TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The average size of trees in the Amazon rainforest has been consistently increasing alongside rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. This finding indicates that large trees now play a more significant role in determining the forest's ability to remain a carbon sink. Researchers from the RAINFOR Amazon Forest Inventory Network, led by Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert from the University of Cambridge, measured tree diameters in 188 plots averaging 12,000 square meters across the Amazon basin. "The structure of the Amazon Forest is changing quite consistently across the whole basin. We have more bigger trees and fewer smaller trees, so the average size has shifted up towards those bigger trees," explained Rebecca Banbury Morgan from the University of Bristol.