Land cover changes and greenhouse gas emissions in two different soil covers in the Brazilian Caatinga

Author(s)

Ribeiro, Kelly ; de Sousa-Neto, Eraclito Rodrigues ; de Carvalho Junior, Joao Andrade ; de Sousa Lima, Jose Romualdo ; Cezar Menezes, Romulo Simoes ; Duarte-Neto, Paulo Jose ; Guerra, Glauce da Silva ; Henry Baulbaud Ometto, Jean Pierre

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Science of The Total Environment; v. 571, p. 1048-1057, NOV 15 2016.
• Web of Science Citations: 10

Abstract

The Caatinga biome covers an area of 844,453 km(2) and has enormous endemic biodiversity, with unique characteristics that make it an exclusive Brazilian biome. It falls within the earth's tropical zone and is one of the several important ecoregions of Brazil. This biome undergoes natural lengthy periods of drought that cause losses in crop and livestock productivity, having a severe impact on the population. Due to the vulnerability of this ecosystem to climate change, livestock has emerged as the main livelihood of the rural population, being the precursor of the replacement of native vegetation by grazing areas. This study aimed to measure GHG emissions from two different soil covers: native forest (Caatinga) and pasture in the municipality of Sao Joao, Pernambuco State, in the years 2013 and 2014. GHG measurements were taken by using static chamber techniques in both soil covers. According to a previous search, so far, this is the first study measuring GHG emissions using the static chamber in the Caatinga biome. N2O emissions ranged from -1.0 to 4.2 mg m(-2) d(-1) and -1.22 to 3.4 mg m(-2) d(-1) in the pasture and Caatinga, respectively, and they did not significantly differ from each other. Emissions were significantly higher during dry seasons. Carbon dioxide ranged from -1.1 to 14.1 and 1.2 to 15.8 g m(-2) d(-1) in the pasture and Caatinga, respectively. CO2 emissions were higher in the Caatinga in 2013, and they were significantly influenced by soil temperature, showing an inverse relation. Methane emission ranged from 6.6 to 6.8 and -6.0 to 4.8 mg m(-2) d(-1) in the pasture and Caatinga, respectively, and was significantly higher only in the Caatinga in the rainy season of 2014. Soil gas fluxes seemed to be influenced by climatic and edaphic conditions as well as by soil cover in the Caatinga biome. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/52468-0 - Climate change impacts on the land cover and use in Pernambuco: data generation to subside public decisions
• Grantee: Jean Pierre Henry Balbaud Ometto
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Thematic Grants