{"id":39,"date":"2026-02-21T13:38:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T13:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-pyrocarbon\/?page_id=39"},"modified":"2026-07-14T13:40:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:40:56","slug":"science-mechanisms-soil-carbon","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/science-mechanisms-soil-carbon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\"Deforestation
<\/div>

The Science<\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Understanding tropical soil carbon in a changing climate<\/h2>\n\n

Our research addresses the “mechanistic gap” in current carbon and land-use models. Tropical soils behave differently from temperate soils. We focus on four critical aspects of fire and land-use impacts on tropical soil organic carbon.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Four critical aspects<\/h2>\n\n
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Mineralogical protection & texture<\/h3>\n\n

We assess how soil mineralogy governs a soil’s capacity to protect carbon from decomposition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n
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A changing climate<\/h3>\n\n

Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall will alter carbon cycling. We study soil-carbon × climate interactions across the Amazon Basin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The fire legacy: pyrogenic carbon<\/h3>\n\n

Slash-and-burn deforestation leaves behind charcoal (PyC). We are the first to assess its long-term contribution to regional carbon budgets — testing whether this recalcitrant carbon offsets some losses from burning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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From mechanisms to models<\/h3>\n\n

We enhance the JULES land-surface model with multi-pool PyC fractions and agricultural management data (no-till, silvopasture) to sharpen global carbon projections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Header image credit: Amaz\u00f4nia Real \/ Bruno Kelly<\/a>, CC BY 2.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Science Understanding tropical soil carbon in a changing climate Our research addresses the “mechanistic gap” in current carbon and land-use models. Tropical soils behave differently from temperate soils. We focus on four critical aspects of fire and land-use impacts on tropical soil organic carbon. Four critical aspects Mineralogical protection & texture We assess how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":879,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-no-title","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-39","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Science of Amazon Soil Carbon | Pyrogenic Carbon & Mineralogy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore the science behind SOC loss and recovery. Learn how mineralogy, fire legacy (PyC), and JULES modeling help predict the Amazon's carbon future.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/science-mechanisms-soil-carbon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Science of Amazon Soil Carbon | Pyrogenic Carbon & Mineralogy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore the science behind SOC loss and recovery. Learn how mineralogy, fire legacy (PyC), and JULES modeling help predict the Amazon's carbon future.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/science-mechanisms-soil-carbon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amazon Forest to Field | Post-Deforestation Soil Carbon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T13:40:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/743\/2026\/07\/hero-ftf-desmatamento.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/science-mechanisms-soil-carbon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/science-mechanisms-soil-carbon\/\",\"name\":\"The Science of Amazon Soil Carbon | Pyrogenic Carbon & Mineralogy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/science-mechanisms-soil-carbon\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/science-mechanisms-soil-carbon\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/amazon-forest-to-field\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/743\/2026\/07\/hero-ftf-desmatamento.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-21T13:38:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-14T13:40:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"Explore the science behind SOC loss and recovery. 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