Borneo is burning

Burning a graph is hard

We introduce a new graph parameter called the burning number, inspired by contact processes on graphs such as graph bootstrap percolation, and graph searching paradigms such as Firefighter. The burning number measures the speed of the spread of contagion in a graph; the lower the burning number, the faster the contagion spreads. We provide algorithmic results on the burning number, and prove th...

The Cuyahoga Is Still Burning

River caught fire as it flowed through Akron and Cleveland, Ohio. Although it was not the only river to burn, the image of this burning river—the terrible wronging of nature— became a symbol of the urgency for a transformation of environmental policy for the environmental movement of the 1970s, driving the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the rapid passage of major...

Forest Fruit Production Is Higher on Sumatra Than on Borneo

BACKGROUND Various studies have shown that the population densities of a number of forest vertebrates, such as orangutans, are higher on Sumatra than Borneo, and that several species exhibit smaller body sizes on Borneo than Sumatra and mainland Southeast Asia. It has been suggested that differences in forest fruit productivity between the islands can explain these patterns. Here we present a l...

Is vegetation collapse on Borneo already in progress?

Vegetation and tropical forests in particular have a central role in mitigating the effects of increasing levels of atmospheric CO2. Photosynthesis is the fundamental process during which CO2 is taken up by plants and fixed into carbohydrates. The effect of temperature on the rate of photosynthesis in different plant species is directly related to degree-days (D-D) as well as the leaf area inde...

Ventricular tachycardia: is it a burning issue?