Forest

For the first time, researchers have tracked how deer use photoluminescent markers as signposts on trees to communicate with one another. Their unique visual acuity allows them to see in ultraviolet wavelengths invisible to human eyes.

Remarkable research has unlocked new understanding of the mysterious ways trees communicate and share knowledge – and much like in the animal kingdom, the wisdom of age plays a key role. In fact, you may never look at a tree in the same way again.

Tulip trees have been around for millions of years, but a new analysis of their structure has revealed a previously unknown type of wood. The finding could explain why the trees are great at sequestering carbon and help our efforts to do the same.

Scientists have uncovered the oldest fossilized forest, dating back 390 million years. The ancient forest was made up of the first trees to ever grow on Earth – bizarre “prototype” trees that had to rip their skeletons apart in order to grow.

Whether they’re hacking the brains of bugs or mining gold, fungi are craftier than we give them credit for. Now researchers in Japan have studied how forest mushrooms communicate with each other, and found that they're mostly chatty when it rains.

The way animals disperse seeds throughout landscapes is known to be an important element in promoting growth of forested areas, and a new study over an extended timeframe has shed valuable new light on this process.

When it comes to putting out forest fires, the sooner that they're detected, the better. That's where a new forest-deployed sensor could come in, as it's powered by swaying tree branches.

A new study has determined that Earth’s forests are transforming in response to a combination of human actions and natural processes such as wildfires, causing them to lose their oldest trees and grow shorter.

For the first time, new research describes both gesture-based and vocal communication among wild orang-utans: specifically Southwest Bornean orang-utan mothers and their young.

As far as fighting climate change is concerned, "one whale is worth thousands of trees," the IMF has said. But reports suggesting that trees therefore pale into insignificance compared to whales are missing the point.

The XPrize foundation has today launched a new US$10 million competition geared towards preserving the world's rainforests, a process that begins with building new technologies to help us better appreciate what they have to offer.

A newly-developed gel could allow forestry workers to keep forest fires from occurring.