Seeing the forest not for the carbon: why concentrating on land-use-induced carbon stock changes of soils in Brazil can be climate-unfriendly

Boy, Jens; Strey, Simone; Schönenberg, Regine; Strey, Robert; Weber-Santos, Oscarlina; Nendel, Claas; Klingler, Michael; Schumann, Charlotte; Hartberger, Korbinian; Guggenberger, Georg

doi:10.1007/s10113-016-1008-1

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…On the basis of SOC stock investigations, Boy et al (2018) found that the impact from land use change on SOC stocks was much smaller than initially expected. However, SOC stock change may be higher in subsoils than in topsoils, which emphases the need to properly account for subsoil C when evaluating the potential for C gains and losses under LUC.…”

Section: Inter-and Transdisciplinary Research Approachmentioning

confidence: 86%

Carbon-optimised land management strategies for southern Amazonia

et al. 2017

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Section: Inter-and Transdisciplinary Research Approachmentioning

confidence: 86%

Carbon-optimised land management strategies for southern Amazonia

et al. 2017

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“…This increase was accompanied by a rise in the weight of carbon losses in the BR-163 when compared to the BLA of 7.9-9.9% for the same period. While it is yet unclear whether post-deforestation management practices can enhance carbon soil storage (Boy et al 2016), we show that deforestation itself is a relevant source of carbon, and that land-related mitigation strategies should focus mainly on forest losses prevention. Still, adequate land management holds great importance by restraining demand for additional land, improving livelihoods, having a positive impact on aboveground carbon stocks conservation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Historical carbon fluxes in the expanding deforestation frontier of Southern Brazilian Amazonia (1985–2012)

et al. 2016

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In tropical areas, pioneer occupation fronts steer the rapid expansion of deforestation, contributing to carbon emissions. Up-to-date carbon emission estimates covering the long-term development of such frontiers depend on the availability of high spatial-temporal resolution data. In this paper, we provide a detailed assessment of carbon losses from deforestation and potential forest degradation from fragmentation for one expanding frontier in the Brazilian Amazon. We focused on one of the Amazonia's hot-spots of forest loss, the BR-163 highway that connects the high productivity agricultural landscapes in Mato Grosso with the exporting harbors of the Amazon. We used multidecadal (1984-2012) Landsat-based time series on forested and non-forested area in combination with a carbon bookkeeping model. We show a 36% reduction in 1984s biomass carbon stocks, which led to the emission of 611.5 TgCO 2 between 1985 and 1998 (43.6 TgCO 2 year-1) and 959.8 TgCO 2 over 1999-2012 (68.5 TgCO 2 year-1). Overall, fragmentation-related carbon losses represented 1.88% of total emissions by 2012, with an increasing relevance since 2004. We compared the Brazilian Space Agency deforestation assessment (PRODES) with our data and found that small deforestation polygons not captured by PRODES had increasing importance on estimated deforestation carbon losses since 2000. The comparative analysis improved the understanding of data-source-related uncertainties on carbon estimates and indicated disagreement areas between datasets that could be subject of future research. Furthermore, spatially explicit, annual deforestation and emission estimates like the ones derived from this study are important for setting regional baselines for REDD? or similar payment for ecosystem services frameworks.

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“…For this reason, we could not restrict our discussion to natural ecosystems and patterns associated to land-use change had to be considered to some extent. Although the data for vegetation and soil C pools were not obtained in the same timeframe, it is expected that latter is much less sensitive to land-use change than the former (Boy et al, 2018). Based on the data obtained for MAT, MAP, EEM, vegetation and soil C pools, we obtained Pearson's correlation coefficients among these variables for each biome (Amazon, Caatinga, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, Pampa, and Pantanal) as shown in table 1.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical feedbacks of vegetation and soil carbon pools to climate constraints in Brazilian ecosystems

Souza¹,

Gomes²,

Filho³

et al. 2021

Revista Brasileira De Ciência Do Solo

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It remains unclear whether temperature and precipitation exert independent control on tropical vegetation and soil C pools. Likewise, it is unknown whether the feedbacks of tropical C pools to climate constraints vary with nutrient availability. These aspects are critical to improving our ability to predict the response of tropical C pools to climate dynamics. This review aimed to assess climate data and the spatial distribution of vegetation and soil C pools across the Brazilian territory to investigate i) whether mean annual precipitation (MAP) and temperature (MAT) exert independent effects on tropical C pools; ii) whether vegetation and soil C pools exhibit hierarchical feedbacks to climate; and iii) how these feedbacks reflect soil nutrient availability. To account for MAP and MAT effects on tropical C cycling, we calculated Ecosystem Effective Moisture (EEM), i.e., the difference between MAP and potential evapotranspiration. We gathered substantial evidence suggesting that under high MAT and MAP controlling EEM, plants exchange more C for water and resorb more nutrients (especially P), which limitations in plant litter reduce microbial-derived C inputs into soil organic matter. Frequent soil saturation under high EEM favors denitrification rates ("open" N cycle), allowing continuous mineralization of litter and shallow soil C pools to release nutrients, sustaining high plant C pools. With decreasing MAP levels, ecosystem C pools depend on MAT controlling evapotranspiration and EEM. Accordingly, decreasing MAP under high MAT reduces EEM, with vegetation and soil C pools co-limited by low net primary productivity (NPP), frequent fire and/or nutrient losses. Otherwise, decreasing MAP and coupled to cool temperatures allow EEM to remain positive, forcing plants to increase deep-rooting and/or shed their leaves, which nutrients are immobilized with microbial-derived C into mineral-organic associations, favoring high soil C pools. Combined, the evidence gathered suggests that the sensitivity of tropical ecosystems to global increases in temperature should not be overlooked, especially if coupled to reductions in precipitation. Overall, the horizontal distribution of vegetation and soil C pools is best described by EEM rather than temperature or precipitation alone, whereas the vertical partition of C in plant-soil systems reflects biotic responses to climate-nutrient constraints.

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Seeing the forest not for the carbon: why concentrating on land-use-induced carbon stock changes of soils in Brazil can be climate-unfriendly

Cited by 9 publications

References 78 publications

Carbon-optimised land management strategies for southern Amazonia

Carbon-optimised land management strategies for southern Amazonia

Historical carbon fluxes in the expanding deforestation frontier of Southern Brazilian Amazonia (1985–2012)

Hierarchical feedbacks of vegetation and soil carbon pools to climate constraints in Brazilian ecosystems

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