Pronounced loss of Amazon rainforest resilience since the early 2000s

Abstract The resilience of the Amazon rainforest to climate and land-use change is crucial for biodiversity, regional global carbon cycle. Deforestation change, via increasing dry-season length drought frequency, may already have pushed close a critical threshold dieback. Here, we quantify changes by applying established indicators (for example, measuring lag-1 autocorrelation) remotely sensed vegetation data with focus on optical depth (1991–2016). We find that more than three-quarters has been losing since early 2000s, consistent approach transition. Resilience being lost faster in regions less rainfall parts are closer human activity. provide direct empirical evidence resilience, risking dieback profound implications storage at scale.