A sweeping new study has found the largest trees in the Amazon are increasing in size, growing, multiplying in number and continuing to play a major role in moderating the effects of climate change.
After tracking changes in 188 intact forest plots across the Amazon over the past 30 years, the investigating group found a 3.3% expansion in big trees per decade.
Led by researchers from universities in Brazil, the UK and elsewhere, the findings were published in the journal Nature Plants, and the growth was attributed to the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the burning of gas, oil and coal.
The report warned the big trees remain vulnerable as droughts, lightning and fires are increasing in frequency, while deforestation continues to pose a serious threat.
There was an understanding that big trees were “expected to be vulnerable to climate change,” Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert, one of the study’s lead authors, told NBC News in a telephone interview. “What we see here is actually they seem to be showing quite a resilience.”
“We’re not seeing signs of them dying off,” said Esquivel-Muelbert, who co-authored the study while at Britain’s University of Birmingham and is now at University of Cambridge. “They are increasing in size and number as well.”