About 1% of all the tree species in the Amazon account for half of the carbon locked in the vast South American rainforest, a study has estimated.
Although the region is home to an estimated 16,000 tree species, researchers found that just 182 species dominated the carbon storage process.
Amazonia is vital to the Earth's carbon cycle, storing more of the element than any other terrestrial ecosystem.
The findings appear in the journal Nature Communications.
"Considering that the Amazon is massively important for the global carbon cycle and stores so much of the planet's biomass, finding out just how that carbon is stored and produced is very important if we want to understand what might happen in the future in different environmental conditions," explained co-author Sophie Fauset from the University of Leeds, UK.
The tropical forest covers an estimated 5.3 million sq km and holds 17% of the global terrestrial vegetation carbon stock.
As trees grow larger, they develop more biomass, which contains carbon. So the larger the tree, the greater quantity of carbon locked within its wood. As trees are long-lived organisms, this means the carbon is removed from the atmosphere for decades, if not centuries.
However, Dr Fauset cautioned against the idea of focusing attention on the 182 species and embarking on a vast planting programme to lock more carbon away from the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming.
"While we have shown that there are a small number of species having a disproportionate influence on the carbon cycle, that is only what we have been able to measure right now," she told BBC News.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32497537
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