Blog

Read our blog to learn about the how, why, and who of Crowther Lab.

Understanding forest health means understanding the true nature of biodiversity

Understanding forest health means understanding the true nature of biodiversity

For the future health of forests, we have to think about biodiversity differently

Ecosystems they are a-changin: temperate forests, alternative stable states, and why they matter

Ecosystems they are a-changin: temperate forests, alternative stable states, and why they matter

A Q&A with Yibiao Zou, PhD student and lead author of "Positive feedbacks and alternative stable states in forest leaf types" Recent research indicates that the Amazon rainforest is losing its res...

The sounds of biodiversity and the power of provoking change

The sounds of biodiversity and the power of provoking change

From bioacoustics research in Costa Rica to environmental activism, Giacomo is interested in biodiversity: how we can protect what we still have on Earth and what we can do to restore what we’ve los...

Threat of regeneration failure: logging is endangering the next generation of trees in rainforests

Threat of regeneration failure: logging is endangering the next generation of trees in rainforests

New study shows that restoration areas previously degraded by logging may face long-term regeneration failures due to high seedling mortality rates. Restoring logged rainforest areas is an important e...

Coding for tree taxonomy: TREEmendous

Coding for tree taxonomy: TREEmendous

The R package to unify tree species names Solving today's ecological challenges requires combining datasets and knowledge from all over the globe. Unfortunately, this can be challenging when matching ...

Plant diversity increases closer to the equator – but not for ocean islands

Plant diversity increases closer to the equator – but not for ocean islands

Ocean islands do not follow observed biodiversity patterns One of the most basic patterns of biodiversity on Earth is that species diversity is highest near the equator, and declines toward the poles....

You can’t spell environmental without AI: how scientists are using LLMs

You can’t spell environmental without AI: how scientists are using LLMs

By: Dr. Gabriel Smith, lead scientist at Crowther Lab, Zurich While news of AI and its dangers frequent our headlines, Large Language Models – otherwise known as LLMs in the tech world – can also ...

The Integrated Global Forests Assessments: FAQ

The Integrated Global Forests Assessments: FAQ

Here we provide answers to some frequently asked questions on the Integrated Global Forests Assessment.

We need to kill greenwashing for nature, people and climate

We need to kill greenwashing for nature, people and climate

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-need-kill-greenwashing-nature-people-climate-thomas-w-crowther-hx5af/

Seeing the forest for the leaves

Seeing the forest for the leaves

We set out to count the abundance of different tree types – but by looking at leaf data instead of tree density data. Now why leaves? We explain here.