Evapotranspiration declines prolonged by deforestation and fire in South American biomes (opens in new tab)

Evapotranspiration strongly couples land and atmosphere to regulate water, carbon and energy fluxes across tropical South America. Ongoing deforestation and fires reduce the capacity of deep-rooted trees to recycle moisture, while intensifying droughts further alter the timing and magnitude of evapotranspiration. Here we present a high-resolution, data-constrained hydrological modelling analysis to isolate the effects of anthropogenic disturbances and droughts on evapotranspiration and vegeta...