The deforestation of the tropical rainforests is progressing unstoppably. According to scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), these forests are becoming fragmented at a higher rate than expected. By analyzing high-resolution satellite data, they were able to measure even the smallest piece of tropical forest and, for the first time, study the changes in tropical fragmentation. In a paper for Science Advances, they discuss how this previously unnoticed and underestimated increase in fragmentation to almost one third of the forest area has consequences for the global carbon cycle. Because of increased tree mortality, large amounts of carbon are released at the forest edges. Model simulations also show that these emissions could increase in the future. Only through less deforestation can the process be slowed down.