Giant trees of the Amazon get taller as forests fatten up on carbon dioxide

A new study has found the Amazon rainforest’s biggest trees are growing because of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The giants of the Amazon are getting even bigger.

A sweeping, new study has found the rainforest’s largest trees are not only holding their ground, but they’re thriving — growing, multiplying in number and continuing to play a major role in mitigating the impacts of climate change.

There was a 3.3% expansion in big trees per decade, scientists found, after tracking changes in 188 intact forest plots across the Amazon over the past 30 years.

Led by almost 100 researchers from 60 universities in Brazil, the U.K. and elsewhere, the findings were published Thursday in the journal Nature Plants.

The authors attributed the growth to the rising amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the burning of gas, oil and coal.