The Amazon rain forest isn’t necessarily a place that many would associate with a drought, yet prolonged dry spells are projected to become more prevalent and severe because of climate change.
The Amazon rain forest isn’t necessarily a place that many would associate with a drought, yet prolonged dry spells are projected to become more prevalent and severe because of climate change. The question at hand is how these droughts are going to affect the rain forest, as it has a large influence on global climate and future warming.
A study led by Marielle Smith, a research associate in Michigan State University’s forestry department, and Scott Stark, assistant professor of forestry, examines the Amazon’s response to droughts in order to better predict how forest growth and physiology will affect tree diversity and, ultimately, the planet’s climate.
Due to its combination of wet forest structure and a strong dry season, the Tapajós National Forest in Brazil may be a good indicator for climate change responses, which is what led researchers to the location.
To gather information and monitor the rainforest, researchers took a detailed view of its structure by walking the ground with a lidar instrument, a tool also used in autonomous vehicles to map terrain. The lidar produced information in two-dimensional slices that describe how leaf area is structured across heights and micro-environments varying in light, temperature and humidity.
Read more at Michigan State University
Image via Pixabay
