Rainforests pump water round the tropics – but the pulse of this heart is weakening

By Callum Smith, PhD Candidate in Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions, University of Leeds
Dominick Spracklen, Professor of Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions, University of Leeds
Jess Baker, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tropical Climate, University of Leeds

Tropical forests are often referred to as the “lungs of the world”, describing the way their trees exchange gases with the atmosphere. By “breathing in” carbon dioxide and “breathing out” oxygen during photosynthesis, tropical forests remove about 15% of man-made carbon emissions and help to slow climate change.

This is not the only way tropical forests influence the climate, however. Anyone who has walked through a woodland on a hot day will know that trees have an immediate cooling effect. As well as…

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