Hotter and drier El Niño events are having an alarming effect on biodiversity in the Amazon Rainforest and further add to a disturbing global insect collapse, scientists show.
Hotter and drier El Niño events are having an alarming effect on biodiversity in the Amazon Rainforest and further add to a disturbing global insect collapse, scientists show.
A new study focusing on the humble, but ecologically key, dung beetle has revealed for the first time that intense droughts and wildfires during the last El Niño climate phenomenon, combined with human disturbance, led to beetle numbers falling by more than half – with effects lasting for at least two years.
Although the El Niño of 2015-16 captured less attention than the deforestation fires of 2019, it delivered a very significant drought and, in combination with human activities such as agriculture and deforestation, contributed to mega wildfires that burned more than 3 million hectares of Amazon forests, including a million hectares in just one region.
The effects of droughts and wildfires on Amazonia’s trees have been studied for decades, but researchers were less clear about the impacts on fauna and the role they have in ecosystem functioning.
Read more at Lancaster University
Image: This is a researcher sampling dung beetles in drought-affected forests in the study region. (Credit: Marizilda Cuppre/RAS Network)
