Mine spoils consist of overburdened dumps of haphazardly, mixed consolidated and unconsolidated material. Mine spoils are nutritionally and microbiologically impoverished habitats. Natural restoration of mine spoil is a slow process. Afforestation of mine spoils with fast growing tree species accelerates the revegetation process and fulfils the restoration goal.

To demonstrate the relationship between Amazonian vegetation and surface water dynamics, specifically, the recycling of water via evapotranspiration (ET), we compare two general circulation model experiments; one that couples the IS92a scenario of future CO2 emissions to a land-surface scheme with dynamic vegetation (coupled) and the other to fixed vegetation (uncoupled).

The Amazon Basin experiences severe droughts that may become more common in the future. Little is known of the effects of such droughts on Amazon forest productivity and carbon allocation. We tested the prediction that severe drought decreases litterfall and wood production but potentially has multiple cancelling effects on belowground production within a 7-year partial throughfall exclusion experiment. We simulated an approximately 35

Using a mixture of observations and climate model outputs and a simple parametrization of leaf-level photosynthesis incorporating known temperature sensitivities, we find no evidence for tropical forests currently existing

The stomatal response of cassia (Cassia streata L.) and dhaincha (Sesbania rostrata L.) to a coalmine overburden (OB) substrate was studied with a view to rehabilitate such areas. Plants raised in unmined soil were used as controls. The mine OB induced significant increase in stomatal index (SI) with diminished stomatal size and a stomatal closure in the test plants.

Climate change is already altering our planet's biology, with only life in Antarctica so far spared its influence. That's the conclusion from an analysis of tens of thousands of individual local studies covering shrinking glaciers, changing river flows, melting permafrost, increased coastal erosion, and warming lakes and rivers. The study, published in Nature (DOI: 10.1038/nature06937) this week, is based on more comprehensive data than any previous investigation of the biological effects of climate change.

Significant changes in physical and biological systems are occurring on all continents and in most oceans, with a concentration of available data in Europe and North America. Most of these changes are in the direction expected with warming temperature. Here the authors show that these changes in natural systems since at least 1970 are occurring in regions of observed temperature increases, and that these temperature increases at continental scales cannot be explained by natural climate variations alone.