The discovery of the largest tree of the Amazon (and why its large size is unknown)

A team of British and Brazilian scientists published a survey in which they claim to have found the largest tree in the Amazon.

The good news, on the other hand, is that the gigantic tree is not isolated, but surrounded by other giants that can reach more than 80 meters high.

The Colossus was found in the state of Amapá, in northeastern Brazil, near an area known as the Guyanese Shield, a region rich in biodiversity and which is now in the shelter of fires.

Between January and August 2019, the number of forest fires in Brazil increased by almost 84% compared to the same period in 2018.

A natural colossus

The tree is a red Angelim (Dinizia excelsa) that measures 88 meters. With this height, it exceeds 30 meters the previous record.

Its trunk is 5.5 meters in diameter.

For reference, the Statue of Liberty in New York is 93 meters high, including base. Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro measures 38 meters from his pedestal.

These trees are very common in the Amazon rainforest and, although they smell bad, their wood is very popular.

How did they find it?

Between 2016 and 2018, the National Institute of Space Research of Brazil (INPE) has swept vast expanses of the Amazon with laser technology.

The INPE followed 850 jungle areas 12 km long and 300 m wide.

Seven of these areas showed signs of trees exceeding 80 meters, most near the Jari River, a tributary of the Amazon River.

With these indications, scientists have been clear on the next step.

"We were surprised at the colossal height that the scanners showed," wrote in an article in The Conversation, by ecologists Tobias Jackson of the University of Cambridge and Sami Rifai of the University of Toronto. Oxford.

"That's why we embarked on a journey to confirm discoveries with our own eyes, determine their species and, of course, resize them."

So, after a 240-kilometer journey that lasted six days in the middle of an "endless jungle", they reached the area where the giants were waiting for them.

After using the most sophisticated technology to find the trees, they simply climbed to measure them and dropped a rope from the canopy to the ground.

Higher than expected

With the rope method, they measured at least 15 trees exceeding 70 meters.

Despite the diversity of the Amazon, scientists were surprised to find that all these giant trees belonged to the same species.

Previously, it was believed that the red Angelim only measured 60 meters.

Environmentalists still do not know how they managed to overcome these highs, but they say that it is possible that this is related to the remoteness of urban areas and industrial areas.

It is perhaps also because they are a "pioneer species", that is, the first that inhabited a region after experiencing some kind of devastation.

Carbon capsules

Each red Angelim is able to retain the same amount of carbon as an average hectare of rainforest.

This means that it can store up to 40 tons of carbon, which is equivalent to that they would absorb between 300 and 500 smaller trees.

"Our discovery means that the vast jungle can be a bigger carbon sink than expected," said Jackson and Rifai.

The ecologists warned that their research was focused on a very small area and that there could therefore be many other giant trees, even larger than the one that now holds the record.

Jackson and Rifai hope that this type of research will help to better understand the structure of the jungle and its role in the global carbon cycle.

"The fact that such discoveries are still happening demonstrates all that remains to be learned from this incredible and mysterious ecosystem," conclude Jackson and Rifai.

BBC