Tropical trees in the Amazon Rainforest may be more drought resistant than previously thought, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Riverside.
That’s good news, since the Amazon stores about 20 percent of all carbon in the Earth’s biomass, which helps reduce global warming by lowering the planet’s greenhouse gas levels.
In a study published Monday in the journal New Phytologist, a team led by Louis Santiago, a professor of Botany & Plant Sciences, found that tropical trees in Paracou, French Guiana have developed an unusual way to protect themselves from damage caused by drought. The trees make use of an abundance of living cells around their xylem to conserve and redistribute water in drought conditions. The xylem (the scientific name for wood) is the non-living tissue of a plant that transports water and nutrients from the soil to the stems and leaves.
Santiago said studying drought in one of the wettest places on Earth might seem counterintuitive, but recent droughts, including record heat and drought during the 2015-16 El Niño, are already threatening the Amazon Rainforest. If trees die because of those droughts, the carbon they store will be released into the atmosphere, where it will further exacerbate global warming.
Read more at University of California - Riverside
Image: A UC Riverside-led team of researchers have found that Amazonian trees have developed an unusual way to protect themselves from damage caused by drought. (Credit: Louis Santiago, UC Riverside)