🌅 Trees in the Amazon Are Getting Bigger and Resisting Climate Change

SOURCE

Esquivel-Muelbert et al. (2025)

WHAT TO KNOW

• The average tree size in the Amazon rainforest has increased by roughly 3% each decade over the past 30 years, including among both small and large trees. Researchers believe the trees are responding to rising levels of carbon dioxide trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere, which acts as a gas “fertilizer” and boosts photosynthesis, leading to faster growth.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The findings suggest the trees are more resilient to climate change than previously believed (at least for now), however, it doesn’t mean things are going well in the Amazon, where deforestation and degradation, while down, is still common. The authors say the growth also highlights the massive benefit trees provide in their ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Other research shows a mature tree can absorb around 48 pounds of carbon dioxide each year, underscoring the Amazon’s role as a vital carbon sink (the rainforest is home to around 390 billion trees). However, trees aren’t up for the task alone, as there’s more carbon in the atmosphere today than the weight of all plants on Earth combined, and, even worse, more than one-third of all tree species currently face extinction.