Experts often warn about the “tipping point” for the Amazon, a scenario in which the rainforest collapses into a drier, less biodiverse savanna ecosystem. But the term “tipping point” is sometimes misunderstood or generalized, some experts say, suggesting that there will be an instant change to the biome from one day to the next. In reality, the transition from rainforest to savanna won’t be a single incident, but rather a gradual process happening at different rates across the region, multiple studies show. Some conservationists say there’s still a fundamental confusion within the general public about what the “tipping point” would look like, and what can be done about it. “For the most part, if you’re reading about the tipping point, you’re left with the impression that it’s like a single event, and that when the Amazon reaches that tipping point, it’s going to go from rainforest to savanna,” Matt Finer, director and senior research specialist of Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Project (MAAP), told Mongabay. “Very rarely do you get the nuance that it’s much more complicated than that.” The MAAP team wanted to clarify the way the Amazon tipping point works, and to explain the science to a general readership who might not have access to the latest research. The team combined numerous studies to create a series of maps, revealing that not all parts of the Amazon have the same risk level. One of the main factors influencing the tipping point is how water moves within the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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