22 min listen
Episode #4: Fire in the Amazon
FromBioScience Talks
ratings:
Length:
21 minutes
Released:
Sep 9, 2015
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Human-caused fires have the potential to hugely alter tropical forests—and the world at large. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Jennifer Balch, of the University of Colorado–Boulder. She discusses a long-term experiment in which she and her team deliberately lit fires in the Brazilian Amazon, with the aim of simulating the fires that are often released when people use burning to clear land. The forests were resilient to initial burning, but when a major drought hit in 2007, things changed quickly. The combined effects of drought and fire have huge implications, from grassland incursion and climate change to rainforest loss at previously unmeasured levels.
The article is part of a BioScience Special Section on Tropical Forest Responses to Large-Scale Experiments.
The article is part of a BioScience Special Section on Tropical Forest Responses to Large-Scale Experiments.
Released:
Sep 9, 2015
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Episode #2: Transgenic Fish on the Loose?: Fast-growing transgenic salmonids are currently being developed for eventual human consumption. Dr. Robert Devlin and his team seek to evaluate the ecological threats posed by these GMO fish. In this discussion, he outlines the uncertainty inherent in the by BioScience Talks