The Amazon basin in transition

A new study published in Nature reveals that human land-use activity has begun to change the regional water and energy cycles -- the interplay of air coming in from the Atlantic Ocean, water transpiration by the forest, and solar radiation -- of parts of the Amazon basin. In addition, it shows that ongoing interactions of deforestation, fire, and climate change have the potential to alter carbon storage, rainfall patterns and river discharge on an even larger basinwide scale.