Tag: Carbon cycling
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‘Unprecedented’ wildfires in tropical peatlands during 20th century
A new study reveals an unprecedented increase in wildfires in tropical peatlands during the 20th century. Peatlands store vast quantities of carbon below the Earth’s surface – more than all the world’s forest biomass combined – but when they catch fire large amounts of the stored carbon is released into the atmosphere. Wildfires in tropical regions have been on the rise in recent decades, but the history and characteristics of wildfires in tropical peatlands remain largely unknown. …
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From Sample to Data: The Journey Inside the Laboratory
After thousands of kilometres of fieldwork across the Amazon, around two thousand soil samples have passed through the CENA laboratory in Piracicaba. This is the story of how they are dried, ground, sieved, weighed, and analysed to reveal how wildfires affect Amazonian soils.
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On the Road: Thousands of Kilometres in Service of Amazon Wildfire Science
The Amazon PyroCarbon project has covered thousands of kilometres across Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Amazonas, Acre, and Pará over the past three years. This is the story of the road trips, the Guerreira, and the soil that comes home with the team.
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PhD Scholarship: Soil carbon dynamics following Amazon forest wildfires (2026 entry)
A fully-funded PhD scholarship is available at the University of Exeter: Soil carbon dynamics following Amazon forest wildfires About the award Supervisors Lead Supervisor Dr Kees Jan Van Groenigen, Department of Geography, University of Exeter Additional Supervisors Professor Ted Feldpausch, Department of Geography, University of Exeter Eleanor Burke, Met Office Professor Plinio Camargo, University of…
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Fieldwork Investigates Forest Carbon, Structure, and Composition on Sandy Soils in Southern Amazonia
Amazonian rainforests play an important global role in maintaining biodiversity, regulating climate, generating rainfall, and storing carbon. Yet, despite their importance, these forests continue to face multiple forms of degradation.
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Integrating Pyrogenic Carbon into JULES: Updates from the Amazon and Conferences
By Oscar Kennedy-Blundell | Postdoctoral Research Associate I am currently working as a postdoctoral research associate focusing on black carbon, or pyrogenic carbon (PyC), in the Amazon Basin. My primary focus is modelling the occurrence of PyC using the RothC model and the JULES land surface model.
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High-elevation tropical forest soils in Colombian Andes store nine times more pyrogenic carbon than Amazonian forests
The soil in high-elevation, cooler, drier tropical forests in the Colombian Andes stores more carbon from fires than lower, warmer regions, new research shows.
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Soil carbon loss twice as severe with conversion to agriculture than with repeated wildfire in Amazonian forests
A new study shows the significant impact of recurring fires and agricultural conversion on soil carbon storage in the Amazon rainforest. The research, a collaboration between the University of Exeter (UoE) and Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture (CENA) at the University of São Paulo (USP), demonstrates substantial carbon loss and degradation of soil properties…
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Changes in soil carbon following fire in forests regrowing on abandoned pastures in Central Amazonia
The Amazon rainforest, an important carbon sink, faces increasing threats from deforestation and wildfires. But what happens to the soil carbon after these disturbances? MSc student, Lorena Fleury, in the Tropical Forest Science Postgraduate Programme at the National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA), supervised by Prof. Ted Feldpausch, has been sampling soil in secondary…
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Field campaign advances fire-impact research in soils of the central Amazon
In November–December 2024, a seven-member Amazon PyroCarbon Project team established 22 soil plots across contrasting fire histories in the Manaus region, central Amazonia, advancing understanding of fire impacts on soil carbon dynamics.