forests

Scientists show that forests may influence the Earth's climate in important ways that have not previously been recognized.

(Yale University) A conference on the social and ecological sustainability of biofuels and the impact of their production on the forests of Central and South America will take place on Friday, Dec. 5, in Panama City, Panama.

For more than a decade, the federal government has spent millions of dollars pumping elevated levels of carbon dioxide into small groups of trees to test how forests will respond to global warming in the next 50 years.

A wood-devouring beetle has gained a foothold in New England, and authorities plan to cut down large numbers of infested trees and grind them up to stop the pest from spreading to the  forests.

What do a tree and the Eiffel Tower have in common? According to a Duke University engineer, both are optimized for flow.

In the case of trees, the flow is of water from the ground throughout the trunk, branches and leaves, and into the air.

The Eiffel Tower's flow carries stresses throughout the structure without collapsing under its own weight or being downed by the wind.

CSIRO is collaborating in a NASA-funded project, using a CSIRO-designed instrument, to help develop new methods of measuring forest carbon stores on a large scale.