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Long-term field measurements remain essential for understanding the carbon trajectories of tropical forests, especially in Asia.

As temperatures continue to rise, expectations of rapid carbon accumulation in recovering tropical forests may need to be reconsidered, with important implications for restoration, carbon accounting, and climate mitigation.

Forest carbon recovery is contingent on local environmental conditions, and may already be constrained by temperature.

Estimates of carbon sequestration from forest restoration often assume that recovering forests accumulate carbon rapidly. We find that recovery is neither automatic nor guaranteed.

These forests are enduring climate change, but are not the strong carbon sink that regional recovery rates would predict.

In Khe Nuoc Trong increasing maximum temperatures are associated with reduced carbon gains. And productivity has declined over time, suggesting that warming may already be constraining forest recovery.

The recovery rates we observe are significantly lower than widely used reference levels and rates reported in comparable forests.

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We have monitored 24 permanent forest plots over the last eight years. Nearly two decades after logging ceased, we detect no net recovery of aboveground carbon stocks.

Amy Bennett @amybenno.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Logged tropical forests are expected to recover carbon quickly once logging stops. But this is not what we find in central Vietnam: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

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I wrote this article for The Conversation about what we've learned about size-related drought mortality in forests over the last decade theconversation.com/the-worlds-biggest-trees-could-hold-the-secret-to-coping-with-drought-287901?utm_medium=article_clipboard_share&utm_source=theconversation.com

theconversation.com

The world’s biggest trees could hold the secret to coping with drought

Ecologists thought the largest trees would be most vulnerable to drought. The reality is more complex, with some forest giants unexpectedly resilient.

Amy Bennett @amybenno.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Also available in Portuguese theconversation.com/florestas-tropicais-podem-deixar-de-atuar-como-sumidouros-de-carbono-durante-o-el-nino-287453?utm_medium=article_native_share&utm_source=theconversation.com

theconversation.com

Florestas tropicais podem deixar de atuar como sumidouros de carbono durante o El Niño

Algumas das florestas tropicais da América do Sul deixaram efetivamente de absorver carbono durante o El Niño de 2015-2016

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Amy Bennett @amybenno.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

With an El Niño brewing I wrote this for The Conversation | "Tropical forests can stop acting as carbon sinks during El Niño, says research" theconversation.com/tropical-for...

theconversation.com

Tropical forests can stop acting as carbon sinks during El Niño, says research

Some of South America’s tropical forests effectively stopped absorbing carbon during the 2015-2016 El Niño.

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9/ This type of fieldwork is extraordinary. I've worked in these forests. Measuring giant trees on the ground is hard enough. Measuring hydraulic traits through the canopy and up trees more than 50m tall is an incredible achievement

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8/ Are dipterocarps exceptional? We're only beginning to understand the ecology of truly giant trees and need to determine whether similar adaptations occur in other trees around the world

7/ Size may not be the fundamental driver. We've long thought that the heat, exposure and atmospheric demand experienced by the largest trees, as a consequence of being large, is important. In that sense tree size may act as a proxy for exposure in many datasets

6/ We've seen different drought responses between continents. In the 2015-16 El Niño larger trees in South America had higher mortality www.nature.com/articles/s41..., whereas in Africa smaller trees had suppressed growth www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @forestplots.bsky.social @simonlewis.bsky.social

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5/ Drought responses are fundamentally context dependent: different forests can be dominated by different mortality mechanisms. That's a useful lens through which to view this new study www.nature.com/articles/s41... @evangora.bsky.social

4/ Hydraulic research is consistent that drought can push trees to their physiological limits. This is true globally, and in the Amazon where hydraulic traits have been directly linked to mortality @juliavtavares.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/nat... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

3/ Large-scale studies identify broad patterns, such as larger trees suffering most in drought at the global scale. www.nature.com/articles/npl... @k-andersonteixeira.bsky.social Detailed mechanistic studies help to explain why these patterns may vary between forests

2/ Dipterocarps are unusual. They dominate Southeast Asian forests in a way that doesn't really occur elsewhere and they've probably been underrepresented in global drought studies

1/ We still know so little about giant trees. In most long-term forest plots they are rare, so the "large" trees in many datasets aren't really comparable to the giant emergent trees studied here

Being a taller tree doesn’t doom you to drought after all

I was interviewed by @science.org for this piece on giant trees and drought resilience. An impressive study, but it doesn't overturn previous work: drought responses depend on the forest, the type of drought, and tree traits www.science.org/content/arti...

science.org

New study challenges idea that tall trees’ hydraulics make them more vulnerable to dry conditions

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Reposted by Amy Bennett

Science Magazine @science.org · 02/07/2026

New research on Southeast Asian dipterocarps, the tallest tropical trees, shows that they adjust their hydraulic system as they grow tall, suggesting resilience to drought. Learn more this week in Science: scim.ag/4eOcwhy

The tallest 1% of trees store more than half the carbon in the world’s forests. It is widely assumed that height limits canopy hydration of tall trees; however, direct evidence that this happens for tall trees such as the Koompassia excelsa, shown here, is lacking. Research on Southeast Asian dipterocarps, the tallest tropical trees, shows that they adjust their hydraulic system as they grow tall, suggesting resilience to drought.

Photo: Nick Garbutt/Minden

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Reposted by Amy Bennett

ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Large-scale patterns of tropical forest embolism resistance mapped across space and angiosperm phylogeny. Combining measurements across the Amazon with 100s of floristic samples, Julia Tavares & colleagues report remarkable variation in vulnerability to drought. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Amy Bennett

Belen Fadrique @belenfadrique.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Warmer, drier and more seasonal forests lost species, while those at higher elevations, less fragmented areas and with faster rates of tree turnover gained them The Northern Andes and Western Amazon showed an increase, and the Central Andes, Guyana Shield and Central-Eastern Amazon showed a decline

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Reposted by Amy Bennett

ForestPlots @forestplots.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Tree diversity is changing in the Amazon and Andes. Belen Fadrique leads our analysis in @natecoevo.nature.com w/ 400 plots + 40 years of RAINFOR records. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Hot, drier, more fragmented forests are losing species. Many in the Andes + western Amazon are gaining them.

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Reposted by Amy Bennett

Tim Baker @kofitim.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

West-east gradient across Amazonia in fast-slow life history strategies of forests beautifully illustrated by new ATDN paper; forests are 'fast' in the west and 'slow' in the northeast of Amazonia doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Map of Amazonia showing how the functional composition of forests varies west-east across Amazonia

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Reposted by Amy Bennett

Nifty Fox Creative @niftyfoxcreative.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

We’re talking all things trees 🌲 🌳 🌴 today with @leedsleaf.bsky.social! Here’s @amybenno.bsky.social presentation on climate anomalies impact on South American trees - fascinating! We are officially tree nerds now 🤓

Live scribe illustration of a talk on South American Tropical Forests by Amy Bennett

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Amy Bennett @amybenno.bsky.social · 04/10/2024

Long-term survival of Congo’s biodiversity threatened by lack of local scientists | Science www.science.org/content/article/lon…

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Amy Bennett @amybenno.bsky.social · 08/09/2023

🌳 Over 100 researchers tracked trees for 30+ years in South American forests 🌲 The 2015-16 El Niño caused the carbon sink to cease, impacting drier forests the most 🌎We're proud that our Research Briefing is available in Portuguese and...

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Amy Bennett @amybenno.bsky.social · 06/09/2023

🌳 New blog! Dive into the world of South American tropical forests and their role in combating climate change. Discover how the 2015-16 El Niño event reshaped the carbon dynamics in these vital ecosystems. 🌍🌱 #ClimateChange #ElNino...

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It takes many people to measure a tree and a community to measure a forest. Work like ours is only possible with long-term investment in on-the-ground forest monitoring and the huge collaborative effort this takes.

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Let's protect these critical ecosystems to safeguard our planet's future! 🌎🌿

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🌍 South American tropical forests have demonstrated resilience to current and past climate extremes, but they are sensitive to temperature increases and face challenges ahead. 🌡️🌳

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🌿 The impact of climate anomalies varied depending on pre-existing climate conditions, with drier forests being more vulnerable to carbon losses.

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