A fully funded NERC GW4+ PhD at the University of Exeter on how wildfire and charcoal change soil carbon in Amazon forests. Closes 7 January 2027.
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.
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.
A new study published in Communications Biology (Nature Portfolio) found a surprising pattern in the world’s largest and most floristically tree diverse tropical savanna, the Cerrado. The research shows that despite hosting approximately 1,605 tree species, a mere 30 species – less than 2% – account for nearly half of all trees. This phenomenon of […]
Our new study published in the journal Science reveals a concerning trend, that tropical forests across the Americas are changing their composition and function too slowly to keep up with the pace of climate change. This mismatch puts these important ecosystems, biodiversity hotspots, and carbon sinks at significant risk.
We recently published a paper led by PhD student Maurivan Barros Pereira (State University of Mato Grosso (UNEMAT)), supervised by Prof. Ted Feldpausch and co-supervised by Drs Ben Hur Marimon and Fernando Elias da Silva. The findings were published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, “Post-fire changes in tree diversity, composition and carbon in […]
Prof Ted Feldpausch and Prof Jose Iriarte developed a new display with the Eden Project to communicate to the public research findings about historical land-use and fire use by pre-Columbian people.
Expert talk – ‘The history of people and fire in the Amazon rainforest’ Where: The Core Film Room (1st floor), The Eden Project, Cornwall, UK When: 2pm, 11-Sept-2023 People have been living in the Amazon rainforest for 13,000 years. Their use of fire and plants has had long-term impacts on forest structure, composition, and soils. Join Professor Ted Feldpausch and Professor José […]
Researchers at the University of Exeter describe some of the globally important research that they lead on tropical forests and peatlands.
This video and paper highlight the work we are doing through ForestPlots.net to take the pulse of Earth’s tropical forests. Research and activities through Forestplots.net for the past decade and a half have created opportunities to advance understanding of tropical forests and trained the next generation of tropical forest scientists.
This opportunity has closed. For current PhD and postdoctoral opportunities in the Feldpausch group, see Opportunities. The public selection process is now open for assessing and selecting candidates for admission to the Masters and PhD programme in the Tropical Forests Science Programme at the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) with research projects matching themes […]
This opportunity has closed. For current PhD and postdoctoral opportunities in the Feldpausch group, see Research opportunities. Two complementary PhD studentships have been funded thanks to donations from long-term University of Exeter supporters, the A. G. Leventis Foundation. Both will be based within the Global Systems Institute and focus on tropical forest protection and restoration, […]
Fire is an important cause of disturbance in terrestrial ecosystems and can has a major impact on biodiversity. We evaluated the effect of fire regime on species richness and tree basal area in southern Amazon forest using Landsat and PALSAR data.
This opportunity has closed. For current PhD and postdoctoral opportunities in the Feldpausch group, see Opportunities. We are seeking qualified and motivated candidates to pursue a PhD studying how lighting affects tree mortality, carbon dynamics, and forest composition in tropical forests. Applications for the NERC GW4+ project are open, with a closing date of 16:00 […]
A major study in forests across the tropics is the first global assessment of palm tree numbers to better understand forest composition, diversity, and to reduce uncertainty about the role of palms in the carbon balance in these ecosystems.
Innovation by ancient farmers to improve soil fertility continue to have an impact on the biodiversity of the Amazon, a major new study shows.
There has been a large increase in deforestation and wildfire in Amazonia over recent years. Fire in tropical forests increases tree mortality, degrades forest structure, and reduces carbon stocks (Figure 1). Remote sensing now permits a rapid and accurate assessment of the location and extent of fires. On the ground and in forests, however, there […]