Ecology
Terra preta, catching carbon
Terra preta (“dark earth” in Portuguese) is the name of very dark, fertile soils found in the Amazon Basin. It owes its name to its very high charcoal content. It is also known as “Amazonian dark earth” or “Indian black… read more
Planting Mangroves to Protect Livelihoods
Mangrove forests, one of the world’s richest ecosystems, are declining in the South of Senegal. In a bid to reverse deforestation, the Senegal-based NGO Oceanium has planted six million mangrove trees, thereby boosting fish stocks and reviving livelihoods.
Up to… read more
Biodiversity conservation saves ecosystem services
Healthy ecosystems that provide people with essential natural goods and services often overlap with regions rich in biological diversity, showing that conserving one also protects the other, according to a new study.
The report confirms the value of making biological… read more
Loss of Deep-sea Species Could Lead to Collapse
Scientists have demonstrated that deep-sea ecosystem functioning is closely dependent upon the number of species inhabiting the ocean floor. Danovaro “This shows that we need to preserve biodiversity, and especially deep-sea biodiversity, because otherwise the negative consequences could be unprecedented.… read more
Secrets of Successful Ecosystems
Secrets of Successful Ecosystems
This study used a lab-based artificial ecosystem of communities of bacteria to examine what happens when the bacteria move around and evolve to live in different parts of the ecosystem over the course of hundreds of… read more
