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Savanna
A savanna or savannah is a grassland with widely spaced trees, and occurs in several types of biomes. In savannas, grasses and trees are co-dominant vegetation types, with trees and grasses often alternating in dominance over time. The herbaceous layer is usually a mixture of grasses and herbs with trees and shrubs scattered individually or in small clumps. Savannas are frequently seen as a transitional zone, occurring between forest or woodland regions and grassland or desert regions. Savannas are targets of regular fires. Most savannas experience fire at least twice a decade and annual fires are common in many savanna types.
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Earth & Climate News
January 15, 2026
Jan. 15, 2026 In the rapidly disappearing Atlantic Forest, mosquitoes are adapting to a human-dominated landscape. Scientists found that many species now prefer feeding on people rather than the forest’s diverse wildlife. This behavior dramatically raises the ...
Jan. 14, 2026 For thousands of years, wildfires on Alaska’s North Slope were rare. That changed sharply in the 20th century, when warming temperatures dried soils and fueled the spread of shrubs, setting the stage for intense fires. Peat cores and satellite ...
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Jan. 13, 2026 Honey bees can normally keep their hives perfectly climate-controlled, but extreme heat can overwhelm their defenses. During a scorching Arizona summer, researchers found that high temperatures caused damaging temperature fluctuations inside hives, ...
Jan. 13, 2026 Scientists tracking Earth’s water from space discovered that El Niño and La Niña are synchronizing floods and droughts across continents. When these climate cycles intensify, far-apart regions can become unusually wet or dangerously dry at the ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Plastic pollution is not just in oceans and soil. Scientists have now found enormous amounts of microscopic plastic floating through urban air, far exceeding earlier estimates. Road dust and rainfall play a major role in moving these particles ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Microscopic ocean algae produce a huge share of Earth’s oxygen—but they need iron to do it. New field research shows that when iron is scarce, phytoplankton waste energy and photosynthesis falters. Climate-driven changes may reduce iron delivery ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Scientists have discovered that wildfires release far more air-polluting gases than previously estimated. Many of these hidden emissions can transform into fine particles that are dangerous to breathe. The study shows wildfire pollution rivals ...
Jan. 6, 2026 Earthquakes happen daily, sometimes with devastating consequences, yet predicting them remains out of reach. What scientists can do is map the hidden layers beneath the surface that control how strongly the ground shakes. A new approach speeds up ...
Jan. 6, 2026 When a huge earthquake struck near Kamchatka, the SWOT satellite captured an unprecedented, high-resolution view of the resulting tsunami as it crossed the Pacific. The data revealed the waves were ...
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Jan. 10, 2026 Crystals hidden in Australia’s oldest rocks have revealed new clues about how Earth and the Moon formed. The study suggests Earth’s continents didn’t begin growing until hundreds of millions of ...
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Jan. 4, 2026 Overfished coral reefs are producing far less food than they could. Researchers found that letting reef fish populations recover could boost sustainable fish yields by nearly 50%, creating millions ...
Jan. 1, 2026 Scientists are uncovering new clues that a cosmic explosion may have rocked Earth at the end of the last ice age. At major Clovis-era sites, researchers found shocked quartz—evidence of intense ...
Jan. 1, 2026 A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck northern Chile in July 2024—and it wasn’t supposed to be that strong. Unlike Chile’s infamous shallow “megathrust” quakes, this one ruptured deep ...
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Dec. 30, 2025 Scientists have uncovered an extensive underwater vent system near Milos, Greece, hidden along active fault lines beneath the seafloor. These geological fractures act as pathways for hot, gas-rich ...
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