ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

Jay OwenEarth Systems Science

ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

Increased legal liabilities limit prescribed fire use for brush control

Posted: 07 Jan 2016 03:49 PM PST

Private landowners and managers tend to shy away from the use of prescribed fire for maintaining rangeland and forest ecosystems in spite of the known benefits due to the potential liability factor, according to a study. This is a concern, reports a new article, as fire has historically played an important role in achieving land management objectives, and eliminating its use could have detrimental effects.

Dam projects on world’s largest rivers threaten fish species, rural livelihoods

Posted: 07 Jan 2016 12:17 PM PST

Advocates of huge hydroelectric dam projects on the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong river basins often overestimate economic benefits and underestimate far-reaching effects on biodiversity, according to a new article.

The Anthropocene: Hard evidence for a human-driven Earth

Posted: 07 Jan 2016 12:17 PM PST

Evidence for a new geological epoch which marks the impact of human activity on the Earth is now overwhelming, according to a recent paper by an international group of geoscientists.

Deep ties between diverse tropical rainforests revealed

Posted: 07 Jan 2016 12:17 PM PST

Researchers report striking new findings about the structure of tropical rainforests and how the trees in them interact with one another. Their study suggests important new recommendations for how scientists study and model tropical rainforests.