Ecoclimax

The map below shows how the terrain may have appeared during the Last Glacial Maximum, around 21 thousand years ago, when sea levels were approximately 125 meters below present. Europe Sahul (Australia) Sundaland (Southeastern Asia) East Asia Via v7x

Source: v7x This map shows how the terrain may have appeared during the Last Glacial Maximum, around 21,000 years ago, when sea levels were approximately 125 meters (410 feet) below present. This map does not include any lakes of this time period. The colouring of the map is based on height, and is not meant to represent the climate or vegetation in any way. This map has some noticable lines running in different directions across the landscape that appear as ridges or trenches. These in most cases are more than likely to be an issue caused by merging different quality datasets. The sonar scanning that was used to map the seabed will pick up higher accuracy readings of depth along the path that the ships travel, and when merged with lower quality height data of the surrounding areas, will appear to stand out.

Located in the heart of Seoul, a true plant village has been realised on a former inner city highway in an ever-changing urban area accommodating the biggest variety of Korean plant species and transforming it into a public 983-metre long park gathering 50 families of plants including trees, shrubs and flowers displayed in 645 tree pots, collecting around 228 species and sub-species. In total, the park will include 24,000 plants (trees, shrubs and flowers) that are newly planted many of which will grow to their final heights in the next decade. Source: mvrdv.nl

A new research reveals that increases in leaf abundance are causing boreal areas to warm and arid regions to cool. Via Boston University (R. Myneni)

The map below was published by Parag Khanna for his book Connectography.  According to this map, If the world gets 4 °C warmer, South India and Pakistan would be abandoned, Micronesia would sink beneath the waves, and Europe is gradually transforming into a desert. At the same time, Western Antarctica is no longer glacial and uninhabitable.  

If that ice sheet were to disintegrate, it could raise the level of the sea by more than 160 feet — a potential apocalypse, depending on exactly how fast it happened. Source: nytimes.com

50 thousand circles moving through a year of data on planetary vegetation health. Watch and see our Earth "breathing" throughout the year. All living organisms depend on these cycles in the growth of plants; for food, for oxygen, and more. Although we humans have started to affect these cycles, hopefully, this gorgeous spectacle will be part of our lives for millennia to come. Source: datasketch.es

This uninhabited island in South Pacific Ocean is Littered with 38 million pieces of plastic. Scientists believe that Henderson Islan is covered in the more plastic trash than anywhere else on the globe. The island contains 671 pieces of plastic trash per square meter. However, no one has actually hauled the garbage here. Instead, the trash washed ashore by ocean currents known as the south Pacific gyre which collects debris from surrounding waters. Plastic trash not only causes unsightly pollution on these beaches. Marine animals like seabirds and sea turtles can ingest or become entangled in it leading to injury and death. Examples of plastic trash on the island, including a purple hermit crab making its home in a plastic container Photo: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The location of Henderson Island. Arrows indicate the direction of major oceanic currents & the South Pacific gyre. Image: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Reddit user: CinnamonScroll

The Sandy River Basin is one of many watersheds in the Pacific Northwest that is experiencing the adverse effects of climate change and human impacts. The quality and 1 availability of fish habitat are rapidly declining as the miles of degraded and polluted streams continue to rise. Of the fish species living in the basin, Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, and Steelhead are listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened at the federal level, and Coho Salmon are endangered in Oregon. A majority of streams that provide suitable habitat for these fish are listed as impaired for at least one water quality standard under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Restoration efforts aim to improve the overall health and function of these streams and are often targeted to improve the habitat for specific fish species. In order to assess if the location and type of restoration activities are appropriately applied, it is important to compare the restoration projects to the distribution of thr...

The Hercules beetle is a rhinoceros beetle native to the rainforests of Central America, South America and the Lesser Antilles. They are large beetles, with some males reaching 17.5 cm including the horn. The Hercules beetle is able to carry up to 850 times its body mass. The larval stage of the Hercules beetle will last one to two years, with the larva growing up to 4.5 inches (11 cm) in length and weighing more than 100 grams. Much of the life of the larva is spent tunneling through rotting wood. After the larval period, transformation into a pupa, and molting, the beetle then emerges as an adult. Source: facebook.com and wikipedia.org

Time lapse of cell division from the second cleavage. The animal pole is clearly visible in the upper half of the image. This is, of course, another zygote developing shown with a time lapse.

Global Forest Watch

Air cooler working on evaporation cooling principle.

The sphynx hairless cat photos by Alicia Rius. Alicia Rius Via aliciariusphotography.com

This atlas reveals forty-two years (1973-2015) of forest degradation by industrial logging, and conversion to industrial oil palm and pulpwood plantations in Borneo, Earth’s third largest island, shared by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. With about 8 Million hectares (Mha) of industrial oil palm plantations, about half of the estimated global planted area of 18 Mha, Borneo is the World‘s largest center of palm-oil production. Pulpwood plantations (about 1.3 Mha) - mainly fast-growing Acacia and Eucalyptus –make a major contribution to the global production of wood pulp. Plantations have either cause deforestation by replacing forests or avoided this by using previously cleared areas. The extent of these two situations is contested. This atlas offers the new possibility to distinguish oil palm and pulpwood companies who practiced deforestation from those who avoided it by planting on already deforested land. Source: cifor.org Related post: -  Deforestation in Borneo