Seabed recovers more quickly following extreme storms than from the impacts of bottom-towed fishing
Extreme storms can result in major damage to the seabed similar to that caused by prolonged periods of bottom-towed fishing, according to new research. However, important seabed habitats and species recover more quickly following extreme storms than in the wake of such fishing activity. That is one of the key findings of a first-of-its-kind study […]
Sustained fast rates of evolution explain how tetrapods evolved from fish
One of the biggest questions in evolution is when and how major groups of animals first evolved. The rise of tetrapods (all limbed vertebrates) from their fish relatives marks one of the most important evolutionary events in the history of life. This “fish-to-tetrapod” transition took place somewhere between the Middle and Late Devonian (~400-360 million […]
Epicenter of major Amazon droughts and fires saw 2.5 billion trees and vines killed
A major drought and forest fires in the Amazon rainforest killed billions of trees and plants and turned one of the world’s largest carbon sinks into one of its biggest polluters. Triggered by the 2015-16 El Niño, extreme drought and associated mega-wildfires caused the death of around 2.5 billion trees and plants and emitted 495 […]