| Autor: |
De Sales, Fernando, Santiago, Thais, Biggs, Trent Wade, Mullan, Katrina, Sills, Erin O., Monteverde, Corrie |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres; 8/27/2020, Vol. 125 Issue 16, p1-17, 17p |
| Abstrakt: |
Rainforest in protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon is at risk due to increasing economic pressures and recent weakening of environmental agencies and legislation by the federal administration. This study examines the impacts of deforestation in protected areas on dry‐season precipitation in the Brazilian state of Rondônia located in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Regional‐climate model simulations indicate that clearing protected forests in Rondônia would result in substantial changes to the surface energy balance, including increased sensible and decreased latent heat flux. Consequent changes to low‐level wind circulation would enhance moisture flux convergence and convection over the newly deforested areas, leading to enhanced rainfall in those areas. However, deforestation of protected areas would decrease dry season rainfall up to 30% in the existing agricultural region, with potentially important negative impacts on agricultural production. Additionally, our results indicates that following deforestation, the newly degraded areas will experience warmer and drier afternoons that could place the remaining natural vegetation under vapor deficit stress. Plain Language Summary: Rainforest in protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon is at risk due to increasing economic pressures and recent weakening of environmental agencies and legislation by the federal administration. These areas include biological reserves, national parks, wildlife refuges, and indigenous lands that provide ecosystem goods and services of recognized global importance. We investigate the impacts that protected area deforestation would have on the dry‐season climate of the Brazilian state of Rondônia in southwestern Amazonia. Our results suggest that following degradation, protected areas will experience warmer and drier near‐surface conditions in the afternoon, which could place any remaining vegetation under moisture deficit stress. The extensive deforestation of protected areas would lead to increased precipitation in these areas and induce a decrease in afternoon rainfall in some of the urban and agriculture centers of Rondônia, with potentially important negative impacts on food production and livelihoods of farmers in the state. Key Points: The extensive deforestation of protected areas may lead to a rainfall decrease in some of the urban and agriculture centers of RondôniaThe extensive deforestation of protected areas may have important negative impacts on agricultural production and livelihoods of farmersDeforestation leads to warmer and drier afternoons in protected areas that could place the remaining vegetation under moisture deficit stress [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
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