"It is good news but it is qualified good news, said Prof Oliver Phillips from the University of Leeds. Our results apply only to intact, mature forests, which is where we are watching closely. They suggest the Amazon forest is remarkably resilient to climate change. My fear is that may count for little, unless we can stop the deforestation itself."
"The study was conducted by almost 100 researchers from 60 universities in Brazil, the UK and beyond, who examined changes in the forest at 188 plots in the Amazon over the past 30 years. They found the mean cross-section of trunks thickened by 3.3% per decade, with the greatest increase found in larger trees. This expansion was attributed to the rising amount of CO2 in the atmosphere as a result of the human-caused burning of gas, oil and coal."
Almost 100 researchers from 60 universities examined 188 forest plots across the Amazon over 30 years and found mean trunk cross-sectional area increased 3.3% per decade, with the largest trees showing the greatest growth. Rising atmospheric CO2 from fossil fuel burning is attributed as the primary driver of tree size increases, enabling intact, mature forest to draw down CO2 and store carbon in bark, trunk, branches and roots. Large canopy species like Brazil nut, kapok and Angelim vermelho dominate light, water and nutrient competition. That carbon sink function is increasingly threatened by fires, fragmentation, land clearance, road expansion (BR-319) and agricultural conversion in Brazil and Bolivia.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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