Editing Rainforest (section)

== Effect on global climate ==
A natural rainforest emits and absorbs vast quantities of [[carbon dioxide]]. On a global scale, long-term fluxes are approximately in balance, so that an undisturbed rainforest would have a small net impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grida.no/CLIMATE/IPCC_TAR/wg1/pdf/TAR-03.PDF |title=Grida.no |access-date=26 August 2012}}</ref> though they may have other climatic effects (on [[cloud]] formation, for example, by recycling [[water vapour]]). No rainforest today can be considered to be undisturbed.<ref name = Lewis>{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=S. L. |last2=Phillips |first2=O. L.|author2-link=Oliver Phillips (ecologist) |last3=Baker |first3=T. R. |last4=Lloyd |first4=J. |last5=Malhi |first5=Y. |last6=Almeida |first6=S. |last7=Higuchi |first7=N. |last8=Laurance |first8=W. F. |last9=Neill |first9=D. A. |last10=Silva |first10=J. N. M. |last11=Terborgh |first11=J. |last12=Torres Lezama |first12=A. |last13=Vásquez Martinez |first13=R. |last14=Brown |first14=S. |last15=Chave |first15=J. |last16=Kuebler |first16=C. |last17=Núñez Vargas |first17=P. |last18=Vinceti |first18=B. |title=Concerted changes in tropical forest structure and dynamics: evidence from 50 South American long-term plots |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences |date=29 March 2004 |volume=359 |issue=1443 |pages=421–436 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2003.1431 |pmid=15212094 |pmc=1693337 }}</ref> Human-induced [[deforestation]] plays a significant role in causing rainforests to release carbon dioxide,<ref name = Malhi>{{cite journal |last1=Malhi |first1=Yadvinder |last2=Grace |first2=John |title=Tropical forests and atmospheric carbon dioxide |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |date=August 2000 |volume=15 |issue=8 |pages=332–337 |doi=10.1016/s0169-5347(00)01906-6 |pmid=10884705 }}</ref><ref name=trgac>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0002 |chapter=Twenty-first century atmospheric change and deforestation: Potential impacts on tropical forests |title=Tropical Forests and Global Atmospheric Change |year=2005 |last1=Cramer |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Bondeau |first2=Alberte |last3=Schaphoff |first3=Sibyll |last4=Lucht |first4=Wolfgang |last5=Smith |first5=Ben |last6=Sitch |first6=Stephen |pages=17–30 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-856706-6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baccini |first1=A. |last2=Walker |first2=W. |last3=Carvalho |first3=L. |last4=Farina |first4=M. |last5=Sulla-Menashe |first5=D. |last6=Houghton |first6=R. A. |title=Tropical forests are a net carbon source based on aboveground measurements of gain and loss |journal=Science |date=13 October 2017 |volume=358 |issue=6360 |pages=230–234 |doi=10.1126/science.aam5962 |pmid=28971966 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2017Sci...358..230B }}</ref> as do other factors, whether human-induced or natural, which result in tree death, such as burning and drought.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/06/1078464675256.html?from=storyrhs | location=Melbourne | work=The Age | title=Drought may turn forests into carbon producers | date=6 March 2004}}</ref> Some climate models operating with interactive vegetation predict a large loss of Amazonian rainforest around 2050 due to [[drought]], [[forest dieback]] and the subsequent release of more carbon dioxide.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cox |first1=P. M. |last2=Betts |first2=R. A. |last3=Collins |first3=M. |last4=Harris |first4=P. P. |last5=Huntingford |first5=C. |last6=Jones |first6=C. D. |title=Amazonian forest dieback under climate-carbon cycle projections for the 21st century |journal=Theoretical and Applied Climatology |date=June 2004 |volume=78 |issue=1–3 |page=137 |doi=10.1007/s00704-004-0049-4 |bibcode=2004ThApC..78..137C |s2cid=5122043 }}</ref>