The assumption has long been that deforestation — easily and accurately measured from satellites — poses the greatest threat to the billions of tons of carbon stored in the biomass of the Brazilian Amazon. But forest degradation due to environmental and human disturbance is responsible for the bulk of that carbon loss, according to researchers at the University of Oklahoma. In fact, degradation — the loss of forest quality — released three times as much carbon as deforestation between 2010 and 2019, they say. “We’re excited that we can analyze the forest area, forest cover change and the bioma…