Ten-year long study offers new insights into wildfires in Amazon rainforest

Researchers at the Department of Geography at CU-Boulder published the findings of the longest and largest study of?wildfires?in Amazon, which is the world's largest rainforest. In this study?lasting a decade, the researchers selected a 370-acre plot in the southeastern portion of the Amazon and tested the effects of controlled fires of different burn frequencies. Some sections were burnt to mimic human-caused wildfires, and other sections were burnt to mimic the natural El Nino cycle. They found that Amazon forests were able to withstand an initial, low-intensity burn without suffering permanent damage. However, repeated blazes, especially when those fires coincided with drought years, were extremely damaging to the forests. The researchers also found a strong correlation between the extent of the burn area and the presence in nearby areas of leaf-cutter ant colonies, in that, these ants remove leaf litter and other woody debris on the ground thus reducing fuel sources for blazes to continue burning and spreading.

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