In this interview, Gordon Bonan of NSF's National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., discusses the latest research on how forests impact climate. The research is covered in a review paper submitted by Bonan to the June 13, 2008, forest ecology issue of the journal Science. Bonan discusses how forests both cool, and in some cases warm, the Earth, and how researchers are working hard to better understand this complicated relationship.

Credit: National Science Foundation / The National Center for Atmospheric Research

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