But despite the focus on logging, cattle ranching and soy production, the largest single threat to the Amazon may now be climate change. During the 1990s, temperatures in the Amazon basin rose between 0.5C and 0.8C, according to one study. Meanwhile, in 2005 and 2006 parts of the Amazon experienced historic droughts, leading to canopy dieback and forest fires, a peril to which moist tropical rainforests are normally immune. Scientists believe that a combination of global and regional climate change (the latter caused by deforestation itself) can further disrupt temperature and rainfall patterns with potentially serious consequences for the viability of the rainforest. The dangerous irony is that as the rainforest disappears, it releases the carbon stored in its biomass into the atmosphere, worsening the problem and causing what scientists call a positive feedback loop.
Red and Green Macaw (close-up) 5
Red-brocket Deer 2009-04-09
