Fires caused by climate change and deforestation could mean trouble for the trees of the Amazonian rainforest, according to a new study.

Biologists from Brazil's Amazon Environmental Research Institute and the Woods Hole Research Center in the U.S. conducted field experiments to figure out how severe drought accelerates forest dieback.

Research was published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Traditionally, fires are caused by natural forces in the Amazon. Long droughts over the last decade have weakened the forest's ability to cope however, according to the study.

Over the last eight years, scientists have observed how drought compromises the forest's ability to take and bounce back from the effects of controlled burns.

"Much of current scientific opinion suggests that intact tropical forests may be quite resilient to climate change," said Professor Yadvinder Malhi, from the Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute, to BBC News. "But the combination of climate change, land-use change and fire may be much more destructive."

They also proved how forest fires and drought function in a "vicious" cycle, slowly destroying the forest's resilience over the years, allowing more flammable grasses and shrubs to take control.

Climatologists predict prolonged drought is one of the most "pronounced consequences" of climate change, according to the study.

Malhi said that the study helps demonstrate how both manmade and environmental factors work together to do ecological harm.

"None of the models used to evaluate future Amazon forest health include fire, so most predictions grossly underestimate the amount of tree death and overestimate overall forest health," Woods Hole researcher Michael Coe said to The Independent.

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