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Parliamentary recognition of the importance and decline of invertebrates

Envirotec Magazine

Both the diversity and abundance of insects are in decline with data collected by the Bugs Matter survey suggesting that the abundance of flying insects has fallen by 64% between 2004 and 2022, with similar trends have been detected by scientific studies around the world.

Pollution 195
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Rising from the ashes, Alaska’s forests come back stronger

Grist

Back in 2004, when wildfires in Alaska burned an area the size of Massachusetts , Michelle Mack wondered just how much carbon had permanently moved from the landscape into the atmosphere. They also took measurements over 13 years of soil carbon and tree growth at 75 sites that burned in 2004.

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What scientists have learned from 20 years of microplastics research

Grist

Since that 2004 paper, one of the first to use the term “microplastics,” microscopic plastic fragments have been found everywhere from deep sea sediments to the top of Mount Everest , as well as in human blood , breast milk , colons , kidneys , livers , lungs , placentas , and other body parts.

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Replanting logged forests with diverse mixtures of seedlings accelerates restoration, says study

Envirotec Magazine

Between 2004 and 2017, 43 million hectares of tropical forest were lost – an area roughly the size of Morocco (WWF). Up to now, however, it has been unclear whether this is best achieved through allowing forests to restore themselves naturally (using dormant seeds in the soil) or through active replanting.

Logging 147
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Cicadas like to be on time. But are they getting confused by climate change?

Grist

Brood X, a group of 17-year “magicicadas” (yes, that’s short for “ magic cicadas ”) have started to emerge from the soil all over the Eastern U.S. degrees F hotter than they were when the bugs last emerged in 2004. That’s more than enough to send them scurrying out of the soil ahead of time.

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This grass has toxic effects on US livestock, and it’s spreading

Grist

And replacing one grass with another is labor-intensive; a 2004 report by the University of Georgia said it would take farmers who made the switch about three years to break even. Friendly fescue soil, by contrast, has more microbes than toxic fescue soil. Since then, they’ve converted another 75 acres. The southeastern U.S.,

Soil 144
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SatAgro: The Startup That’s Helping to Drive Digital Agriculture in Poland

Planet Pulse

SatAgro provides customers access to Planet’s daily satellite imagery, alongside data from NASA and ESA missions, and complementary information like weather and soil sampling, to increase the efficiency of their farms via their app. The Polish government joined the EU in 2004 and has since pushed to preserve small scale farms.