TROPICAL FORESTS LAG BEHIND CLIMATE CHANGE, STUDY WARNS

Fri 04 April 2025:

Tropical forests across the Americas are finding it hard to adapt to climate change, raising worries about their future, according to a Thursday news release from the University of Adelaide.

Sami Rifai, a lecturer at the university, cautioned that by 2100, temperatures might climb by as much as 4 degrees Celsius and rainfall could decrease by 20 percent, throwing forests further off-kilter and increasing their susceptibility to severe climate shifts.

An international study involving more than 100 scientists and local partners, provides key insights for conservationists working to protect tropical rainforests, which are vital for global climate regulation and biodiversity. However, their ability to adapt to climate change remains limited.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

“Due to how rapidly climate change is altering temperature and precipitation patterns, tree communities are responding too slowly to remain in equilibrium with their environment,” Rifai said.

Despite decades of climate change, the study found that tree communities have shifted less than 8 percent of what is needed to keep pace with changing environmental conditions, he said, adding this slow adaptation threatens biodiversity and a critical role rainforests play in climate regulation.

The research team analyzed over 250,000 trees from 415 permanent forest plots spanning Mexico to southern Brazil, assessing how different species are responding to rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns, according to the study published recently in Science.

By identifying which tree species are struggling or thriving under these changes, scientists hoped to inform conservation actions and the allocation of funding, said Jesus Aguirre-Gutierrez from the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, who led the research.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22