only the lives but also the natural cycles of species that can least afford it : those on the brink of extinction . This side of the story doesn ’ t often make the evening news .
Animals respond instinctively to such events . But if they ’ ve never experienced a fire or prolonged drought because they live in a historically moist rainforest , they have not evolved to cope with it . The results are often tragic .
Fire
Fire-related tree cover loss in the tropics has increased around 5 % each year over the last 20 years .
Because rainforests are defined by high amounts of humidity and rainfall , naturally occurring fires within them are rare . If natural fires occur at all , it is during times of prolonged drought . In those cases , the drier understory will burn while the tall trees of the overstory remain intact .
What is “ Natural ” about Natural Disasters ?
It is becoming increasingly difficult to separate “ natural ” disasters from human-caused climate change disasters , but the events themselves are not inherently different . Natural disasters are more extreme and / or longer-lasting elemental events . They leave in their wake death and destruction that can reverberate for months , years or even forever . They are outsized , severe , punishing , catastrophic and often unpredictable .
Most news and information on natural disasters understandably follows the human drama of people clinging to rooftops , vehicles floating upside down , buildings sliding down a mountainside or engulfed in flame , or tropical beaches littered with snarling knots of concrete , telephone wires and wood .
Nature doesn ’ t disappoint when it comes to drama . But nature is equally the victim of these events . Drought , fire , tropical storms and rare-but-real volcanic eruptions destroy fragile wildlife habitat across the globe and can destroy not
But today , drying trends from climate change and forest clearing by fire for agriculture and ranching are drastically increasing the number of rainforest fires that spread out of control . Most of the fires in the Amazon and surrounding ecosystems are purposely lit by land-grabbers to clear it for livestock pasture . Forests that have burned before are twice as likely to be completely destroyed by new fires that reach into the canopy . Places that would never naturally burn , like swamps , are also catching fire . When peatlands burn , they also release huge amounts of carbon emissions .
Many of the species dealing with devastating fires in their forest homes are already close to extinction . Smaller animals with restricted ranges like amphibians , reptiles and small mammals simply cannot escape a large fire . When large numbers of animals die within an ecosystem , the effects are felt up and down the food chain , impacting food supply for large carnivores at the top , many of whom are already threatened . Tree species that are burned may come back or may not , but rare species are far more likely to be extirpated within large burned areas .
Drought
Severe droughts in tropical rainforests are on the increase due to drying trends linked to climate change . These trends are exacerbated by deforestation in and near rainforests . Droughts bring fires , as discussed above , but severe droughts also cause trees to die a “ natural ” death because sufficient amounts of water aren ’ t recycled as rain to nourish them . Now we know , according to new research published in top fire fighting | bernat ripoll
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Wunderling , N ., Staal , A ., Sakschewski , B ., Hirota , M ., Tuinenburg , O ., Donges , J ., Barbosa , H ., & Winkelmann , R . ( 2021 ). Recurrent droughts increase risk of cascading tipping events by outpacing adaptive capacities in the Amazon rainforest . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , 32 ( e2120777119 ). https :// doi . org / 10.1073 / pnas . 2120777119