What consequences could the Amazon rainforest face as climate change continues to worse worldwide? This is what a recent study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the long-term effects of climate change on the Amazon rainforest. This study has the potential to help researchers, climate scientists, legislators, and the public better understand the long-term ramifications of climate change and the steps that can be taken to mitigate them.
For the study, the researchers analyzed data obtained from an experimental plot of land located in the Amazon rainforest for more than 20 years to ascertain its ability to withstand drought. In the end, they found that the largest trees were lost during the first 15 years of the experiment, resulting in the surviving trees receiving more water, and the biomass reached stability in the final 7 years of the experiment. Despite this, the researchers concluded that the increased drought would cause large-scale losses of trees and biomass.
“Our findings suggest that while some rainforests may be able to survive prolonged droughts brought on by climate change, their capacity to act as both a vital carbon store and carbon sink could be greatly diminished,” said Dr. Pablo Sanchez Martinez, who is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh and lead author of the study.
This study comes as worsening climate change continues to cause increased drought levels worldwide, with the Amazon rainforest being one of the most impacted regions in the world. Therefore, studies like this could help emphasize the importance of mitigating climate change and how it drastically impacts ecosystems globally.
How will climate change impact the Amazon rainforest in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Nature Ecology & Evolution, EurekAlert!
