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Predicting the fate of tropical forests under intensifying heat

Intense droughts have caused water stress and elevated mortality for trees in the Amazon, foreshadowing the future of tropical forests as the climate changes.
By
  1. Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira

    1. Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira is at the Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, Virginia 22630, USA, and at the Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama.

  2. Krishna Anujan

    1. Krishna Anujan is at the Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, Virginia 22630, USA, and at the Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama.

As Earth’s climate warms, tropical forests are experiencing intensifying heat and drought. Writing in Nature, Chambers et al.1 link the drought responses of current Amazonian forests to the anticipated responses of tropical forests under future climate conditions, revealing the consequences of the predicted extreme drought stress.

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Nature 649, 1112-1113 (2026)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-04093-2

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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