A model-based assessment of the environmental impact of land-use change across scales in Southern Amazonia

Regional Environmental Change - This article describes the design of a new model-based assessment framework to identify and analyse possible future trajectories of agricultural development and...     

Carbon-optimised land management strategies for southern Amazonia

Regional Environmental Change -     

Release of methane from aerobic soil: an indication of a novel chemical natural process?

Methane (CH₄) formation under aerobic conditions has been intensely debated, especially since the discovery of CH₄ generation by both dried plant material and living plants. In this study we test the hypothesis that non-microbial CH₄ formation also occurs in soils. All lyophilised soil samples investigated under aerobic conditions released CH₄ at temperatures ranging from 30 to 70 °C exceeding that allowing normal enzymatic activity to proceed. No emissions were observed for single mineral soil components such as quartz sand, clay mineral and iron oxide. Methane release rates from the soils investigated were found to increase both with increasing temperature and higher organic carbon content. Addition of water to dried soils increased CH₄ release rates up to 8-fold those observed with the dried material. Our results suggest the existence of a chemical process in soils that produces CH₄ under aerobic conditions, a finding which has not been hitherto reported.     

Future land use and land cover in Southern Amazonia and resulting greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils

Regional Environmental Change - The calculation of robust estimates of future greenhouse gas emissions due to agriculture is essential to support the framing of the Brazilian climate change...