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Articles on Tropics

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Natural selection can get to work in isolated locations. Birger Strahl/Unsplash

Tropical climates are the most biodiverse on Earth − but it’s not only because of how warm and wet they are

A new study reveals how the geography of global climates influences the rich patterns of species diversity in an ever-changing world.
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Earth harbours 20,000,000,000,000,000 ants – and they weigh more than wild birds and mammals combined

Invertebrates are “the little things that run the world”. So researchers decided to count all the ants on Earth, to help monitor how they’re coping with environmental challenges.
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Marine life is fleeing the equator to cooler waters. History tells us this could trigger a mass extinction event

Climate change has already made tropical oceans too hot for some marine species to survive. As they flee towards the poles, the implications for ecosystems and human livelihoods will be profound.
The northern hemisphere jet stream crossing Cape Breton Island in the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada. NASA/Wikimedia Commons

A battle for the jet stream is raging above our heads

The jet stream is being distorted on both sides by fast-warming tropical and Arctic air. Should the tropics win out, weather patterns could change profoundly.
During a heatwave in late 2018, Cairns temperatures topped 35°C nine days in a row and sensors at some points in the CBD recorded 45°C.

Urban growth, heat islands, humidity, climate change: the costs multiply in tropical cities

The world’s fastest-growing cities are in the tropics. They are highly exposed to climate change, especially as urban heat island effects and humidity magnify the impacts of increasing heatwaves.

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