Forest Fragmentation
Alternatives to farmwork empower communities and save forests, study finds
Protected areas are important for saving tropical forests and biodiversity, but for them to be effective, local communities living around the reserves need to have access to non-agricultural jobs, a new study says. The research shows that human activity, mainly agriculture, outside of forest reserves has a direct impact on forest cover within the protected […]
‘Unprecedented crisis’ for Nepal’s elephants: Q&A with conservationist Ashok Ram
KATHMANDU — Throughout much of their range, Asian elephants are regarded as incarnations of the Hindu god Ganesh, the elephant-headed deity of wisdom. But in Nepal, as in neighboring India and across South Asia, this pachyderm that once roamed the entire floodplain of the Ganges is now restricted to a few patches of forest due […]
Andean eagles have managed to adapt to fragmenting habitats — for now
Even the greatest, most mobile predators aren’t immune to the shrinking of South America’s forests. The endangered black-and-chestnut eagle (Spizaetus isidori), one of the largest raptors on the continent, has been forced to change its behavior to survive in increasingly fragmented habitats and growing threats from humans. A new study in Global Ecology and Conservation […]
Trees and soil at the forest’s edge store more carbon than we thought, studies reveal
Trees and soils keep a lot of carbon trapped in the forest, pulling it from the atmosphere, where it can do more harm than good. In fact, roughly 30% of the carbon generated from fossil fuel burning is captured by forests. “That’s CO2 that’s not in the atmosphere,” said Boston University biogeochemist and ecologist Lucy […]