Soil health indicators integrated into forest residue management in eucalyptus plantations

• Grant number: 23/12181-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: March 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering - Forestry
• Principal Investigator: José Lavres Junior
• Grantee: Antonio Leite Florentino
• Supervisor: Timothy Filley
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Oklahoma (OU), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/01698-0 - Dynamics and cycling of boron, copper, and zinc in forest ecosystem integrated with residue management and the carbon transformations: consequences for the sustainability of forest productivity, BP.PD

Abstract

There is a rising interest within the timber industry in using forest residues, such as stumps, leaves, branches, bark, and litter, for bioenergy production. However, more intensive management has the potential to trigger erosive processes, reduce biodiversity, and compromise the environment's resilience, leading to negative impacts on soil quality (soil health), and thereby affecting the sustainability of forest productivity. In this context, little is known about how the chemical composition of forest residues affects soil health and its integrated effects on the sustainability of productivity on eucalyptus plantations. This study aims to assess the impacts of forest residue management on soil health by investigating physical, chemical, and biological indicators, as well as wood productivity in field-grown eucalyptus. The database will be obtained from the postdoctoral research (FAPESP process: 2022/01698-0), which the data collected, comprising field measurements and laboratory results. The data will be analyzed in the Institute for Resilient Environmental and Energy Systems (University of Oklahoma) and its affiliated Stable Isotope Measurement Facility (SIMF) to understand how the impact of eucalyptus forest residue management on soil health, as well as characterize a reference area of cerrado regeneration (control area) through a biochemical, isotopic, and molecular (metagenomic) approach for soil parameters. Furthermore, quantitative methods will be employed to assess wood productivity. The findings will explore the influence of tree residue management on soil health and the sustainability of forest productivity. Additionally, this work will establish the groundwork for creating an innovative soil health protocol for forest plantations, utilizing physical, chemical, and biological soil indicators. Such a protocol has the potential for broader application in other tropical regions. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FLORENTINO, ANTONIO LEITE; DELA PICCOLLA, CRISTIANO; LISBOA, IZAIAS PINHEIRO; LUPP, RENATA MOTA; MURAOKA, TAKASHI; PAVINATO, PAULO SERGIO. Biochar and Phosphate Application in a Cadmium-Contaminated Soil: a Strategy to Reduce Cadmium Transference to Rice Plants. JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE AND PLANT NUTRITION, v. 24, n. 3, p. 13-pg., 2024-06-27. (22/01698-0, 23/12181-1, 20/11865-6)