Over the last 12,000 or so years, during a period we call the Holocene epoch, human society grew from a small population of hunter-gatherer communities to the global civilization of the modern day. Scientists view the Holocene as an important period for placing today’s human-driven... click to read more

A major ongoing threat to our planet is global warming. One of the main implications of global warming is the aridification of the continents, which is when a region becomes dry. Both natural (e.g., higher temperature, reduced precipitation, increased evaporation) and human influenced changes (e.g.,... click to read more

Many forests across the globe are experiencing tree mortality episodes as a consequence of long, intense drought periods, likely associated to anthropogenic – human-caused, as opposed to natural – climate change. To date, most research has focused on plant mortality processes during drought, and the... click to read more

The world is waking up to the potential for trees to help in the fight against climate change. Forests have always absorbed substantial carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Still, the human disturbance has relegated forests to approximately half their pre-historic extent, with more forests... click to read more

Today's global warming is increasingly threatening our planet. The Paris Agreement – an international agreement on climate change mitigation – aims to limit global warming to below 1.5-2°C relative to preindustrial levels. To meet this ambitious goal, we may need to drastically cut human-related emissions... click to read more