Geographer: Drought, fires impact ability of Amazon to hold carbon dioxide

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Fires in the Amazon could jeopardize the forest's ability to soak up carbon dioxide emissions even as deforestation there slows down, according to a piece in Nature by a Penn State geographer. In an invited commentary in the Feb. 6 edition, Jennifer Balch , assistant professor of geography , notes that dry weather conditions, coupled with fires, may mean that over time the Amazon forest will lose its ability to take in more carbon dioxide than it releases - going from being a carbon sink to a source. "Aircraft have just recently captured the 'breath' of the entire Amazon forest," Balch said. "This is really important work that represents the first time that carbon fluxes from the Amazon basin have been obtained in this way." Her commentary follows During drought conditions, the forests took up less of the carbon dioxide that comes with fires. That, coupled with a slowdown in photosynthesis, saw an upswing in carbon dioxide emissions from the forest dome.