Do forest fires encourage the spread of invasive plants?

A number of invasive plants thrive in forested and grassland areas disturbed by fire, floods, erosion, wind, insects, or diseases, so increases in disturbed areas associated with climate variability and altered land-use could assist in the spread of this group of invasive plants. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), one of the most invasive species in the western shrublands and woodlands of the U.S., has been common on severely burned areas. Recent studies suggest that increased wildfire activity in the western …

There have always been extreme weather events, so why are scientists talking so much about extreme events now?

Recent climate research synthesized in the 2007 and 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports documents that there have been observable changes in extreme weather events over the past fifty years that are consistent with the expected impacts in a warming climate. The report shows that there has been a significant shift towards fewer cold and more heat extremes across many parts of the globe over the past fifty years. The 2014 National Climate Assessment reaffirms that U.S. average