Study Shows Impacts of Deforestation And Forest Burning On Biodiversity In The Amazon

Smoke rises through the understory of a forest on fire in the Amazon region.
UArizona News
A new study, co-authored by University of Arizona researchers provides the first quantitative assessment of environmental policies on deforestation, forest fires and drought impacting the diversity of plants and animals in the Amazon. Using records of more than 14,500 plant and vertebrate species to create biodiversity maps of the Amazon region, they found that since 2001, between 40,000 and 73,400 square miles of Amazon rainforest have been impacted by fires, affecting 95% of all Amazonian species and as many as 85% of species that are listed as threatened in the region.