Patches of Amazon untouched by humans still feel impact of climate change
Researchers looking at the abundance of insect-eating birds in a pristine patch of forest deep in the Brazilian Amazon have seen populations of dozens of species decline over the past 35 years.
The remoteness of the site and the still-intact tree cover rule out direct human activity as a factor for the population declines, with researchers attributing the phenomenon to the warmer and more intense droughts caused by climate change, which in turn puts stress on the birds and their food sources.
The finding calls into question the idea that an area protected from human activity is sufficient to guarantee the conservation of its biodiversity.