In Amazonia, millions of hectares of forest have been converted to cattle pasture then abandoned. On sites with histories of heavy use, forest recovery is slow. We compared the process of tree establishment in an abandoned pasture with a history of heavy use and in...

Although tropical forest fires are naturally rare, they have become more frequent and intense in response to recent changes in land use and climate. This shift in fire regime may drive widespread forest degradation in Amazonia, with important consequences not only...