
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