“Longer-term effects are likely to be more catastrophic,” says Sullivan. Bolsonaro's critics say the government's policy of encouraging deforestation has increased land clearance for agricultural purposes. The effect of trees and plants As animals disperse and die, plant life too will be impacted. And due to the volume of fires, Brazil does not have the resources to deal with it. However, it is putting endangered animals at risk as well. Magnusson is most concerned about the overall repercussions of forest loss. . It is quite common to clear land for agriculture with fire, but due to the Brazilian government encouraging this behavior, the number of fires increased substantially in 2019. “In a system that isn’t adapted to fire, you’ll have a lot more losers than you will in other landscapes.”. While the jaguar is capable of escaping the fires, it will face a food shortage. William Magnusson, a senior researcher at Brazil's National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus tells CNN that streams and rivers are impacted as areas that are burned have a high erosion rate. All of those are at risk of habitat loss due to the fires, threatening the jaguar's food supply. “Escape into the canopy but choose the wrong tree,” Sullivan says, and an animal is likely to die. Spider monkeys live high in the canopy to avoid competition below. “We may lose species without ever knowing they were there.”, Photograph by Claus Meyer, Minden Pictures/Nat Geo Image Collection, What the Amazon fires mean for wild animals, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/08/how-the-amazon-rainforest-wildfires-will-affect-wild-animals.html, Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, commitment to open up the Amazon for business. This can have cascading effects on the entire food chain, Sullivan says. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- Crimson-bellied parakeets are one of 1,500 bird species found in the Amazon rainforest. We don’t know enough about the range of most of the animals in the rainforest to pinpoint which species are under threat. “I [fear] we may be losing many of these endemic species.”. Of course, trees that produce fruits will be missed. Naturally, it is uncommon for a fire to start in the Amazon, which means that the animals are not used to coping with the flames. On top of this, the actual fires are caused by ranchers and farmers. However, animals will still not cope well with the blaze. The rainforest is so uniquely rich and diverse precisely because it doesn’t really burn, says Magnusson. These fires are putting animals in danger and putting extra pressure on endangered species. “Basically, the Amazon hadn’t burnt in hundreds of thousands or millions of years,” says Magnusson. A tassel-eared marmoset is pictured in healthy Brazilian forest. Another recently discovered monkey, the Mura’s saddleback tamarin, lives in a small range in central Brazil—also threatened by encroaching wildfire, says Carlos César Durigan, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Brazil. This will make it harder for them to cope, compared to some North American species who have adapted to ecosystems where fires are commonplace, he says. The ash from the burned trees makes its way into the water along with sediment. The blazes, largely set intentionally to clear land for cattle ranching, farming, and logging, have been exacerbated by the dry season. As trees burn, ash is produced and makes its way into bodies of water, along with sediment. Copyright 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. The only “winners” in burned forest are likely to be raptors and other predators, Sullivan says, as cleared-out landscapes could make hunting easier. The Amazon Rainforest is home to many different species of animals, and these fires are going to destroy their homes. As flames burn through Brazil's rainforest, its inhabitants are at risk of losing their homes. Currently, it is impossible to know exactly which animals are suffering the most until scientists can asses the situation. “Now, all of a sudden, the frogs are forced to be on a different background,” says Sullivan. All rights reserved. Learn how your comment data is processed. Unlike animals, plants are stationary and have zero defenses against a fire. "You might not see it so much this year, but in a few years, you'll see the effects of this cutting and burning, on the aquatic fauna.". “We know the least about it,” he says of this region. All rights reserved. But slow-moving animals like sloths and anteaters, as well as smaller creatures like frogs and lizards, may die, unable to move out of the fire’s path quickly enough.