By Chelsea Harvey
Wilderness (click here) areas on Earth have experienced alarming losses in the past two decades, a new study suggests. By comparing global maps from the present day and the early 1990s, researchers have concluded that a 10th of all the world's wilderness has been lost in just 20 years.
The study, published Thursday in the journal Current Biology, finds that just over 30 million square kilometres of wilderness remains on Earth, composing nearly a quarter of the planet's terrestrial area. On the other hand, 3.3 million square kilometres have been lost since the early 1990s.
The losses were more pronounced in some areas than in others. South America lost nearly 30 per cent of its wilderness area, and Africa lost about 14 per cent. Overall, most of the remaining wilderness is concentrated in North America, North Asia, North Africa and Australia, the researchers note.
"Wilderness was defined as any area on Earth which didn't have a human footprint," explained James Watson , an associate professor at the University of Queensland, director of science and research at the Wildlife Conservation Society and the new study's lead author....
14 October 2015
By AFP
14 October 2015
By AFP
Wildfires in the western United States (click here) have made 2015 the country's most devastating fire year since at least 1960, despite the relatively small number of individual fires.
More than 11 million acres (4.5 million hectares) have been burned in fires this year as of Friday, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center.
That vast acreage - greater than the size of Denmark - is expected to rise over the remainder of the year, but it makes 2015 already the first year in at least five and a half decades to exceed 10 million acres burned, according to NIFC data....
The Eastern Forests of the USA are not only grossly diminished in number, it is expected as time passes, the remaining forest will become far less diversified. Lack of diversity increases the chance a simple insect infestation can wipe out all the forests of the Eastern USA.
Many aspects of projected climate change (click here) will likely affect forest growth and productivity. Three examples are described below: increases in carbon dioxide (CO2), increases in temperature, and changes in precipitation....
The Eastern Forests (click here)
History has not dealt kindly with the eastern forests of the United States. (click here) Much of what Alexis de Tocqueville once called in the 1820's a "sea of leaves" has been replaced by farms, cities, and broad highways. There are still forests in the East—162.4 million acres of forested lands—but major parts of what was once a vast empire of hardwood forest are gone forever. Of the remaining forests, only 8.49 million acres are today in National Forests. A similar situation exists with rangeland in the Eastern Region. With 1.8 million acres of rangeland in the Region, mostly in Missouri, only about 65,000 acres are on National Forests. While National Forest lands represent such a small part of the land in the Eastern Region, they are the largest blocks of singly owned and managed land in the East....
The Eastern Forests of the USA are not only grossly diminished in number, it is expected as time passes, the remaining forest will become far less diversified. Lack of diversity increases the chance a simple insect infestation can wipe out all the forests of the Eastern USA.
Many aspects of projected climate change (click here) will likely affect forest growth and productivity. Three examples are described below: increases in carbon dioxide (CO2), increases in temperature, and changes in precipitation....
History has not dealt kindly with the eastern forests of the United States. (click here) Much of what Alexis de Tocqueville once called in the 1820's a "sea of leaves" has been replaced by farms, cities, and broad highways. There are still forests in the East—162.4 million acres of forested lands—but major parts of what was once a vast empire of hardwood forest are gone forever. Of the remaining forests, only 8.49 million acres are today in National Forests. A similar situation exists with rangeland in the Eastern Region. With 1.8 million acres of rangeland in the Region, mostly in Missouri, only about 65,000 acres are on National Forests. While National Forest lands represent such a small part of the land in the Eastern Region, they are the largest blocks of singly owned and managed land in the East....
