The afterlife of plant matter plays a significant role in ecosystems, as a key processor and provider of key nutrients. The rate of decomposition for leaf litter, among other plant matter, heavily influences the health of animals and plants, and this rate is expected to significantly increase as Earth continues to warm. There is another factor that could hold impact these ecosystems even more than climate change: biodiversity.

Amazonia is closer to a catastrophic ecological tipping point than any time in the last 100,000 years, and human activity is the cause.

Throughout the late 19th century, rivers across the southwestern United States were parceled out, and flows were diverted through irrigation canals and trapped behind dams. Growing populations put new demands on groundwater sources. Coupled with changing climate conditions, water tables sank and perennial streams began to run dry.

A warming climate and more frequent wildfires do not necessarily mean the western United States will see the forest loss that many scientists expect. Dry forest margins may be more resilient to climate change than previously thought if managed appropriately, according to Penn State researchers.

In lab studies of wildfire, nitrous acid seems like a minor actor, often underrepresented in atmospheric models. But in the real-world atmosphere, during wildfires, the chemical plays a leading role—spiking to levels significantly higher than scientists expected, driving increased ozone pollution and harming air quality, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy.