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Biosphere Resources
Biosphere Resources
Read these first!!
Read these first!!
- Coronavirus: Exploiting nature 'drives outbreaks of new diseases'
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52204724
- The next pandemic is already coming, unless humans change how we interact with wildlife, scientists say
Jane Goodall Warns
DEFORESTATION Resources
TEMPERATE FORESTS
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRuQLcul6TU
(3) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2010/03/2010325154255778795.html
TROPICAL FORESTS
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRuQLcul6TU
(2) http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/ (Go to "Where there is Smoke")
(4) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2010/03/2010325154255778795.html
(5) Lots of information at this site: http://news.mongabay.com/2016/01/whats-ahead-for-rainforests-in-2016-10-things-to-watch/
(6) Deforestation causing Sao Paolo's drought: http://geographical.co.uk/places/cities/item/761-deforestation-behind-sao-paulo-drought
Why are Mangroves so Important?
Why are Mangroves so Important?
Mangroves are coastal wetlands of salt-tolerant trees, with intricate root systems that create vital habitats for marine life. They're also particularly good at storing carbon (and one of the world's most vital carbon sinks) which helps fight back against climate change. In fact, estimates suggest mangroves annually sequester ten times more carbon than mature tropical forests.
Beyond their climate value, they provide coastal protection against erosion and storm surges, valued at an estimated $855 billion annually. They’re also key biodiversity hotspots, protecting as many as 341 threatened species across the globe.
Since the 1970s, the world has lost approximately 35% of its mangrove forests to coastal development, rising seas, and other climate-related threats. Historically, restoration efforts have leaned on tedious and time-consuming manual planting, which simply hasn't been able to keep pace with the warp speed of the climate crisis.
PiqueAction: Lyle Jarvis-October 30, 2025
PiqueAction: Lyle Jarvis-October 30, 2025
Our planet is facing many complex environmental challenges, including biodiversity loss and rapidly changing climate conditions, driven by intensifying human–nature interactions worldwide. Human actions cause global and regional changes, having profound impacts at local scales. Conversely, local-scale environmental changes can contribute to regional and global impacts. For example, the spread of invasive species is a global phenomenon driven primarily by trade and other human activities and can involve organisms traveling many thousands of miles to a new location. However, local-scale data on ecosystem dynamics and on how new organisms may adapt can help to guide the most appropriate responses to limit their spread. Similarly, at global and regional scales, human-caused climate change can lead to environmental shifts such as more frequent droughts that may impact the health of forests; conversely, forests may be able to mitigate the effects of climate change via carbon sequestration. Further, local changes in vegetation may drive local to regional changes in atmospheric circulation and create “ecoclimate teleconnections” over even larger scales.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. A Vision for Continental-Scale Biology: Research Across Multiple Scales. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27285.
LINKTracking the Health of Earth’s Ecosystems with New Global Productivity Data
Restoring Forests - U-Tude (10 Min)
Plants are amazing machines -- for millions of years, they've taken carbon dioxide out of the air and stored it underground, keeping a crucial check on the global climate. Plant geneticist Joanne Chory is working to amplify this special ability: with her colleagues at the Salk Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, she's creating plants that can store more carbon, deeper underground, for hundreds of years. Learn more about how these supercharged plants could help slow climate change. (This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)
Animals
Tiny creatures gorge, get fat, and help fight global warming
Tiny creatures gorge, get fat, and help fight global warming
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