article_snippet: Trees are absorbing up to a tenth less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during droughts and the forests actually emit more carbon than Trees capture.
article_snippet: The Oxford University study provides the first direct evidence of the rate at which individual trees in Earth's greatest rainforest 'inhale' carbon from the atmosphere during a severe dry spell.
article_snippet: The Oxford University study found photosynthesis - the process by which trees convert the greenhouse gas into energy - slowed down by 10 per cent over six months.
article_snippet: A researcher is pictured here measuring tree diameters in Tambopata National Park, Peru, soon after the 2010 drought . '
article_snippet: Here we show for the first time during severe drought the rate at which they 'inhale' carbon through photosynthesis can decrease.'
article_snippet: The three year study measured the growth and photosynthesis rates of trees at 13 rainforest plots of up to 500 trees across Brazil, Peru and Bolivia - comparing those affected by the strong drought of 2010 with unaffected plots.
article_snippet: Researchers found that while the rate of photosynthesis was constant among trees on plots unaffected by drought, rates on the six drought-affected plots dropped significantly - as compared with before the 2010 drought.
article_snippet: There was up to a trebling in some sites in numbers of trees dying in the years after the drought - making them no longer available to absorb CO2 from the air.
article_snippet: Dr Doughty said: 'This decreased uptake of carbon does not decrease growth rates but does mean an increase in tree deaths. '
article_snippet: As trees die and decompose the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will increase - potentially speeding up climate change during tropical droughts.'
article_snippet: As this study demonstrates These plots can give us important early insight into the actual mechanisms of how these complex forests are responding to extreme climates. '
highlights_snippet: Trees absorb a tenth less CO2 from the atmosphere during droughts .
  
highlights_snippet: Trees may be channelling more limited energy reserves into growth .