A massive, first-of-its-kind study of the Amazon's trees has revealed a surprising but welcome development.
The study, published in Nature Plants, involved the input of 60 universities in South America, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, according to a summary by the University of Birmingham.
The researchers found that the average tree size across the Amazon increased by more than 3% every decade for at least 30 years. Hundreds of researchers tracked the sizes of trees across 188 mature forest plots.
Beatriz Marimon of Brazil's Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso was one of the study's co-authors. She described it as "a good news story."
Marimon added, "We regularly hear how climate change and fragmentation is threatening Amazonian forests. But meanwhile, the trees in intact forests have grown bigger; even the largest trees have continued to thrive despite these threats."
Large and mature forests provide nature's best land-based way to capture the carbon dioxide that heats the planet. Trees around 70-125 years old are far more efficient at trapping and holding carbon dioxide than juvenile trees.
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Unfortunately, as a source cited by E360 has explained, septuagenarian trees are also the most attractive to loggers, and deforestation, legal and illegal, remains a considerable problem for the crucial rainforests of the Amazon.
There has been some progress in fighting back against deforestation; eight South American nations agreed on a pact in 2023. However, as with any international agreement, enforcement is a major challenge.
For example, Brazilian soy farmers are pushing further into the protected lands by exploiting legal loopholes, as Reuters reported. The study's results demonstrate both the resilience of the Amazon and the vital importance of taking strong local action to safeguard those larger trees.
The University of Leeds' Oliver Phillips said, "What happens to big trees — including how they deal with increasing climate threats and manage to disperse their seeds — is now mission-critical. The only way the giants will stay healthy is if the Amazon ecosystem stays connected. Deforestation is a huge threat-multiplier and will kill them if we let it."
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