Now begins a long and difficult process to recover vast areas of forest after more than 50 years of destructive logging.
The beaver lives at the intersection of the aquatic and forest environments, so its presence increases interactions between these two ecosystems.
(Shutterstock)
Miguel Montoro Girona, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT); Guillaume Grosbois, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), and Mélanie Arsenault, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)
Beavers are an important ecosystem engineer in the boreal forest and researchers are demystifying their secrets.
Old spruce and fir forest, over 300 years old.
(Maxence Martin)
The optimal trade-off between restoring habitat and crop production hinges on pollinators. A new study shows giving pollinators more natural habitat on the farm leads to big increases in production.
Acoustic technology allows us to listen to the sounds produced by the creatures in forest soils. A new study shows it’s a reliable way to monitor the biodiversity and health of the soil and forest.
In North America, log driving is thought to have stopped by the end of the 20th century, with the exception of British Columbia, where it is still practised on a small scale.
(Shutterstock)
Logging over the past two centuries has had a major impact on Québec’s forests. The traces it has left will guide the adoption of sustainable forest management techniques.
Satellite image of a forest fire in July 2021 in northern Saskatchewan (Wapawekka Hills). The image covers an area of about 56 kilometres in width and is based on Copernicus Sentinel data.
(Pierre Markuse), CC BY 2.0
Victor Danneyrolles, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC); Raphaël Chavardès, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), and Yves Bergeron, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)
North America’s boreal forests have been burning a lot, probably more and more over the past 60 years. Yet the long-term trend indicates that they are burning less than they were 150 years ago.
Trees are rooted to the ground — but they move into new areas as the wind carries their seeds or seedlings are planted.
(Shutterstock)
Claudio Mura, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC); Patricia Raymond, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), and Sergio Rossi, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)
The rapidly changing climate presents many challenges for the sustainability of forest ecosystems. Assisting the migration of trees is a tool to address these challenges.
Habitat loss has driven Asian elephants, like these foraging at a garbage dump in Sri Lanka, into human areas.
Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP via Getty Images
A new study looks back into history to assess human impacts on the range of Asian elephants and finds sharp decline starting several centuries ago.
Smouldering fire in a drained peatland near Fort McMurray, Alta. produces smoke from underground. These ecosystems are affected by rising temperatures, drought, wildfire and various human actions including drainage.
(Leyland Cecco)
Contrary to the idea that apes evolved their upright posture to reach for fruit in the forest canopy, the earliest known ape with this stature, Morotopithecus, lived in more open grassy environments.
Red tingle forests in south-western Australia have the lowest fire risk when they’ve not been subjected to prescribed burning. New research explains why
Established practices of Ghanaian farmers have been affected by climate change.
Bernard Keraita/Flickr
Reservoirs and streams are in good shape in California and the Great Basin, but groundwater and ecosystems are another story. And then there’s the Colorado River Basin.
Native wildflowers, such as these Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) that bloom early in spring are losing access to sunlight as trees leaf out earlier.
Katja Schulz/Flickr
Many beloved wildflowers bloom in early spring, while trees are still bare and the flowers have access to sunlight. Climate change is throwing trees and wildflowers out of sync.
An old-growth tree that was cut in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.
Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Protecting old and mature trees is the simplest and least expensive way to pull carbon out of the atmosphere – but proposed logging projects threaten mature stands across the US.
Climate change will affect Canada’s boreal forest in a complex way.
(Shutterstock)
Over 50 fire ecologists across the Western U.S. took an unprecedented look at how forests in thousands of locations are recovering from fire in a changing climate. The results were alarming.