Brazilian ecologist explores Amazon to combat floods and droughts

Julia Valentim Tavares, a Brazilian ecologist, has been leading extensive expeditions across the Amazon rainforest to study the impact of climate change on wetland forests. Over the past two decades, the region has experienced increasingly severe floods and droughts, threatening the delicate ecosystems that have adapted to seasonal flooding. Tavares's research aims to fill the knowledge gap regarding how trees respond to these climatic extremes, which is crucial for predicting the future of Amazonian forests. Her team constructed a comprehensive dataset of tree physiological properties related to water stress, covering nearly 3000 km of the Amazon basin. This unprecedented field effort involved multinational teams conducting month-long expeditions in Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia. In a 2023 study, Tavares identified which tree species and regions are most vulnerable to drought, highlighting the implications for carbon storage and biodiversity in the basin. Tavares's passion for the Amazon, rooted in her upbringing in Rio de Janeiro and her grandmother's connection to the region, has driven her commitment to studying these forests for over 13 years. She emphasizes the importance of diverse representation in science, particularly for women and researchers from the Global South, and has made efforts to ensure that her research team reflects this diversity. In addition to her work on tree physiology, Tavares is part of a broader initiative involving various teams studying climate change's effects on the Amazon River Basin. Her research is vital for understanding how changes in inundation, precipitation, and temperature will affect the structure and function of Amazonian flooded forests in the future.