How is a telecommunications network like an ecosystem?
Tree canopies and the running streams below, or coral reefs and the ocean waters that flow around them, are interconnected components of a larger whole: an ecosystem. These ecosystem parts are in communication with one another, scientists have learned, via signals transmitted among earth, air and water.
How is a telecommunications network like an ecosystem?
Tree canopies and the running streams below, or coral reefs and the ocean waters that flow around them, are interconnected components of a larger whole: an ecosystem. These ecosystem parts are in communication with one another, scientists have learned, via signals transmitted among earth, air and water.
This idea has led to new ways of tracking how precipitation alters interactions among the atmosphere, vegetation and soil, according to researchers reporting new findings this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists affiliated with two National Science Foundation (NSF) Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) sites in the Western U.S. -- the NSF Reynolds Creek CZO in Idaho and the NSF Southern Sierra CZO in California -- conducted the research.
"The results show the ways in which watersheds respond to precipitation disturbances, in this case rainfall and drought," said Richard Yuretich, NSF CZO program director. "The information is important to predicting how ecosystems will respond to future extreme events."
Read more at National Science Foundation
Image: The Southern Sierra CZO was also a research site in the study. CREDIT: NSF Southern Sierra CZO
