Research News

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft unfurled its robotic arm Oct. 20, 2020, and briefly touched an asteroid to collect dust and rock from the surface for delivery to Earth in 2023.

Luke Frishkoff, coauthor of a study showing that protected lands help safeguard vertebrates from biodiversity loss.

Justin Nowakowski, pictured in a forest at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, led a study showing that protected areas can slow biodiversity loss.

Stream in La Selva Research Station, a private forest reserve in Costa Rica spanning nearly 4,000 acres. (Credit: Justin Nowakowski)

Reptiles like this pit viper (Bothriechis) are especially vulnerable to climate change, even inside protected areas. (Credit: Marylin Veiman Echeverria)

Slaty-tailed trogon (Trogon massena), a bird common in tropical forests and coffee plantations of Central America.

One of the largest trees on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Tropical forests pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere where it causes global warming and store it as wood. But the amount of carbon stored varies depending on tree species, age, climate conditions and other factors.

One of the largest trees on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Tropical forests pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere where it causes global warming and store it as wood. But the amount of carbon stored varies depending on tree species, age, climate conditions and other factors.

The GEO-TREES project will provide highly accurate estimates of the carbon stored by different forests around the globe based on on-the-ground tree measurements, with terrestrial and aerial laser scans (LiDAR).