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published in May in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. It shows that during the years of vegetation loss, the rainforest shifted from a carbon sink, that is, a storer of carbon dioxide, to a carbon emitter, before eventually stabilizing.There was one piece of good news: the decades-long drought didn’t turn the rainforest into a savanna, or large grassy plain, as earlier model-based studies had predicted.

Joao de Athaydes, who is a meteorologist, shows part of the plastic panels installed to mimic stress from drought, at the Esecaflor project in the Caxiuana National Forest, Para state, Brazil, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)Joao de Athaydes, who is a meteorologist, shows part of the plastic panels installed to mimic stress from drought, at the Esecaflor project in the Caxiuana National Forest, Para state, Brazil, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)In November, most of the 6,000 transparent plastic covers were removed, and now scientists are observing how the forest changes. There is currently no end date for the project.

“The forest has already adapted. Now we want to understand what happens next,” said meteorologist João de Athaydes, vice coordinator of Esecaflor, a professor at the Federal University of Para and coauthor of the Nature study. “The idea is to see whether the forest can regenerate and return to the baseline from when we started the project.”During a visit in April, Athaydes guided Associated Press journalists through the site, which had many researchers. The area was so remote that most researchers had endured a full-day boat trip from the city of Belem, which will host the next annual U.N. climate talks later this year. During the days in the field, the scientists stayed at the Ferreira Penna Scientific Base of the Emilio Goeldi Museum, a few hundred yards (meters) from the plots.

Four teams were at work. One collected soil samples to measure root growth in the top layer. Another gathered weather data and tracking soil temperature and moisture. A third was measured vegetation moisture and sap flow. The fourt focused on plant physiology.

“We know very little about how drought influences soil processes,” said ecologist Rachel Selman, researcher at the University of Edinburgh and one of the co-authors of the Nature study, during a break.Many people fear getting in trouble with the IRS if they make a mistake. To avoid common errors:

— Double check your name on your Social Security card.When working with clients, O’Saben always asks them to bring their Social Security card to double-check their number and their legal name, which can change after marriage, for example.

“You may have changed your name but you didn’t change it with Social Security,” O’Saben said. “If the Social Security number doesn’t match the first four letters of the last name, the return will be rejected and that will delay processing.”— Search for tax statements if you’ve opted out of paper mail.