How would the Amazon react if it dried up? A 25-year-old field study has the answer

nature & planetMongabay: Latin America2001–2026 · Pará, Brazil

How would the Amazon react if it dried up? A 25-year-old field study has the answer

the gist

Since 2001 scientists in Caxiuanã National Forest in Pará, Brazil, have been running the Amazon's longest drought experiment. They placed 6,000 transparent panels under the canopy of a one-hectare plot to divert about half the rainfall into gutters, and monitor it against an undisturbed plot. Sensors track soil moisture, temperature, tree growth, sap flow and roots, while towers with NASA radar record the forest from above. Twenty-five years of artificial drought have shown a reshuffle in how the forest survives, a guide to how the Amazon may cope as droughts grow more severe in a warming world.

so what

The Amazon stores huge amounts of carbon and influences rainfall far beyond Brazil, so knowing how it copes with drought is important for climate forecasts.

more on this

background

The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle, Amazonia, or simply the Amazon, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7 million km2 (2.7 million sq mi), of which 6 million km2 (2.3 million sq mi) are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations and 3,344 indigenous territories.

The majority of the forest, 60%, is in Brazil, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Four nations have "Amazonas" as the name of one of their first-level administrative regions, and France uses the name "Guiana Amazonian Park" for French Guiana's protected rainforest area. The Amazon represents over half of the total area of remaining rainforests on Earth, and comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world, with an estimated 390 billion individual trees in about 16,000 species.

From Wikipedia: Amazon rainforest (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗ · text CC BY-SA 4.0

see

Susan Valentim, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Yourecoveredinbees, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Alexander Gerst, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

key facts

Country: Peru
Population: 34.0 million
Area: 6.9 million km²

Facts: Wikidata (CC0)

Mongabay

Illustrative photo · CIAT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

source: Mongabay: Latin America ↗

politics

Indonesia's vice president Gibran Rakabuming Raka resigns over eligibility and credentials questions

the gist

Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka handed his resignation to parliament after questions were raised about his eligibility for office and his academic credentials. Gibran is the son of former president Joko Widodo, and his resignation came as Widodo publicly backed the president, Prabowo Subianto. Gibran had been elected vice president in 2024 as Prabowo's running mate. His candidacy was made possible by a 2023 Constitutional Court ruling on the minimum age for candidates, which was itself controversial. Parliament will now consider the resignation.

so what

The vice presidency is the constitutional successor role to the presidency, so the vacancy matters for who would stand in if the president could not serve.

fun fact

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state, with more than 17,000 islands.

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Data: GDELT Project

Illustrative photo · Jayakatwang, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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supplementary video · Epimetheus on YouTube ↗

world cultures & travelWikivoyageclassic9th–15th century · Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city on Earth, covering about 3,000 square kilometres

the gist

Angkor, near Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia between roughly the 9th and 15th centuries. At its height the city spread across about 3,000 square kilometres, making it the largest pre-industrial city on Earth by area. Its growth depended on water: huge reservoirs called barays, along with canals and embankments, stored monsoon rain and carried it to rice fields. That system let farmers harvest more than once a year and fed a very large population through the dry season. The temple complex of Angkor Wat, built in the early 12th century, is the best-known monument and still stands at the heart of the park.

how it works

The Khmer kings built enormous rectangular reservoirs that caught monsoon rain during the wet season. Earthen dykes and canals moved that water into rice paddies, so farmers could grow crops across much of the year. The surplus food supported craftsmen, builders and the workforce that raised the temples.

so what

Angkor shows how a society without industrial machinery could build a city on a scale that rivals modern metropolises, using engineering and water management instead. Some historians link its decline to drought, flooding and shifts in its water systems, which makes it a long-running case study in how cities depend on managing water. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important archaeological landscapes in Southeast Asia.

fun fact

The outline of Angkor Wat appears on the national flag of Cambodia.