And if climate change causes temperatures to rise in forests as we expect we may see scale insects becoming a much bigger problem for ecosystem health.
If it works for the tree it works for the whole forest he added. DÃ az Sierra's colleagues monitored trees in special whole-tree chambers as part of the Hawkesbury Forest Experiment near Sydney Australia a broader experiment to study how Australia's eucalypt
forests will respond to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate. These chambers enable researchers to control the air temperature humidity
and amount of light the trees are exposed to although these parameters were allowed to vary in this study.
#Underwater Forest Discoverers Looking to Protect Unique Site If salvage companies get their way an underwater forest of 50000-year-old trees only recently discovered could be destroyed to make high-end coffee tables.
The primeval underwater forest long buried under the sediments at the bottom of the Gulf of mexico was uncovered probably by Hurricane Katrina
and discovered by scuba divers. After it made headlines around the world several salvage companies have contacted one of those divers to get the forest's location
which has not been shared publicly. The companies'aim? Pull up the trees for the valuable wood.
You have to think of the cachet of something made from a 50000-year-old wood said Ben Raines the diver who first reported on the site and the executive director of the Weeks Bay Foundation a waterways conservation organization.
It's like having a fossil on your shelf. Now Raines'organization is scrambling to make the area a marine reserve before fortune hunters
and scrap companies turn the forest into a fleeting memory. In their plan scuba divers and fishermen could explore the site
Primeval forest The grove of 50000-year-old bald cypress trees was preserved beneath ocean sediments off the coast of Alabama until Hurricane Katrina swept those sediments away.
The enchanted forest became a natural reef teeming with fish and crustaceans that sheltered between tree roots.
After Livescience's Ouramazingplanet originally reported the story people from around the country contacted Raines to discover the forest's location including several salvage companies hoping to mine the forest for its wood.
Raines worried that it was just a matter of time before the salvage companies discovered the site on their own and destroyed the forest.
Protecting the forest To stop that from happening Raines'foundation is campaigning to turn the forest into a marine reserve.
as long as they left the forest intact but salvage companies and treasure hunters would be barred from stripping the site.
Though Raines has explored briefly an area about three football fields big the total forest could be nearly a half square mile (1. 23 square kilometers) in area.
and the Aquarium of The americas in New orleans to come up with ways to allow the public to see pieces of the forest.
 National treasure Scientists initially worried that the forest could rot or be eaten away by sea life in the next few years.
The outer portion of the trees could indeed be around for a while for divers to enjoy said Steven Leavitt a dendrochronologist (someone who studies tree rings) at the University of Arizona who is involved not in studying the forest.
But on piers shipworms typically eat enough wood underwater to make them structurally unstable within a year he said.
Here underwater trees in the Great lakes may not be subject to shipworms zebra mussels are slowly eating through the wood.
Still the fact that the forest has been around at least eight years and scientists have dated already some of the wood is a good sign he added.
That suggests that maybe the consumption of the wood is going to be much slower than it might be otherwise
and therefore maybe they have a little bit more time Leavitt said. In addition sonar mapping revealed that the vast majority of the forest is buried still under the sediment
and could be uncovered by the next big hurricane Raines said. It could just as easily become bigger over time Raines said.
just as easily bury the forest once again Leavitt said. The primeval forest is one of the country's great national treasures Raines added.
This ranks right up there with the Grand canyon or Yellowstone; it's just amazing when you lay eyes on it he said.
what ended up happening is all the wood got mined out of the bottom and got turned into furniture.
thus conserving forestland and other green spaces that store carbon. Transportation impacts Research shows that densely-populated cities use less transportation energy the reason is less reliance on car travel.
#Vanishing Forests: New Map Details Global Deforestation A new global map of deforestation reveals that 888000 square miles (2. 3 million square kilometers) of forest has vanished since 2000.
The interactive map (viewable online) is based on satellite data and is the first of its kind.
and includes both forest losses and forest gains. During that time 309000 square miles (800000 square km) of new forests were gained.
Of the 888000 square miles lost and 309000 square miles gained about 77000 square miles (200000 square km) were areas that were lost between 2000 and 2012
By 2011 more than 7700 square miles (20000 square km) of Indonesian forests vanished each year Hansen and his colleagues report in the Nov 15 issue of the journal Science.
Forest fires come next mostly in the boreal forests of temperate regions. Storm damage also harms forests. 7 Ways the Earth Changes in the Blink of an Eye We see a lot of blowdowns
and that kind of thing Hansen said. Incredible detail The broad-scale yet fine-grained map was made possible by three technology windfalls Hansen said.
Some of the information that comes from forest maps is unexpected entirely he added. One researcher took another of Hansen's maps
because forest dwellers eat a more diverse diet than people in other environments do. Â In the North american West damage from fire logging and infection by the devastating mountain pine beetle is evident.
In southern Sweden an extratropical cyclone flattened forests in 2005. Still 32 percent of global loss occurred in the tropics with half of that amount attributable to South american countries the researchers found.
Now the team is working to map primary forest native habitat that is crucial for biodiversity
and storing climate-warming carbon and differentiate it from secondary forests which may provide tree cover but without the original ecosystems.
For example does your desktop wallpaper feature a waterfall a forest or a beach? Do you harvest tomatoes in Farmville explore the exotic territories of World of Warcraft
They're already presenting challenges for water managers forest managers and public health professionals. Climate change is here
#Weird Forests Once Sprouted in Antarctica DENVER Strange forests with some features of today's tropical trees once grew in Antarctica new research finds.
Forests carpeted a non-icy Antarctic. But Antarctica was still at a high latitude meaning that
A forest mystery Fossilized wood and leaf impressions record a history of the Antarctic forests.
as if the trees had shed all at once a sign of a deciduous forest. To confirm this Ryberg
and her colleagues gathered samples of fossil wood and examined the tree rings. Wood cells in the rings reveal how the trees grew:
Early wood is produced when the tree is growing upward and outward. Late wood is produced when the tree is preparing to go dormant.
At that point the tree stops growing and starts storing carbon in its cells. Late wood is denser than early wood
and has thicker cell walls. Deciduous and evergreen trees have different patterns of late and early wood.
Mixed results Follow-up studies analyzing carbon molecules in the fossil wood also gives both deciduous and evergreen answers Ryberg said.
The implication is that ancient Antarctic forests may have been a mix of deciduous and evergreen.
what is seen in the Antarctic wood. But they weren't growing in the tropics so obviously it's two different environmental characteristics Ryberg said.
whether the forests grew more densely than those seen in modern forests. Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+.
or threatened mostly due to the clearing of the island's forests according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) a global environmental organization.
and in the last 60 years half of the island's remaining forests have been cleared according to a 2007 study in the journal Biology Letters.
Since the breakdown of civil order following a 2009 coup in the country species such as collared lemurs have been taken from forests to be sold in the illegal pet trade
Scientists are concerned particularly about habitat loss in a few key places with the highest levels of biodiversity such as the Tropical Andes the rainforests of Central america the Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil Southeast asia and many Pacific
The coastal forests of Brazil for example are almost as biologically rich as the Amazon rainforest;
about 60 percent of the country's threatened animals live in these coastal forests according to the Nature Conservancy an international conservation group.
But this is also where the bulk of Brazil's people live and only 12 percent of the original forests remain much of it cut down in the past few decades the Nature Conservancy reported.
In Borneo and Sumatra large companies are destroying forests and replacing them with big swathes of palm tree monocultures threatening the future existence of orangutans said Lee Hannah a senior fellow in climate change biology at Conservation International a global group devoted to saving endangered
 The same is happening in Peru where forests are being cleared to make way for palm tree plantations said Clinton Jenkins a conservation scientist at North carolina State university.
 Increased demand Demand for the products comprising wildlife habitat such as the timber in forests minerals in mountains
which has narrowed wisely its focus on protecting a few key areas in the country's Atlantic forests he said.
These forests are home to 21 primates not found anywhere else such as the wooly spider monkey according to the group.
which would reduce the need for the clearing of biodiversity-rich forests far afield from bustling metropolises Weissburg said.
If materials such as rubber or palm oil could be manufactured in cities for example there would be less incentive to cut down pristine forests like the ones in Borneo where orangutans live for agriculture Weissburg said.
#What America's Forests Looked Like Before Europeans Arrived European settlers transformed America's Northeastern forests.
which tree species filled the forests before they were cleared for fields and fuel. Swamp-loving plants like sedges and tussocks are the fossil survivors not delicate leaves from hardwood trees.
Now thanks to a rare fossil discovery in the Pennsylvania foothills scientists can tell the full story of America's lost forests.
and fossil forest assemblages Elliott told Livescience. It's like you're time traveling she said.
The three dominant tree species found in the fossil forest leaves still exist today in the Northeast
It's worth noting that forestry and other land-use practices offset some of these greenhouse gas emissions according to the EPA.
It is located in Fishlake National Forest in south-central Utah. Follow Livescience on Twitter@livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+o
New wood formed in a tree during spring and summer is light in color. Toward the end of a growing season new cells formed are smaller
The wood is more dense and darker. That annual pattern creates rings. They tend to be wider in wet good-growing years.
if a young tree grows up in the shade a mature forest. Soil conditions that might change over time can also affect the growth.
A couple of years later the bark falls off revealing the wood and an injury to the tree.
Eucalyptus forests may also be feeding the flames. The flames are also creating their own weather as they are expected to fuel huge pyrocumulus clouds over the area
In some regions the climate will become more arid resulting in less vegetation in forests with the end result being less fuel.
Changing temperatures might also influence what vegetation returns after a fire some forests may never come back.
Adding to the complexity is the fact that fires are a natural part of many forest ecosystems.
A 23-year observational study at Harvard Forest has shown that fall hues now arrive three to five days later today on average than they did at the beginning of the study.
Simulations show that climate change will push sugar maples from New england into Canada reducing the suitable habitat for these trees in the United states by 40 to 60 percent by 2100 said Louis Iverson a landscape ecologist with the U s. Forest
and nutrients to produce the red colors of fall several other climate-related changes could dim autumn forests Neufeld said.
 This harm results not just from changing temperature but stem indirectly from climate impacts on elk small predators and even the forest the birds inhabit.
Over time this has led to big changes in the forest. Older maples and locusts are dying out
so they are becoming less and less abundant in the forest in these canyons. Â Â Â Â What then do these effects of winter temperatures on snowfall
But now that the forest has changed and the birds are nesting in similar sites their nests are being detected more often by predators
The forest is changing but there is no indication that predator numbers are going up so that s an unlikely reason.
This video animation shows what happens to the balance of carbon between forest and atmosphere when people burn forests to produce energy instead of allowing trees to keep their day jobs as massive carbon storage facilities.
In 2011 the EPA took on this issue. The agency issued to biomass-burning plants a three-year exemption from permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act (basically a requirement that each new and modified industrial source gets a construction permit before starting to build showing that it will use the best available control
and ensure adequate protections for forests and the climate and the EPA must follow through on the science-driven process for creating those regulations that it put in place more than two years ago.
This Op-Ed was adapted from 41 Leading Scientists Call on EPA to Protect Our Forests and Climate on the NRDC blog Switchboard.
although it may have to do with changes in forest management that have allowed dense underbrush to grow as well as increased urban development.
Wild turkeys can live in forests and farmland but don't do well in dense thickets they need open spaces where males can display to females as a part of their breeding ritual Hughes said.
and are plucked opportunistically from the forest by villagers looking for supplemental income said Stephen Pires a Florida International University researcher.
#With Warming, Wildfires Growing More Difficult to Predict (Op-Ed) Peter Fulã Â is a professor in the school of Forestry at Northern Arizona University (NAU.
Warmer and drier conditions make present-day fuels such as forests more likely to burn but changing climate will also affect future fuels.
Forests that used to be characterized by mixes of species like pines and oaks or spruce and fir will probably be reshuffled.
A given forest might survive the climate conditions of the year 2090 but not if it's killed by a severe fire or insect outbreak in 2030.
For instance thinning of dense small trees and applying prescribed burning in fire-adapted native forests that have seen a century of fire suppression will increase the odds of conserving them as climate warms.
#Without Economic Incentives, Protecting Global Forests May Prove Impossible (Op-Ed) Kate Dillon Levin is with the Corporate Engagement Team at Code REDD
The lowland Mayan forests of northern Guatemala teem with wildlife toucans macaws howler monkeys and even the fabled jaguar.
This is a forest reborn as nearly 2000 years ago it was deforested completely by the ancient Mayan civilization.
Nature and time have allowed a second chance for the forest to heal. But today the Mayan forest is threatened once again this time by economic activities such as cattle ranching and agriculture.
There is hope however in forests designated for community use. In these areas the deforestation rate is 20 times slower than in areas not under the care of local people.
These communities practice sustainable harvesting and generate millions of dollars of revenue annually through the sale of certified timber
The threat of deforestation looms Such communities in Guatemala deserve credit for pursuing sustainable forestry
Although forests should be more valuable than at any time in human history today they are worth more
But a new paradigm of growth is emerging through a mechanism known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+.
+By valuing the carbon stored in forests REDD+is changing the economic incentives around land use in developing forest countries.
and development solution hopes were high that global carbon markets would yield sustainable financing for REDD+conservation and sustainable forest management.
and for businesses Today REDD+projects protect 14 million hectares of threatened forests across the globe (an area the size of Bangladesh)
The world continues to lose its forests at an alarming rate approximately an area the size of Manhattan every day.
Tropical forests are vital to human health and well-being; they determine the quality quantity and regularity of global water supplies gobble up carbon dioxide house vital biodiversity hotspots
Multinational corporations sourcing commodities play a significant role in driving forest loss so they will be pivotal to the solution.
Global business must take on a new coordinated imperative to lessen its forest footprint. Corporations large and small are making significant public pledges to reduce deforestation in supply chains.
Back in the lowland Mayan forests of Guatemala the communities defending their forests against strong economic pressures plan to use income from REDD+to strengthen the viability of their sustainable forest enterprises.
Using REDD+finance to enhance Sustainable Forest Management on the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship a premier international platform for accelerating entrepreneurial approaches and innovative solutions to the world's most
when they are trying to gain weight as rapidly as possible before winter hibernation said study co-author William Ripple a forest ecosystems researcher at Oregon State university in a statement.
#World's Largest Owl Exposes Health of Russia's Forests The world's largest owl requires equally huge trees a finding that reveals that this salmon-devouring predator could be a key sign of the health of some of the last great forests of Russia
and their favorite prey salmon rely on giant old-growth trees for breeding and feeding. The large trees provide nesting cavities big enough for the birds
Blakiston's fish owl is a clear indicator of the health of the forests rivers
and managing old-growth forests is essential for sustaining this species as well as eight salmon and trout species that spawn in the rivers there some of the 12 other owl species found in Primorye and mammals such as the endangered Siberian tiger Asiatic black bear and wild boar.
They live in the Arctic and subarctic in grasslands Alpine forests taiga boreal forests and tundra of Europe Asia and in North america in the northern latitudes.
and certainly have watched never a movie in their jungle homes until now. When scientists showed the newbies a short flick of a marmoset stranger opening a box to get a banana slice they were likely to copy
See Marmosets Watching a Video in the Brazilian Forest (Video) Marmosets are social by nature. They live in small family groups typically ranging from five to 15 monkeys
Facts & Information Lions are large felines that are depicted traditionally as the king of the jungle.
Asiatic lions live in India's Gir Forest; African lions live in central and southern Africa. Though they look similar these two subspecies are very different in size habitat diet and more.
They wander a territory of 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) according to National geographic. This territory consists of scrub grasslands or open woodlands.
Asiatic lions are found only in the Gir Forest National park in India. This park is a wildlife sanctuary on 877.37 square miles (1412 square km) of land.
The land includes a deciduous forest grasslands scrub jungle and rocky hills. African lions eat large animals that they find in the grasslands including antelopes zebras and wildebeest.
Tree huggers Given that koalas spend so much time in trees the marsupials live in Australia's woodlands where they munch on leaves
Kearney and his student doctoral candidate Natalie Briscoe were trying to predict how the woodland creatures on French Island near Melbourne would regulate their body temperatures as the continent heats up due to climate change.
The Wilderness Act already provides for the rare exception where intervention seems absolutely necessary (e g. restoration of vanquished species). Remarkably there are still 58 5 million acres on National Forests
According to the US Forest Service these lands provide critical habitat for more than 1600 endangered threatened or sensitive species of plants and animals.
and National parks. For example there are nearly a half-million acres of roadless areas on the Flathead National Forest next to Glacier national park.
65-305 kg) according to the Woodland Park Zoo. Tigers also have very long tails which can add 2. 3 to 3. 6 feet (0. 7 to 1. 1 m) to their overall length.
They live in arid forests flooded mangrove forests tropical forests and taiga depending on the subspecies according to the San diego Zoo.
Ninety percent of the time they don't catch their prey according to the Woodland Park Zoo.
and lakes that are 3. 7 to 5 miles (6 to 8 km) wide according to Woodland Park Zoo.
I really do think it helps with some of the major insect problems that we have Robert Venette a biologist with the U s. Forest Service in Minnesota told NPR. 6 Invasive Pests Threatened by Cold weather The Earth's average temperature warmed 1. 53
and forestry at Michigan State university in East Lansing told the Capital News Service (CNS). But not all bugs succumb easily to icy weather
Brought to the United states about 40 years ago on imported nursery stock the insect has spread throughout eastern forests.
Hemlock forests make for good trout streams and are homes to happy salamanders. More prosaically there are
They're not valuable for timber and they grow along steep slopes and in deep hollows and other places where it's just tough to log and unsuitable to build.
but also its coniferous forest canopy up to 50 percent of the canyon's steep slopes are covered in hemlock.
In the short term the opening in the forest floor may prove to be an easy conquest for Japanese honeysuckle
and autumn olive nonnative invasive species that choke out forest floors and prevent native trees from getting a start.
and in the Fanny Bennett Hemlock Grove a patch of virgin wood in West virginia's Monongahela Forest and as they will eventually in Ohio's Clifton Gorge
I'll be sure to tell people about the threats to our forests from insect pests
which encourage strips of wild habitat fallow land forests or hedgerows and wider crop diversity provides biodiversity benefits is variable.
The illegally-harvested wood is sold as building materials and souvenirs and goes for as much as $2 to $3 a pound a burl dealer recently told the Associated press. A finished dining room table made of redwood can go for as much as $1300 on ebay according to the Associated press. Follow Laura Poppick on Twitter.
Wild rabbits can be found in woods forests meadows grasslands deserts tundra and wetlands. Wild rabbits create their own homes by tunneling into the ground.
Fossilized plants found on top of the layers of ancient charcoal show that forests bounced back from wildfires during the last days of the dinosaurs much like they do today the new study found.
but 66 million years ago the region was covered in swampy lowland forests. It was perhaps six times rainier
The area may have resembled North america's Pacific Coast with forest canopies dominated by towering sequoias and a diversity of smaller plants growing closer to the ground.
See Photos of Fossils from the Ancient Forest The ancient forests also suffered the occasional fire.
and ginkgo would have been thriving in mature forests that hadn't been scorched by a blaze.
and further study will help them understand the forest ecology and biodiversity in this region immediately before the dinosaurs fell.
and roam the plains forests mountains and deserts of Canada the United states Mexico and Central america.
Or instead drone technicians might envision Congo forest eco-guards getting a closer and safer look at what appears be a group of well-armed ivory poachers near a salt lick.
The UAV returns on its own with photographic evidence that the sounds the eco-guard had heard were just a small band of hunter-gatherers who have the right to take from the forest.
Red maple The red maple (Acer rubrum) is one of the most abundant trees in Eastern North america according to the U s. Forest Service.
and Canada and is popular partly because of its resistance to insects and diseases according to the U s. Forest Service.
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