National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Amazon Rain Forest Not Helped by "Light" Logging


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In an aerial view of Brazil's rain forest, little is visible beyond the forest canopy, the overhead cover of leaves and branches. In a recent study, scientists used a new monitoring system sensitive enough to detect small disturbances in the forest canopy to measure the effects of selective logging.

The results found that areas where even limited logging takes place are completely deforested within four years.

Photograph by Otis Imboden/NGS