Much of the rainforest ecosystem will be destroyed

A study shows that the majority of animals and plants in tropical forests today will not survive after 90 years of climate change and deforestation.

Artwork: tripod.com

Tropical forest is currently the habitat of more than half of the animals and plants on earth.However, scientists predict that the combined effects of climate change and deforestation can force them to adapt, move to another place or die.By 2100, climate change and deforestation could change two-thirds of tropical forests in Central America and South America, 70% of tropical forests in Africa.Particularly in the Amazon river delta, the level of ecosystem change will be up to 80%.

Greg Asner, an expert in the Global Ecology Department, Carnegie Institution, California, USA, and colleagues studied the status of tropical forests in the world by analyzing image data from satellites and 16 research projects on climate change around the world. They ran simulated models of geographic and animal species changes from now until 2100.

The results show that only 18 to 45% of the total animals and plants in the tropical forests exist until 2100.

Asner affirmed that this is the first study to demonstrate that the ecosystems in the rainforest will undergo profound changes by the greenhouse effect.

"For areas most at risk of being affected by climate change, local authorities should focus on reducing deforestation, thereby helping species to adapt. The impact of climate change can focus on forest restoration , " he said.

Research is published in Conservation Letters .