Saturday, September 28

Fires in Brazil's gigantic wetland left almost 17 million animals dead


Científicos aseguran que ante el impacto catastrófico de los incendios, se deben tomar medidas para no repetir la tragedia.
Scientists say that in the face of the catastrophic impact of the fires, measures must be taken to avoid repeating the tragedy.

Photo: AIZAR RALDES / Getty Images

La Opinión

For: The Opinion

The forest fires of 2020 in the Pantanal, the gigantic wetland in Brazil, could cause the immediate death of up to 13, 900, 000 of vertebrates, including lizards, birds and primates, a published study suggests by Scientific Reports magazine.

To reach their conclusions, experts from the Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation and Biodiversity of Sao Paulo made an estimate of the animal deaths from forest fires by first counting carcasses in burned areas. To do this, they took skeleton samples along 114. 54 kilometers, immediately after the fire.

Investigators found a total of 302 bodies

and, despite their poor condition, they were able to identify the species in most cases.

Millions of dead animals

From these first data, the team extrapolated the figures to calculate the total number of animals that died in the burned area, looking both at small vertebrates (with a body weight less than 4.4 pounds) as in medium and large vertebrates (with a body weight greater than 4.4 pounds).

Thus, the estimate is that between 13, 206, 700 Y 18, 700, 300 small vertebrates died in the 030, 030 square kilometers of burned area of ​​the Pantanal between January and November 2020. Small vertebrates included small lizards, birds, and rodents.

The authors also deduced that between 691, 090 and 1, 196, 570 medium and large vertebrates died immediately , including ungulates and primates. In total, according to calculations, they died 13, 952, 000 vertebrates in fires, scientists conclude.

The study seeks to warn of upcoming disasters

Anthropogenic factors have significantly influenced the frequency, duration and intensity of meteorological drought in many regions of the world, and the increasing frequency of forest fires is one of the most visible consequences of human-induced climate change, the scientists write in their paper.

Despite the role that fires play in determining biodiversity outcomes in different ecosystems, uncontrolled fires can cause negative impacts on wildlife.

This study highlights -they say- “the i “catastrophic impact” that the wildfires of 2020 had on the wildlife of the Pantanal and the importance of preventing future disasters .

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