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Carbon Cycling in the Amazon

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Recarbonization of the Biosphere

Abstract

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world by area (8,550,000 km2), and represents one of the ten largest economies. The country has a diversified middle-income economy with wide variations in development levels and mature manufacturing, mining and agriculture sectors. Almost 60% of the Brazil’s territory is occupied by the Legal Amazon or also known as Brazilian Amazon. In recent decades, human settlements in the Brazilian Amazon have grown at an exponential rate. Its population grew 130% since the 1970s, reaching about 19.5 in 2000 (last census in Brazil). The exponential settlement rate and associated land cover changes have caused impacts on environmental services such as biodiversity, carbon (C) storage and regulation of the water cycle. Therefore, the Amazon nations, particularly Brazil, face one of the grand challenges for society in the twenty-first century – how to foster economic growth while protecting and improving the environment. This is a complex challenge that requires a variety of inputs on socio-economic and scientific issues. This chapter addresses part of this rather complex issue, focusing more on the scenarios of land-use-changes in Brazil that have direct implications on environmental and socio-economic aspects for the Brazilian Amazon. Finally, this chapter aims to estimate, using data from the literature, the effects of some land use change scenarios on soil C sequestration for the Brazilian Amazon and the entire area of the Amazon Tropical Rain Forest.

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Abbreviations

AU:

animal units = the standard measure of an animal unit is a 1,000-pound beef cow

C:

carbon

CO2 :

carbon dioxide

CEC:

cation exchange capacity

GHGs:

greenhouse gases

Mha:

million hectare

NEE:

net ecosystem exchange

SOC:

soil organic carbon

TRF:

Tropical Rain Forest

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Acknowledgements

Researches that led to this study were supported partly by grants and fellowships from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Comité Français d’Évaluation de la Coopération Universitaire et Scientifique avec le Brésil (COFECUB), Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Fapesp) and support from University of São Paulo (USP-Brazil) and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD-France).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Biogeoquímica Ambiental, CENA Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, USP Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Centenario, 303, 96, 13400-970, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Carlos Clemente Cerri & Brigitte Josefine Feigl

  2. IRD, UMR Eco&Sols (Montpellier-SupAgro, Cirad, Inra, IRD), Bat. 12-2 Place Viala, 34060, Montpellier Cedex 2, France

    Martial Bernoux

  3. Dept. Ciência do Solo, ESALQ Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, USP Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Padua Dias 11, 13418-900, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri

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  1. Carlos Clemente Cerri
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  2. Martial Bernoux
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  3. Brigitte Josefine Feigl
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  4. Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri
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Correspondence to Carlos Clemente Cerri .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. OARDC, Carbon Management &, Ohio State University, Coffey Road 2021, Columbus, 43210, Ohio, USA

    Rattan Lal

  2. , Global Contract for Sustainability, IASS Inst. for Adv. Sust. Studies, Berliner Str. 130, Potsdam, 14467, Brandenburg, Germany

    Klaus Lorenz

  3. , Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany

    Reinhard F. Hüttl

  4. , Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg 309G, Potsdam, 14473, Brandenburg, Germany

    Bernd Uwe Schneider

  5. Walter-Flex-Str. 3, Bonn, 53113, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Joachim von Braun

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Cerri, C.C., Bernoux, M., Feigl, B.J., Cerri, C.E.P. (2012). Carbon Cycling in the Amazon. In: Lal, R., Lorenz, K., Hüttl, R., Schneider, B., von Braun, J. (eds) Recarbonization of the Biosphere. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4159-1_12

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