Climate change: Some areas of the Amazon could actually BENEFIT from warmer temperatures

Warmer temperatures may benefit parts of the Amazon rainforest, suggesting that the tropical ecosystem may be more resistant to climate change than once thought. It had previously been thought that water stress brought on by global warming and the drying out of the soil and air would broadly harm the plants of the Amazon. This would lead to reduced photosynthesis -- the chemical process by which plants make food and absorb in carbon dioxide -- and help accelerate climate change. However, US researchers found that wetter areas of the world's largest rainforest actually grow leaves more efficient at photosynthesis when exposed to dry air. The team warned that there is a limit to this, however, and that excessively warm temperatures would still cause damage to even these resilient parts of the forest.