The eastern Amazon Basin may become drier as a result of less regional recirculation of water in a largely deforested landscape and because of increased frequency and intensity of El Niño events induced by global warming. Drier conditions may affect several plant and soil microbial processes, including soil emissions of CO2, CH4, NO, and N2O. We report here unanticipated results of a pilot study that was initiated to test the feasibility of a larger-scale throughfall exclusion experiment. In particular, soil drying caused a switch from net consumption of atmospheric CH4 by soils in the control plot to net CH4 emission from soils in the experimentally dried plot.
The Increase in Deforestation in the Amazon in 2013: a point off the curve or out of control?
The Increase in Deforestation in the Amazon in 2013: a point off the curve or out of control?
With the objective of reflecting on the causes that led to this deforestation and stimulating a reaction by the Brazilian Public Sector, IPAM, ISA and IMAZON, present in this document their reflections on the increase in deforestation that occurred in 2013 and put forth a series of recommendations for moving forward with reductions in rates of forest destruction in the Amazon.