Teaming with tropical rainforest, the Amazon Basin is a vital defense against global warming. Yet deforestation combined with extreme weather are behind the region’s worst drought in fifty years. Forest clearance to make way for cattle and soy are disrupting micro-climates. Warmer temperatures, spurred on by El Nino, are reducing rainfall and drying out plants and soil. As a result, some of the Amazon’s major rivers and tributaries are at the lowest level in over a century, stranding millions of people living in remote towns and villages. If searing temperatures and deforestation persist, parts of the region could experience a “tipping point” turning rainforest into savannah. Since the Amazon holds 150 billion metric tons of carbon — equivalent to over ten times annual global greenhouse gas emissions – the implications extend far beyond the Americas. (Left) Changes in the dry season (July–October) mean temperature reveal widespread warming, estimated using simple regressions between time and temperature observed between 1981 and 2020. (Right) Ecosystem transition potential (the possibility of forest shifting into an alternative structural or compositional state) across the Amazon biome by year 2050. From Exploring ecosystem transition potential across the Amazon forest biome as a result of compounding disturbances. Nature volume 626, pages555–564 (2024) The Amazon is hardly the only part of the world affected by extreme heat. The entire planet is warming. The ten hottest years since records began have all occurred in the past decade. And 2023 was the hottest year ever reported. Rising temperatures, climate change, and biodiversity loss are pushing the world’s vital ecosystems to the brink, with…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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