News Finding: The study also estimates the Earth is home to more than three trillion trees - that's 3,000 billion - so you may think that while 15 billion is a very large number, humans shouldn't be at risk of making significant changes to global tree cover.
Paper Finding: These studies reveal that if a system is forced slowly (keeping it in quasi-equilibrium), proximity to a threshold may be inferred in a model-independent way.
News Context: This is one of the startling conclusions of new research published in the journal Nature. The study also estimates the Earth is home to more than three trillion trees - that's 3,000 billion - so you may think that while 15 billion is a very large number, humans shouldn't be at risk of making significant changes to global tree cover. The new study is important not only because it gives a higher number, but how it was produced.
Paper Context: 2A ) (i) that those tipping points that represent a bifurcation are universally characterized by 3 ϱ at the threshold, and (ii) that in principle could be reconstructed through methods of time series analysis. These studies reveal that if a system is forced slowly (keeping it in quasi-equilibrium), proximity to a threshold may be inferred in a model-independent way. However, if the system is forced faster (as is probably the case for the THC today), a dynamical model will also be needed.