Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Johnson & Johnson

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Published Online September 20, 2007
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1146663

Brevia

Submitted on June 18, 2007
Accepted on August 30, 2007

Amazon Forests Green-Up During 2005 Drought

Scott R. Saleska 1{dagger}*, Kamel Didan 2{dagger}, Alfredo R. Huete 2, Humberto R. da Rocha 3

1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
2 Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
3 Department of Atmospheric Science, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Scott R. Saleska , E-mail: saleska{at}email.arizona.edu

{dagger}These authors contributed equally to this work.

Coupled climate-carbon cycle models suggest that Amazon forests are vulnerable to both long- and short-term droughts, but satellite observations showed a large-scale photosynthetic green-up in intact evergreen forests of the Amazon in response to a short, intense drought in 2005. These findings suggest that Amazon forests, though threatened by human-caused deforestation, fire, and possibly by more severe long-term droughts, may be more resilient to climate changes than ecosystem models assume.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Forests and Climate Change: Forcings, Feedbacks, and the Climate Benefits of Forests.
G. B. Bonan (2008)
Science 320, 1444-1449
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)