Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon Responses to Fire at the Landscape Scale in the Amazonia

• Grant number: 23/18333-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Agreement: NERC, UKRI
• Principal Investigator: Plínio Barbosa de Camargo
• Grantee: Wanderlei Bieluczyk
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/00976-4 - Amazon PyroCarbon: quantifying soil carbon responses to fire, AP.TEM

Abstract

In the Amazon, land use change impacts extend beyond converted agricultural landscapes. Human disruption severely affects the regional water cycle, worsening climate extremes like prolonged droughts. Evident in the deforestation arc (Cerrado-Amazon transition) amidst agricultural frontier expansion, this process is degrading nearby primary forests, heightening forest flammability, and increasing recent forest fire frequency and intensity. Standing forests are becoming more vulnerable to fire damage, resulting in significant losses to their vital role in providing ecosystem services, such as nutrient cycling and soil carbon (C) storage. A single forest fire abruptly alters both above and belowground C cycles, while recurring fire events leave long-lasting legacies (e.g., centuries). Yet, Amazon's research falls short in understanding fire's impact on existing soil C and the fate of new charcoal (pyrogenic C; PyC). Within this context, it's crucial to assess landscape-scale changes and dimensioning impacts within (i) standing burned forests, (ii) logged + burned areas, and (iii) secondary forest regeneration post-fire(s). We'll compare these with intact reference forests, using a chronosequence approach to understand soil organic carbon changes across space and time. Various analyses will reveal soil organic matter (SOM) quantity, quality, and origin, as well as the drivers of soil C dynamics during fire-perturbed land transformations. For instance, stable isotopes (e.g., ´13C and ´15N) will be used to investigate temporal sources of SOM with and without previous fire events. Simultaneously to total soil C, PyC contributions will also be quantified. Soil respiration (in situ), stable isotopes, and granulometric soil organic matter fractions will aid in studying the SOM quality. Interconnecting soil C fractions with various chemical, physical, and biological soil properties will elucidate the main drivers of soil C dynamics under fire disturbances. These relations will be integrated, forming the basis for a subsequent comprehensive soil health assessment. Therefore, we will generate a comprehensive and environmentally valuable dataset by conducting a systematic pan-Amazonian analysis of soil carbon dynamics in response to recent fires. This dataset and our data analyses and interpretations will contribute to future modeling, guiding land management strategies, and carbon budgets. It will also assist Brazil in formulating conservation policies to tackle challenges in land use, climate change, and biodiversity preservation in the Amazon. (AU)

Scientific publications

(7)

(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)

BIELUCZYK, WANDERLEI; DUARTE, MARINA PIRES; DE CAMARGO, PLINIO BARBOSA; NORONHA, NORBERTO CORNEJO; PICCOLO, MARISA DE CASSIA; TSAI, SIU MUI. Restoration of soil health by Amazonian secondary forests is severely eroded by slash-and-burn recurrence. CATENA, v. 254, p. 14-pg., 2025-03-12. (21/00976-4, 23/18333-8)

NAVAL, MARIO LUCAS MEDEIROS; BIELUCZYK, WANDERLEI; ALVAREZ, FACUNDO; CARVALHO, LIDIANY CAMILA DA SILVA; MARACAHIPES-SANTOS, LEONARDO; DE OLIVEIRA, EDMAR ALMEIDA; DA SILVA, KARINA GONSALVES; PEREIRA, MAURIVAN BARROS; BRANDO, PAULO MONTEIRO; MARIMON JR, BEN HUR; et al. Impacts of repeated forest fires and agriculture on soil organic matter and health in southern Amazonia. CATENA, v. 254, p. 13-pg., 2025-06-30. (21/00976-4, 23/18333-8)

BIELUCZYK, WANDERLEI; PICCOLO, MARISA DE CASSIA; GONCALVES, JOAO VITOR MATOS; PEREIRA, MARCOS GERVASIO; LAMBAIS, GEORGE RODRIGUES; DE CAMARGO, PLINIO BARBOSA; TAVARES, TIAGO RODRIGUES; GERMON, AMANDINE; BOSI, CRISTIAM; BERNARDI, ALBERTO CARLOS DE CAMPOS; et al. Fine root production and decomposition of integrated plants under intensified farming systems in Brazil. RHIZOSPHERE, v. 31, p. 14-pg., 2024-09-01. (23/18333-8, 20/15230-5, 14/17927-2)

BIELUCZYK, WANDERLEI; SOUZA, PABLO ACACIO DOS SANTOS; DE OLIVEIRAB, ANDRESSA SILVA; SAMPAIO, REGINA MARIA BARRETO CAMPELLO; FERREIRA, JUSCELIA DA SILVA; DANTAS, EDILANDIA FARIAS; LAMBAIS, GEORGE RODRIGUES; MENEZES, ROMULO SIMOES CEZAR; DE CAMARGO, PLINIO BARBOSA; DE MEDEIROS, ERIKA VALENTE; et al. From overgrazed land to forests: assessing soil health in the Caatinga biome. Journal of Environmental Management, v. 374, p. 17-pg., 2025-01-10. (22/07490-2, 20/15230-5, 14/50279-4, 23/18333-8)

LOCATELLI, JORGE LUIZ; POPIN, GUSTAVO VICENTINI; SANTOS, RAFAEL SILVA; BIELUCZYK, WANDERLEI; CIPRIANI, LETICIA THOMAZ; CHERUBIN, MAURICIO ROBERTO; CERRI, CARLOS EDUARDO PELLEGRINO. A comprehensive assessment of greenhouse gas emissions research in the Cerrado region, Brazil. CATENA, v. 247, p. 15-pg., 2024-12-01. (21/10573-4, 20/15230-5, 21/14989-0, 23/18333-8, 19/25988-5, 22/15778-6)

BIELUCZYK, WANDERLEI; DUARTE, MARINA PIRES; MARTINS, GUILHERME LUCIO; CAMARGO, PLINIO BARBOSA DE; NORONHA, NORBERTO CORNEJO; PICCOLO, MARISA DE CASSIA; TSAI, SIU MUI. Slash-and-burn agriculture disrupts the carbon storage potential and ecosystem multifunctionality of Amazon's secondary forests. AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, v. 381, p. 15-pg., 2024-12-07. (21/00976-4, 23/18333-8, 22/05561-0, 23/02576-9)

REIS, LUCAS DE CAMARGO; PICCOLO, MARISA DE CASSIA; LAMBAIS, GEORGE RODRIGUES; FURLAN, GUILHERME; GUERRA, FERNANDO; DE CAMARGO, PLINIO BARBOSA; BIELUCZYK, WANDERLEI. Plant community and fine-root growth under preserved and passively restored Cerrado sites in southeast Brazil. Journal of Environmental Management, v. 393, p. 16-pg., 2025-08-15. (13/26273-3, 23/18333-8, 21/00976-4)