Fire regime effects on the belowground compartment in open ecosystems of the Cerrado

• Grant number: 23/17471-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: September 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Alessandra Tomaselli Fidelis
• Grantee: Letícia Pereira Giacom
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Fire is a fundamental factor that influences most of the terrestrial ecosystems, specially fire-prone ecosystems, such as tropical savannas. In Cerrado, the brazilian savanna, the herbaceous vegetation has resprouting as the main strategy for regeneration after fire. For that, the maintenance of a viable belowground bud-bank system is necessary, which results from a highly diverse belowground system. Besides resprouting, the biomass allocation patterns and the great belowground carbon storage potential highlight the importance of the belowground compartment of the Cerrado vegetation. However, the belowground compartment is frequently neglected in vegetation studies. So, the present study aims to investigate the effects of different fire regimes (fire frequency and time since last fire) on the belowground compartment in open ecosystems of the Cerrado. For that, the belowground bud-bank, the biomass allocation and the belowground carbon storage will be measured in open ecosystems of the Cerrado with different fire regimes. We hope to find higher bud density, higher belowground organ diversity, higher belowground biomass allocation and higher belowground carbon in areas with higher fire frequency and less time since last fire.