Tropical forests share similar mix of common and rare tree species, study shows

Tropical forests share similar mix of common and rare tree species, study shows

A flowering tree in the Amazon rainforest canopy. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler By Liz Kimbrough via Mongabay A new study has for the first time identified the most common tree species in the tropical forests of Africa, the Amazon and Southeast Asia — and their similarities have surprised scientists. “The [study] shows some uncanny similarities among the world’s great tropical rainforests,” said tropical ecologist Bill Laurance, a co-author of […]

February 1, 2024 46

Environment

Climate change made 2023 Amazon drought 30 times more likely, scientists say

The river that supplies water to the Kokama Indigenous People of the Porto Praia community was mostly dry in October of 2023. Image © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace. By Carla Ruas via Mongabay Global warming was the main driver of the severe drought that parched the Amazon River Basin in 2023. That is the alarming conclusion of a new report from World Weather Attribution (WWA), a team of international climate scientists […]

January 29, 2024 14

Environment

Conservationists aim to save South America’s super tiny wild cat, the guina

Image courtesy of Jerry Laker/Fauna Australis. By Petro Kotzé via MongaBay For more than 200 million years, the ancient Valdivian Temperate Forest in southwestern Chile has been a refuge for plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth. This global biodiversity hotspot is home to monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana), the endangered chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera), threatened southern pudu (Pudu puda) — the world’s smallest deer — and two critically endangered species: the […]

January 23, 2024 41