Study Shows Impacts of Deforestation and Forest Burning on Amazon Biodiversity

Combining extensive species mapping with remote sensing records of deforestation and fire reveals that the Amazon's biodiversity is extraordinarily vulnerable to changes in forest management and policy enforcement.
Wednesday, September 01, 2021
Daniel Stolte
University of Arizona Communications

"We have to remember that it took decades to reduce Amazon deforestation, but it may take just a few years to destroy the conservation policy pillars of conservation," said co-author Paulo Brando, assistant professor in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California Irvine. "The recent reverse in deforestation and fires trends, and their impacts on Amazon biodiversity, should be a huge cause of concern."

Study Shows Impacts of Deforestation and Forest Burning on Amazon Biodiversity

The Department of Earth System Science acknowledges our presence on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Acjachemen and Tongva peoples, who still hold strong cultural, spiritual and physical ties to this region.