REUTERS/Jorge SilvaUnder Brazil's Amazon rainforest canopy, hundreds of transparent plastic panels hang between tree trunks to starve a hectare of land of half the water it normally receives. In the experiment, called Seca Limite, or Limit Drought, water is captured by the platforms, then flows through a network of elevated timber gutters before being dumped elsewhere. Large numbers of rotting and burning trees would dump massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change further. "We started measurements in 1994, and 15 years later, we became scared because so many trees started to die," said Beatriz, another lead researcher at Limit Drought. Those activities pose a more immediate threat to the area than global climate change, said Beatriz Marimon.
