Fire consumes land recently deforested and burned by cattle ranchers near Novo Progresso, Pará, on August 23, 2020. Fire and deforestation in the Amazon, in the northern region of Brazil. Andre Penner/AP After facing fires, extreme droughts and even windstorms during 20 years of monitoring, an area of ??the Amazon is once again covered by forest. But what reappeared was not exactly the same forest that existed before. ? Also follow Terra da Gente on Instagram This is the main conclusion of a study published in the scientific journal PNAS, which monitored a forest in the transition between the Amazon and the Cerrado, in Mato Grosso, between 2004 and 2024. The researchers analyzed how vegetation responded to experimental fires, severe droughts and intense wind events over two decades. The results show that, when fires stop occurring, the forest is able to recover its structure, especially in the interior of the forest. On the edges, where the effects of fire and proximity to agricultural areas are greater, recovery is slower. See more news from Terra da Gente, on g1: HABITAT: The unexpected refuge of the tuiuiú is far from the Pantanal and is in Minas Gerais IMPRESSIVE: Vulture tries to eat a carcass, loses its balance and is caught 'spinning' alligator in the water NIQUIM: Brazilian venomous fish helps to understand the immune system The forest does not return to its original condition According to researchers, specialized species in the Amazon continue to decline, while generalist trees — capable of occupying different environments — become more abundant. The result is a functional forest, but with a different composition than that observed before the disturbances. Another result caught the team’s attention. See what's highlighted in g1:
After 20 years, research shows that the Amazon is recovering from the fire, but it will not return the same
Fire consumes land recently deforested and burned by cattle ranchers near Novo Progresso, Pará, on August 23, 2020. Fire and deforestation in the Amazon, in the northern region of Brazil. Andre Penner/AP After facing...
After the fires, invasive grasses occupied the edges of the forest, favored by the opening of the canopy and the increase in light input. With the end of the fires, however, the tree canopies closed again and the grass cover gradually decreased, leaving only small areas occupied mainly by shade-tolerant species. Changes in the Amazon Castanheira-Do-Pará (Bertholletia excelsa) in the Amazon hirosho / iNaturalist The study also provides evidence that the degraded area did not evolve into vegetation similar to the Cerrado, as some hypotheses suggested. Instead, the researchers observed a forest that remains resilient, but dominated by more generalist species and less by species typical of the Amazon. The authors emphasize, however, that this recovery depends on the interruption of disturbances. If new fires occur frequently or extreme weather events intensify, the forest may degrade again and compromise its long-term recovery. VIDEOS: Highlights Terra da Gente See more content about nature on Terra da Gente
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