GoKawiilTropical forests are some of Earth’s largest carbon reservoirs, yet they differ enormously in how much biomass they produce, and therefore in how much carbon they store1. Understanding this variation is important to predict how these ecosystems might respond to climate change, and whether they will keep slowing the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But despite decades of research, ecologists still disagree about which climate factors matter most for tropical forests. Writing in Nature, Nunes et al.2 show that climate effects on tropical-forest biomass differ from one region to another. And even within regions, the main driver changes depending on local conditions. The findings suggest that ecologists’ disagreements have arisen because these researchers have been looking for the wrong thing: a single rule that explains how climate affects biomass in tropical forests.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02291-0
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Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests.
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