Researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research believe that this process, known as self-amplifying forest loss, could cause a vicious circle of drought and further forest loss across the Amazon region, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
"And humankind is imposing massive perturbations on Amazonia by both cutting down the trees and heating up the air with greenhouse gases."
This, Barbosa explained, has the effect of reducing large-scale moisture transportation and rainfall.
Researchers at the Postdam Institute worry that another logging spike could push the Amazon into a vicious dieback cycle that would include hotter dry seasons, more forest loss, and continued drought.
They estimate that in addition to direct forest loss due to reduced rainfall, 10 percent of the forest could be lost due to the effects of self-amplification.
This forest–atmosphere feedback cycle could cause forest dieback in 38 percent of the Amazon basin.
Combined with the direct effects of drought, this could mean that most of the Amazon would eventually be at risk.
"Projected rainfall changes for the end of the 21st century will not lead to complete Amazon dieback," Carl Schleussner, from Berlin-based scientific think tank Climate Analytics and PIK, said.
As the Cerrado is deforested and less water is cycled back into the atmosphere, rainfall has dropped.
"Since every species has a different way of reacting to stress, having a great variety of them can be a means for ecosystem resilience," co-author Marina Hirota from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, said.

Among the assistance services are programs for livestock operations whose grazing has been affected by disasters and an aid program covering losses not covered by federal insurance.
The program, based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drought rating, evaluated each farmer based on the number, type and size of cows and the grazing area, farmer Mike Dee said.
Smith, who runs the XTRA Ranch, a cattle operation on 2,500 acres with his wife Erin, and other cattle farmers who typically rely on hay and rye grass to feed their livestock over the winter began feeding their herds hay earlier than usual as the drought dried up pastures.
They have to have grass," Dee said.
The issue is compounded because farmers must look for quality hay, which meets the nutritional needs of the herd.
While selling may mitigate the cost of feeding a herd, it potentially still ends with a loss.
Dee, Runge and Smith said calves were not worth as much last fall because there were a lot on the market.
Smith chose to sell market-ready calves and continued as if it were a normal year, he said, even though he operated at a loss.
Row crops Crop insurance provides some security year to year for row crop producers.
In addition to cattle, Dee grows corn and soybeans on about 3,500 acres.

While it is understandable that there are dry conditions since the middle to end of February was so warm and dry, we have had some decent rainfall events.
An example of this is Champaign county.
Off to the west, and especially into Missouri, drought conditions are there.
We currently think that this won’t add up to much, especially Saturday’s event.
The long-term forecast does show us slightly above normal when it comes to precipitation, with above normal on the temperature side of things.
Copyright 2017 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2017 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2017 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.

100+ Indicators Simeral says authors look at more than 100 indicators, ranging from precipitation data and snowpack levels, to soil moisture, stream flows and “vegetative health” (including satellite data that looks at “greenness”).
Apart from the rotating authors, there are about 450 contributors from various government agencies, who collaborate on the weekly maps.
“In the end it’s my judgment call as an author whether to make the changes or not, on the map.” The next week, it’ll be up to the next author in the rotation.
Critics Abound The Drought Monitor has its critics, including Jay Lund, co-founder of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis, who has called it “misleading.” In his California Water Blog, he writes: The US Drought Monitor is a common drought indicator, based mostly on soil moisture – designed mostly to indicate drought for rain-fed agriculture.
“We hear them all the time,” he says, and counters that Lund’s assertion that the Monitor is “based mostly on soil moisture,” is simply incorrect.
Simeral says the authors take all types of drought into account.
The California Challenge “California poses a challenge for a single map such as the drought monitor,” admits state climatologist Micheal Anderson, who is part of the regional focus group that advises the national authors.
Consequently, Anderson says the California map could lag behind conditions going into a drought.
Simeral says the authors hear from many with perceived stakes in the map, such as local water agencies that don’t want to alarm customers.
Simeral says that none of these political concerns influence the authors.

For North Carolinians who were living here in 2007, you might remember that year’s drought — worse than 2002, even worse than 1925, which in a more innocent time, was considered the very worst of the worst.
By October of that year, 37 percent of the state was classified as being in exceptional drought.
Now some of those same areas — among them, Lenoir, Duplin Greene and Cumberland counties — have been designated as “abnormally dry.” (Geek alert: Last week, North Carolina’s drought map and the national map differed somewhat because the state’s version measures impacts — such as dwindling public water supplies.
Public water supplies are haven’t been affected, although reservoirs that are part of Duke Energy’s Catawba-Wateree Project in western North Carolina are operating under special drought protocols.
On average, whatever that is, the last spring frost in central North Carolina occurs in early to mid-April.
Ozone season also starts earlier, under the EPA’s new standards for the pollutant.
The new EPA standard for ozone is 70 parts per billion, and “we’re right at that in Charlotte.” The entire state currently meets the ozone standard.
However, from 2004-2013, Charlotte failed to meet the federal requirements; as a result, the city and state had to implement rules to reduce those levels.
And less nitrogen oxide means less ozone.
And a summer that’s less of a bummer.

DRC Faces Power Shortage Caused by Drought.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s power company says it may have to severely reduce hydroelectric production because of historically low levels in the Congo River.
"We fear that if we don’t have enough water, we would have to stop the turbines because they cannot function when the water is below a certain level," said Medard Kitakani, an official of the National Electricity Company (SNEL).
Congo is one of many African countries struggling with the effects of an extended regional drought.
SNEL said this week that water levels in the Congo River — one of the longest and deepest in Africa — are at their lowest point in the past 100 years.
A cut in power could have major effects on the economy, especially in the mining industries, which depend on the river for electricity.
Kitakani told VOA French to Africa that SNEL currently produces 900 megawatts, the bulk of it coming from a hydroelectric complex near the western city of Matadi.
Production could drop to 350 to 400 megawatts during the coming dry season if the river level falls too low, he said.

Column: County drought plan improves, but leaves unanswered questions.
But questions remain as to the supply and equitable distribution of water in the event of a severe drought.
The county’s thousands of individual groundwater wells are addressed for the first time, although not in great detail.
The plan sets priorities for water use, and establishes communication and response protocols when drought conditions emerge.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Drought Monitoring Task Force (DMTF) continue to serve important roles.
The designation of three drought stages — watch, warning, and emergency — remain in effect from the county’s 2011 Water Supply Plan.
Since precipitation can be unevenly distributed, other yardsticks are also employed.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Management will co-ordinate the highly regimented response effort.
Some Fauquier residents may be surprised to learn that the county was technically not in drought this past year, despite noticeably dry conditions.
Virginia has in fact not issued any state-wide drought advisories, although Fauquier is by far the most stressed county, with its precipitation deficit at the emergency stage according to the DEQ.