How wildfires increase sensitivity of Amazon forests to droughts

Abstract

The phenology of tropical forests is tightly related to climate conditions. In the Amazon, the seasonal greening of forests is conditioned by solar radiation and rainfall. Yet, increasing anthropogenic pressures (e.g. logging and wildfires), raise concerns about the impacts of forest degradation on the functioning of forest ecosystems, especially in a climate change context. In this study, we relied on remote sensing data to assess the contribution of solar radiation and precipitation to forest greening in mature and fire degraded forests, with a focus on the 2015 drought event. Our results showed that forest greening is more dependent on water resources in degraded forests than in mature forests. As a consequence, the expected increase in drought episodes and associated fire occurrences under climate change could lead to a long-term drying of tropical forests.

Keywords

• Amazon forest
• fire
• climate