Different satellite-based metrics for global vegetation coverage tell complementary, but not identical, stories.
plants
Posted inNews
Aquatic Plants May Help Chesapeake Bay Resist Ocean Acidification
In freshwater vegetation flats upstream of the Chesapeake, chemical reactions create molecules that raise pH levels in the bay.
Posted inScience Updates
Mapping Vegetation Health Around the World
A new spaceborne sensor monitors Earth’s surface temperature at a resolution higher than ever before, providing information on ecosystem responses to changes in water availability and climate stressors.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Does a Greening Arctic Affect Groundwater Recharge?
New research examines how shifts in aboveground ecology influence belowground hydrology in the Arctic.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Removal of Ozone Air Pollution by Terrestrial Ecosystems
Tropospheric ozone is removed at Earth’s surface through uptake by plant stomata and other nonstomatal deposition pathways, with impacts on air pollution, ecosystem health, and climate.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Hardwood Forest Soils Are Sinks for Plant-Produced Volatiles
New research identifies temperature, moisture, and soil fungi as important factors in influencing how biogenic volatile organic compounds cycle between plants and the atmosphere.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Reforestation as a Local Cooling Mechanism
Reforestation has been shown to cool surface temperatures, and a novel study suggests it may also reduce air temperature up to several stories above the ground.
Posted inNews
Climate Change Will Reduce Spanish Olive Oil Production
Increased droughts will reduce southern Spain’s olive oil output by 30% before the end of the century.
Posted inNews
Early Sprouting of Leaves Enhances Northern Hemisphere Warming
As leaf out has been advancing 4–5 days per decade, scientists say the effect of vegetation on climate remains poorly understood.
Posted inNews
New England Forests Were Historically Shaped by Climate, Not People
A first-of-its-kind study combining paleoecology and archeology indicates that the New England landscape was not actively managed with fire prior to European arrival.