Concordia researchers show blaming beaver dams for flooding in Quebec’s Charlevoix region (2005, 2011) is unfounded. Advanced modelling found failed dams had minimal impact on flood levels. Fast runoff and log jams from intense rainfall were more likely causes, and beaver structures support river health rather than worsen flooding.

Concordia researchers used peatland cores from the Magdalen Islands to reconstruct 4,000 years of Atlantic storm activity, revealing ancient periods of heightened hurricane impact. The study links storm frequency to climate conditions, improving understanding of long-term patterns and future risks as warming accelerates storm impacts in Atlantic Canada.

Pinpointing when early land plants colonized terrestrial environments and began influencing Earth's systems is a core question in the evolution of the Earth system. A research team led by Prof. ZHAO Mingyu at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has uncovered evidence indicating that land plants may have started reshaping Earth's surface environments far earlier than previously recognized.

More thorough testing of methane and ethane emissions in Osaka, Japan, identified numerous natural gas-related large methane sources that were mostly overlooked in current predictions. These sources may be useful future targets for mitigating emissions.

A team of scientists led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), and Leipzig University has developed a new method to track the Earth’s greenness – a key indicator of vegetation health and activity – by calculating its centre of mass.