Aerial view of a residential neighbourhood with abundant urban forest around it.
(Ollie Craig/pexels)
Well-designed residential developments with abundant tree cover can help protect cities against urban heat and flooding.
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I watched little ravens line their nests with messmate stringy bark last spring. Here’s what birds might seek your garden trees this year.
Leaf fall in London, July 2022.
Matthew Chattle / Alamy
Britain is suffering through its worst drought since the 1970s.
Huon pine in Tasmania.
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Some of these trees can be over 30 metres high. Others, can live for centuries or, for the Huon pine, up to an astonishing ten millennia.
Trees like these near Traverse City, Michigan, remove carbon dioxide from the air and lock it away.
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The Midwest had a lot of trees, but just a few species were responsible for the bulk of the carbon storage.
This direct air capture plant in Iceland was designed to capture 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Climeworks 2021 via AP Photos
A climate scientist looks at what works and some popular ideas that aren’t as cheap or effective as people hope.
Trees bloom on a balmy spring day in Paris.
Alain Jocard/AFP
Trees were already known for cooling and cleaning the air of cities. A Europe-wide, participative science project shows how much their density matters for urban biodiversity.
Some cities never sleep.
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Artificial light is upending trees’ ability to use the natural day-night cycle as a signal of seasonal change.
The severe heat wave in western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest, between June and July 2021 caused 1,400 deaths.
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North America’s 2021 extreme heat event should compel governments to scale innovations from leading cities and countries to advance resilient, restorative and renewable cities.
Pablo Rodriguez Merkel/Shutterstock
For the past 13 years I’ve focused on sequencing one plant pathogen’s genome. Here’s where that scientific journey has led.
A street fan provides relief on a hot summer day in New York City.
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Extreme heat waves are putting lives in danger, with some of the hottest urban neighborhoods 10 degrees hotter or more than their wealthier neighbors. Often, these are communities of color.
Concrete and asphalt roads, and other built materials readily absorb, store and release heat, raising city temperatures, a phenomenon called the urban heat island.
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During heatwaves, the highest temperatures are often found in urbanized areas. Small green spaces are often overlooked as a way to cool urban areas.
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An invasive Australian tree is exploiting ever-stronger hurricanes.
Although it is important to have a diversity of tree species in urban landscapes, planting and protecting taller species should be strongly encouraged.
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There is a growing interest in planting small trees in urban areas. However, large trees have significant advantages.
Alexander Schenkin
A 50-year experiment shows warmer, ‘thirstier’ air may have cut the lifespan of Queensland’s tropical trees in half since the 1980s.
Darren England/AAP
We asked six experts to nominate books that might help us avert environmental catastrophe. Here’s what they said.
When trees burn, all the carbon they have stored goes back into the atmosphere.
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More carbon dioxide in the air doesn’t necessarily mean more growth for trees, and the increasing risk of wildfires and drought has major consequences, as an interactive map shows.
Maple syrup contains bioactive molecules whose benefits go far beyond the simple pleasure of a sweet treat.
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Apart from being a jewel of Canada’s culinary heritage, maple syrup has a complex chemical constitution.
Coastal redwoods in Felton, California.
Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images
New research shows that coast redwood trees have a surprising adaptation that helps them thrive in both wet and dry environments.
Trees scorched by the Caldor Fire smoulder in the Eldorado National Forest, Calif., Sept. 3, 2021.
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Planting trees and preventing deforestation can store carbon in nature, but the effect may only be temporary. If we also eliminate emissions from fossil fuels, even this temporary effect is important.