Ted Feldpausch Research Group

Research Group

Meet the Feldpausch Research Group. Our research group investigates the dynamics of forests and savannas and their response to environmental changes like drought, fire, land-use, and climate change. We work primarily in the Amazon and African tropics, combining extensive fieldwork with remote sensing and ecosystem modelling. Below are our current researchers, alumni, and research talks.

Current members

Postdoctoral researchers

Dr Lidiany Carvalho – Interaction between soil fertility and pyrogenic carbon in Amazonian soils

Dr Wanderlei Bieluczyk – Soil carbon isotopes and pyrogenic carbon in Amazonia

Dr João Pompeu – Soil pyrogenic carbon, forest structure and dynamics in Amazonia

Dr Oscar Kennedy-Blundell – Modelling soil carbon and black carbon in Amazonia using JULES

Postgraduate students

Jess Thomas (PhD, Univ Exeter – A.G. Leventis Foundation 2021-2025) – Ecological and environmental drivers of carbon storage and resilience in degraded areas of the Amazon
Emily Doyle (PhD, Univ Exeter – A. G. Leventis Foundation 2021-2025) – Using novel satellite data to assess degradation and resilience of Amazon carbon stocks
Maurivan Barros Pereira (PhD, UNEMAT, Brazil 2021-25) – Post-fire changes in soil carbon in tropical forests

Gavyn Mewett (PhD, Univ Exeter) – Effect of lightning on tree mortality in Africa

Gabriel Nunes (MSc, UNEMAT) – Carbon and forest composition dynamics following wildfire in southern Amazonia

Sylvana Nascimento (PhD, UFAC) – Soil respiration in burned and intact forests in southwestern Amazonia

Lorena de Souza Fleury (MSc, INPA) – Secondary forest regrowth and soil carbon on abandoned pastures in central Amazonia

Amauri de Castro Barradas (PhD, UNEMAT-Brazil) – Forest composition, structure, and carbon cycling in forests in northern Mato Grosso, Brazil

Research talks

Upcoming talks:

Gavyn Mewett: Tree mortality from lightning in Ghana

Jess Thomas: Microclimate and forest structure in southern Amazonia

Silvana Nasimento: Soil respiration and microclimate in intact and degraded forests in Acre

Maurivan Barros Pereira: Soil respiration and microclimate in intact and degraded forests in Mato Grosso

Gabriel Nunes: Forest carbon dynamics following wildfire and deforestation in southern Amazonia

Previous talks

João Pompeu: Amazon Basin-wide variation in soil PyC and forest structure based on remote sensing analysis

Wanderlei Bieluczyk: What do soil carbon and pyrogenic carbon isotopes reveal about intact forests in Amazonia?

Lidiany Carvalho: Root and Soil Pyrogenic Carbon relationships for intact forests in central Amazonia

Jess Thomas: Estimating soil carbon from remote sensing and ground data for Rio Cautario, Rondonia, Brazil.

Oscar Kennedy-Blundell: Intro to the JULES Land Surface Model and Soil Carbon Models and integrating pyrogenic carbon into JULES to evaluate PyC affects on carbon emissions in Amazonia with climate warming

João Pompeu: Google Earth Engine and Colab for analyses

Gavyn Mewett: Lightning research, including plans for a new experiment in the Univ Cardiff Lightning Laboratory assess lightning-induced changes in soil

Facundo Alvarez: Hyperdominance in the Cerrado tree flora

Amauri de Castro Barradas: Forest composition, structure, and carbon cycling in forests in northern Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Past Post-doctoral Researchers

Dr Annia Susin Strehe – Effect of lightning on tropical forest composition and carbon dynamics

Dr James Hill – Using charcoal reflectance to understand post-fire changes in tropical forests

Dr Nina Koele – Soil pyrogenic carbon stocks in Amazonia

Dr Klécia Gili Massi – Tree traits and ancient wildfire in Amazonia

Past postgraduate students

Yuwan Wang (PhD, Univ Exeter-QUEX Scholarship 2020-23) – Peat and fire in tropical forests

Luciana Pereira (PhD, Univ Exeter International Excellence Scholarship 2018-22) – Potential of ALOS-PALSAR to estimate and map vegetation structural and carbon storage in Amazon forests

Laura Vedovato (PhD, Univ Exeter, CAPES-Brazil) – From the Past to the Present: Impacts of fire on Amazonian forests

Lucas Heber Mariano do Santos (MSC, UNEMAT) – Understory regeneration following experimental forest fire in southern Amazonia

Luiz Paulo da Silva (MSc, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil 2021-2023) – Analysis of tropical forest paleo-fires using charcoal data

George Edwards (MSc, Univ of Exeter, 2022-2023) – Methods to reduce C emissions from above ground biomass, upon removal and storage from gold mining, Ecuadorian Amazon

Nayane Prestes (MSc, UNEMAT-Brazil) – Understory regrowth following wildfire in southern Amazonia

Come work with us!

Contact Prof Feldpausch to collaborate or discuss potential post-graduate studies.