Conditions that promote karst development are well-jointed, dense limestone near the surface; a moderate to heavy rainfall; and good groundwater circulation. Limestone (calcium carbonate) dissolves relatively easily in slightly acidic water, which occurs widely in nature.
Crowther said first he had to figure out how many trees are on Earth and that number was far more than anyone expected: 3.04 trillion trees, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. 14 Photos Trees Around The World.
Using complex statistics, Worm and colleagues used the number of genera, families, and so on to predict Earth's number of unknown species, and their calculations gave them a number: 8.7 million. An Issue of Statistics.