Sugar cane ethanol replaces fossil fuels, but changes in soil carbon could offset some of the benefit. Now, a study shows minor loss of soil carbon when pastures and croplands are converted to cane, but larger losses when converting native savannahs.
Interactions among Amazon land use, forests and climate: prospects for a near-term forest tipping point
Interactions among Amazon land use, forests and climate: prospects for a near-term forest tipping point
Some model experiments predict a large-scale substitution of Amazon forest by savannah-like vegetation by the end of the twenty-first century. Expanding global demands for biofuels and grains, positive feedbacks in the Amazon forest fire regime and drought may...