Tag Archives: forests

Science & Health

Why Ecologists Are Haunted by the Rapid Growth of Ghost Forests | Science | Smithsonian Magazine

A study in North Carolina of dying trees may represent a foreboding preview of what
may come to coastal ecosystems worldwide

By Jim Morrison, smithsonianmag.com, May 17, 2021

Google Earth image of a healthy forest on the lower right and a ghost forest full of dead trees on the left. (Emily Ury)

For years, Emily Ury traversed North Carolina’s coastal roads, studying patches of skeletal trees slain by rising seas that scientists call “ghost forests.”

Killed by intruding saltwater along the Atlantic Coast, they are previews of the dire fate other forests face worldwide.

Related Content Haunting ‘Ghost Forest’ Resurrected in New York City

Ury knew that ghost forests were expanding in the region, but only when she began looking down from above using Google Earth did she realize how extensive they were.

“I found so many dead forests,” says Ury, an ecologist at Duke University and co-author of a paper on the rapid deforestation of the North Carolina coast published last month in the journal Ecological Applications. “They were everywhere.”

Source: Why Ecologists Are Haunted by the Rapid Growth of Ghost Forests | Science | Smithsonian Magazine

Current Affairs, Science & Health

Valentine’s Day Special Collection

Don’t see red on Valentine’s day – see green!  Celebrate a greener Valentine’s day and give your special someone the gift of trees.  Natural disturbances such as wildfire, insects and disease outbreaks are jeopardizing the very things that make our forests so wonderful: the majestic trees that grow from Florida to Cali

Source: Valentine’s Day Special Collection

 

Here’s my gift…

Pleasures, Religion & Spirit, Travel

Forest Bathing Melds Nature With Mindfulness To Improve Health : Shots – Health News : NPR

Clare Kelley practices "forest bathing" along the edge of an urban forest on Roosevelt Island, in the middle of the Potomac River. In contrast to hiking, forest bathing is less directed, melding mindfulness and nature immersion to improve health. Allison Aubrey/NPR
Clare Kelley practices “forest bathing” along the edge of an urban forest on Roosevelt Island, in the middle of the Potomac River. In contrast to hiking, forest bathing is less directed, melding mindfulness and nature immersion to improve health. Allison Aubrey/NPR

If hiking is about a destination, forest bathing is about an immersion of the senses into the natural world. It’s a wellness trend, and studies suggest several health benefits.

Source: Forest Bathing Melds Nature With Mindfulness To Improve Health : Shots – Health News : NPR