- A new study has found that the trunks of trees in the Amazon have become thicker in recent decades — an unexpected sign of the rainforest’s resilience in response to record-high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
- Nearly 100 scientists involved in the study have stated that old-growth forests in the Amazon are sequestering more carbon than they did 30 years ago, contradicting predictions of immediate collapse due to climate change.
- But the warning still stands: Despite the trees’ capacity to adapt, scientists fear that the extreme droughts and advancing deforestation could invert the rainforest’s balance and threaten its vital role in global climate regulation.
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It is common knowledge that, of all greenhouse gases, CO2 is the most responsible for global warming.
This is true due to the fact that there is so much more of it in the air than there is of any other greenhouse gas. On a per molecule basis, methane and nitrous oxide are MUCH more potent GHGs than carbon dioxide.
The measurement was taken at approximately 1.5 meters (5 feet) above the ground on trees with diameters more than 10 centimeters (4 inches).
That has long been the standard way to measure the diameter of a tree, so in this age of statistical manipulation, I am grateful that that is how they did it…
Amazonia, where most of the sites included in the study are, is better preserved and has been subject to less reduction in temperature and precipitation.
Yes, many people probably don’t realise that climate change also brings periods of extreme cold to some regions and that this can be a major problem too. (People in the SE Amazon, and especially in Uruguay and Argentina, probably learned that the hard way this past July.)
“This balance could flip at some point, like when the droughts become more severe. But for now, the rainforest is staying resilient and managing to respond to the higher CO2 levels by increasing in size,” Esquivel-Muelbert says.
“Our results don’t mean that Amazonia isn’t at risk because of climate changes. We don’t know how it will respond to more changes in the future, nor do we know if it will keep growing like this as the climate continues to heat up and droughts and extreme climate events become more common. It will be very important to keep monitoring these forests in the future,” Morgan adds.
The study’s two main authors also comment that it is critical to protect these mature trees by fighting deforestation and forest fragmentation, so they can remain standing and keep doing their valuable work in regulating Earth’s climate.
“We can’t simply plant new trees and expect that they will offer the same carbon or biodiversity benefits that natural old-growth forest does,” Morgan says.
Plant new trees, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.