Wildfires, storms, and bark beetles have a major impact on forests and the benefits they provide for people and the environment. For the first time, a large international team led by researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has calculated how disturbances could transform Europe’s forests by 2100. Even in the most optimistic scenario, the team foresees a substantial increase in damaged forest area—in the most pessimistic case, disturbances could even double.

An interim update to the landmark State of the World’s Migratory Species of 2024 warns that 49% of migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are declining, up 5% in just two years, and 24% of species face extinction, up 2%. The new warnings will be presented to the 15^th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP15), a legally-binding UN treaty, in Campo Grande Brazil March 23-29.

A global study of mangroves has found a modest boost in conserved area could significantly increase their ability to adapt to the changing climate, including rising sea levels.

New research published in the Geological Society of America Bulletin reveals how  fluids naturally carbonate ultramafic rocks formed within Oman’s Samail Ophiolite, providing new insight into tectonic processes and natural carbon sequestration.

A 13-year study led by Anne Bernhard, professor of biology at Connecticut College, found that prolonged drought in southeastern Connecticut was associated with reduced stability in key nitrogen-cycling microbes in a coastal salt marsh. The research, published in Estuaries and Coasts, examined microbial communities from 2006 to 2019, including a severe drought from 2013 to 2018.

While most microbial groups declined during dry periods, ammonia-oxidizing archaea and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria showed the largest fluctuations in abundance. Archaeal amoA gene abundances were nearly 35 times higher in wet conditions than in dry conditions. After drought conditions eased, abundances returned to levels more similar to those observed before the dry period.

The findings provide long-term field evidence that extended drought can alter the stability of microbes central to nitrogen cycling in coastal marshes.

Soils surrounding large, ancient alerce trees in Chile accumulate a disproportionately high diversity of fungi, which help store more carbon and make the entire forest healthier, suggesting that protecting the biggest, oldest trees offers exceptionally outsized benefits.