Managed forests in New Hampshire rich in carbon

A new study examining carbon stocks in an actively managed mixed wood forest in New Hampshire finds that places with more trees have more carbon stored in both the trees and the soil. The findings demonstrate the connection between above ground and below ground carbon, which has implications for forest management strategies.

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A tool to understand how ecosystems are responding to a changing climate

As climate change accelerates, recording shifts in plant flowering times is critical to understanding how changes in climate will impact ecosystem interactions. To help measure these shifts, researchers have introduced a new quantitative measure of phenological status, called the 'phenological index,' that improves scoring of developmental stage in herbarium specimens, and predicts a higher degree of phenological advancement in response to climate change.

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Warming impedes a coral defense, but hungry fish enhance it

Corals exude chemical defenses against bacteria, but when heated in the lab, those defenses lost much potency against a pathogen common in coral bleaching. There's hope: A key coral's defense was heartier when that coral was taken from an area where fishing was banned and plenty of fish were left to eat away seaweed that was overgrowing corals elsewhere.

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Species could buffer reproduction against climate change through sperm and egg plasticity

New research shows that beetles have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to reproduce despite warmer temperatures. They have evolved mechanisms that allow their sperm and eggs to quickly cope with increasing environmental temperature variation. And this could help species buffer themselves against climate change.

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