Combining vegetation distribution models and sediment transport models offers a better understanding of how dryland environments change in response to different factors.
plants
Tracking Global Change with a Cloud-Based Living Atlas
With their feet in the cloud, Descartes Labs is pushing the limit of how we study the Earth with satellite images.
How Do Trees Respond to Climate Change? Clues from an Arboretum
The rich diversity of trees at arboreta may allow scientists to home in on the specific traits that allow trees to grow faster or slower in response to warming temperatures.
Air Pollutant Plays Lesser Role in Climate Change Than Expected
Satellite data indicate that pollution control efforts that curbed levels of sulfur dioxide gas did not cause a major decrease in carbon dioxide absorption by plants.
Aquatic Plants May Accelerate Arctic Methane Emissions
About two thirds of the gas produced by a study area near Barrow, Alaska, came from increasingly abundant greenery covering only 5% of the landscape, researchers estimate.
Nitrogen Garners Starring Role in Refined Earth System Model
Scientists create a more realistic representation of plant nitrogen uptake and usage to improve global climate simulations.
Climate Change Freezes Mountain Wildflower Reproduction
New research provides evidence that plants that flower earlier in the year because of climate warming experience more frost damage and have less reproductive success.
Woody Vines Limit How Much Carbon Tropical Forests Sequester
Vines called lianas, which store less carbon than trees, are winning the competition for sunlight and water.
Airborne Sensor Can Track Photosynthesis Efficiency
Remote estimation of fluorescence emitted by plants can indicate variations in photosynthesis performance.
Fungus, Physics Explain Weird Tresses of Ice
Alfred Wegener, of plate tectonics fame, proposed a link nearly 100 years ago between fungi and "hair ice" on dead wood. A new study has identified the fungus and how it may influence ice structure.