
The Amazon Cannot Be Recovered Once It’s Gone - uptown
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/08/amazon-fires-are-political/596776/
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theamk
> But as a store of carbon, it is fundamental to the survival of every person.
> If destroyed or degraded, the Amazon, as a system, is simply beyond
> humanity’s ability to get back: Even if people were to replant half a
> continent’s worth of trees, the diversity of creatures across Amazonia, once
> lost, will not be replenished...

Can someone elaborate on this? I thought all that matters for carbon balance
is biomass, and vast majority of this comes from trees, so diversity doesn't
matter as long as there is enough trees.

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Arnt
The amazon forest is dense. There are a lot of trees almost on top of each
other. Grass and underbrush, then taller bushes and smaller trees, then
middling trees, then really tall trees, and the different layers have tree
crowns above each other.

To get that biomass, to get a bush and two or three tree crowns _above_ each
other, you need a lot of well-adapted species. You need compatible species of
trees, and you also need enough other species to make a functioning ecosystem.

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bradknowles
When what is gone?

I don’t see any Amazon that is left.

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ykevinator
The fires are bad, but it is irrational to say that once it's gone it's gone.

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bfrog
It’s irrational to believe we could rebuild what took nature and evolution
millions of years.

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justhn
There seems to be some common misconception that humans are a smart species.
We are not.

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dang
Maybe not, but please don't post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News.

