Number of trees halved since dawn of human civilisation

[Recursion]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/forests/11840852/Number-of-trees-halved-since-dawn-of-human-civilisation.html

The number of trees on Earth has almost halved since the beginning of human civilisation, a new assessment has found.

There are more than three trillion trees worldwide - around eight times more than some previous estimates - according to the study led by researchers at Yale University in the US.

But around 15 billion trees are currently being lost each year as a result of deforestation, forest management and changes in land use, the research published in the journal Nature showed.

Since the start of human civilisation around 11,700 years ago, the total number of trees has fallen by around 46 per cent, it estimates.

I know a biologist who says humans are a species domesticated by grasses to aid in their ongoing war against trees...

[PoliticAverse]

1. That would explain why so many people have lawns. n/t

[Recursion]

2. That was his argument

Some grasses evolved into cereals, which got humans to clear forests in order to grow more of them. Basically, they took a grass-dwelling and grass-eating primate that feared forests because predators couldn't be seen coming and got us to replicate the savannah all over the world.

[GliderGuider]

3. Boreal forest being driven to tipping point – "The changes could be very dramatic and very fast"

Boreal forest being driven to tipping point by climate change, study finds – "The changes could be very dramatic and very fast"

(The Canadian Press) – Climate change is forcing the boreal forest that covers much of northern Canada to a tipping point, concludes a newly published study.

"The changes could be very dramatic and very fast," said Dmitry Schepaschenko of Austria's Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.

The boreal forest is one of the largest ecological zones on the planet. It covers much of northern Canada and extends into Scandinavia and northern Russia. Although it remains largely intact, it faces the most severe expected temperature increases anywhere on Earth. Schepaschenko said some parts of Siberia are likely to eventually become 11 C warmer.

That will bring greater precipitation, but not enough to compensate for the dryness caused by hotter weather. A drier boreal will suffer new diseases, insect infestations and vast wildfires.

Nor will the forest simply be able to shift north as warmer temperatures creep up from the south, said Schepaschenko.

"The forests can't go so far to the north. The speed at which forests can move forward is very slow, like 100 metres a decade."