Do past fires explain current carbon dynamics of Amazonian forests?
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
Amazon forests process and store large quantities of carbon in vegetation and soils. These forests, assumed to be mostly 'old-growth' and fire-free are exhibiting a remarkable feature-they are gaining the equivalent mass of a small car every year in aboveground biomass per hectare of forest (0.89 Mg/ha/yr). These gains are attributed to increasing atmospheric CO2, which has a fertilization effect on tree growth. However, fire in these 'old-growth' forests may be more recent than expected (in the last few centuries), and regrowth from fire together with soil charcoal-which has a fertility effect-may be contributing together with CO2 fertilisation to the observed increases in biomass in these apparently mature forests. Current understanding of drivers of these increases is limited by, (i) an unknown fire history of plots used to monitor change, and (ii) lack of information of how resource change affects these forests. The effects of pre-modern fire on forest regrowth and the gain have not been evaluated.
Our pilot analysis of radiocarbon dated fire from soil charcoal indicates that even the wettest Amazon rainforest has burned, with forests considered to be 'old-growth' having burned within the last few centuries, and 70% of plots (n=70) containing visible soil charcoal fragments. Periodic drier climate and fire use by Native Americans before their populations collapsed ~450 years ago following Europeans colonisation may have resulted in a higher fire frequency than currently observed. Forest regrowth from these and more recent fires may still be occurring in forests considered to be 'undisturbed', e.g., some trees may grow to be 980 years old in central Amazonia, so that forest considered 'old-growth' may still be approaching equilibrium as long-lived trees mature following fire.
Fire also produces soil pyrogenic carbon (PyC) as charcoal that is found in archaeological sites in terra preta soils and in upland soils across Amazonia far from evidence of human settlement. Soil PyC increases soil fertility on otherwise nutrient poor soils, and being resistant to decomposition, may have increased soil fertility across the Amazon. Pre-modern fire and soil PyC are therefore two important ingredients in understanding how Amazonian forests currently function.
We will determine whether regrowth following past fire and soil PyC fertility effects in 'old-growth' permanent forest plots across Amazonia contributes to the observed carbon sink. We have developed a basin-wide network of on-the-ground sample plots, and because methods of measuring the forest with these are fully standardised even across nations they represent an excellent opportunity to measure the response of Amazon forest to historic fire and soil PyC.
In permanent forest plots across the Amazon Basin our Objectives are:
1) determine spatial patterns in 'time since last fire';
2) determine soil PyC stocks, and how these are affected by climatic, edaphic conditions, and fire intensity;
3) using results from (1) and (2), determine whether spatial patterns of productivity and carbon gains in aboveground tropical forest trees in Amazonia are consistent with regrowth from historical fire disturbance and by soil PyC acting as a soil fertility enhancer
Our research will improve understanding of fire patterns across the Amazon for long-term forest plots (the same plots used to estimate the current carbon sink). We will provide a first quantification of: soil PyC stocks, basin-wide environmental drivers of soil PyC stocks, and whether soil fertility is greater where soil PyC levels are higher. This will be a first large-scale test of whether forest productivity, structure, and increases in carbon can be attributed to regrowth from historic fire and soil PyC fertility effects. The results are vital for conservation planning, to estimate the longevity of the carbon sink, and for policy such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+).
Our pilot analysis of radiocarbon dated fire from soil charcoal indicates that even the wettest Amazon rainforest has burned, with forests considered to be 'old-growth' having burned within the last few centuries, and 70% of plots (n=70) containing visible soil charcoal fragments. Periodic drier climate and fire use by Native Americans before their populations collapsed ~450 years ago following Europeans colonisation may have resulted in a higher fire frequency than currently observed. Forest regrowth from these and more recent fires may still be occurring in forests considered to be 'undisturbed', e.g., some trees may grow to be 980 years old in central Amazonia, so that forest considered 'old-growth' may still be approaching equilibrium as long-lived trees mature following fire.
Fire also produces soil pyrogenic carbon (PyC) as charcoal that is found in archaeological sites in terra preta soils and in upland soils across Amazonia far from evidence of human settlement. Soil PyC increases soil fertility on otherwise nutrient poor soils, and being resistant to decomposition, may have increased soil fertility across the Amazon. Pre-modern fire and soil PyC are therefore two important ingredients in understanding how Amazonian forests currently function.
We will determine whether regrowth following past fire and soil PyC fertility effects in 'old-growth' permanent forest plots across Amazonia contributes to the observed carbon sink. We have developed a basin-wide network of on-the-ground sample plots, and because methods of measuring the forest with these are fully standardised even across nations they represent an excellent opportunity to measure the response of Amazon forest to historic fire and soil PyC.
In permanent forest plots across the Amazon Basin our Objectives are:
1) determine spatial patterns in 'time since last fire';
2) determine soil PyC stocks, and how these are affected by climatic, edaphic conditions, and fire intensity;
3) using results from (1) and (2), determine whether spatial patterns of productivity and carbon gains in aboveground tropical forest trees in Amazonia are consistent with regrowth from historical fire disturbance and by soil PyC acting as a soil fertility enhancer
Our research will improve understanding of fire patterns across the Amazon for long-term forest plots (the same plots used to estimate the current carbon sink). We will provide a first quantification of: soil PyC stocks, basin-wide environmental drivers of soil PyC stocks, and whether soil fertility is greater where soil PyC levels are higher. This will be a first large-scale test of whether forest productivity, structure, and increases in carbon can be attributed to regrowth from historic fire and soil PyC fertility effects. The results are vital for conservation planning, to estimate the longevity of the carbon sink, and for policy such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+).
Planned Impact
The main beneficiaries of this research include:
* Policy-makers, because there is special concern about the loss of forest and climate change risks to the Amazon region. Better understanding of the threats to potentially one of the most important 'hot spots' in the earth system will benefit public and policy-makers alike. For example, these include organisations such as the UN Development program, the IPCC, and local conservation managers.
*NGOs such as the Forest Stewardship Council, and agribusiness in transitional forest areas.
* Climate modellers working at the Met Office.
* The general public, in the UK, in South America, and worldwide, because the historic, contemporary and future response of forests to fire has important implications for soil-vegetation-climate interactions. Changing climate, its impacts on nature, and devising effective mitigation and adaptation is at the forefront of public consciousness as one of the defining challenges of the century.
* School children and university students in South America, who will be most affected by climate change and will benefit from additional awareness and training to help them to contribute to how their communities adapt to, and mitigate against, changing climate.
How?
* The project team has a strong record with demonstrated public, private sector, and governmental impact. For example, governmental agencies in Latin America and the UN Development Program in Brasilia will benefit by learning more about the impacts of fire and long-term change of Amazonian forests, building on previous presentations by the PI to these organisations. Project collaborators interact with the Brazilian 'King of Soya', the largest soya farmer in the world, where we have long-term forest plots located for this study. We will continue with these avenues and with others such as through colleagues of the team at Conservation International and the World Bank, to facilitate application of our results to conservation management plans, REDD+, and national-level policy decisions.
* To further reach the public and private sectors, and the wider scientific community we will use the well-visited websites to which we currently contribute for disseminating outputs, protocols & metadata (www.rainfor.org) and the data (www.forestplots.net) where visitors also access data management and analysis tools. We will also develop multilingual material to be hosted on South American collaborator's websites. We will develop multilingual press releases of research findings through the University of Exeter news office, and request that collaborators publicise the material through local university networks.
* Key messages will be disseminated via scientific briefs made available through the RAINFOR and Exeter websites, especially targeting decision-makers who rely on estimates of forest response to fire and long-term estimates of above-ground biomass gain. We have also hosted Earth Day projects for local school children and will construct interactive displays to use as educational tools during school visits about forest conservation and the effects of climate change on tropical forests.
* In addition to supervising UK and South American PhD students for the project, we will run an analysis workshop in Brazil to train students and facilitate interaction with international researchers from diverse fields. Based on past experience, we will invite local TV stations to the final talks in order to convey our results to the Latin American public.
* We will work with Brazilian PhD students to pursue Brazilian funding through the "Science without Borders" program, allowing the students to spend one year working with the project team at the Univ of Exeter and Leeds.
*We propose constructing a user-friendly Amazon fire web portal to make data easily available to a wider public, as well as public engagement events through public lectures as we have done in Brazil in the past.
* Policy-makers, because there is special concern about the loss of forest and climate change risks to the Amazon region. Better understanding of the threats to potentially one of the most important 'hot spots' in the earth system will benefit public and policy-makers alike. For example, these include organisations such as the UN Development program, the IPCC, and local conservation managers.
*NGOs such as the Forest Stewardship Council, and agribusiness in transitional forest areas.
* Climate modellers working at the Met Office.
* The general public, in the UK, in South America, and worldwide, because the historic, contemporary and future response of forests to fire has important implications for soil-vegetation-climate interactions. Changing climate, its impacts on nature, and devising effective mitigation and adaptation is at the forefront of public consciousness as one of the defining challenges of the century.
* School children and university students in South America, who will be most affected by climate change and will benefit from additional awareness and training to help them to contribute to how their communities adapt to, and mitigate against, changing climate.
How?
* The project team has a strong record with demonstrated public, private sector, and governmental impact. For example, governmental agencies in Latin America and the UN Development Program in Brasilia will benefit by learning more about the impacts of fire and long-term change of Amazonian forests, building on previous presentations by the PI to these organisations. Project collaborators interact with the Brazilian 'King of Soya', the largest soya farmer in the world, where we have long-term forest plots located for this study. We will continue with these avenues and with others such as through colleagues of the team at Conservation International and the World Bank, to facilitate application of our results to conservation management plans, REDD+, and national-level policy decisions.
* To further reach the public and private sectors, and the wider scientific community we will use the well-visited websites to which we currently contribute for disseminating outputs, protocols & metadata (www.rainfor.org) and the data (www.forestplots.net) where visitors also access data management and analysis tools. We will also develop multilingual material to be hosted on South American collaborator's websites. We will develop multilingual press releases of research findings through the University of Exeter news office, and request that collaborators publicise the material through local university networks.
* Key messages will be disseminated via scientific briefs made available through the RAINFOR and Exeter websites, especially targeting decision-makers who rely on estimates of forest response to fire and long-term estimates of above-ground biomass gain. We have also hosted Earth Day projects for local school children and will construct interactive displays to use as educational tools during school visits about forest conservation and the effects of climate change on tropical forests.
* In addition to supervising UK and South American PhD students for the project, we will run an analysis workshop in Brazil to train students and facilitate interaction with international researchers from diverse fields. Based on past experience, we will invite local TV stations to the final talks in order to convey our results to the Latin American public.
* We will work with Brazilian PhD students to pursue Brazilian funding through the "Science without Borders" program, allowing the students to spend one year working with the project team at the Univ of Exeter and Leeds.
*We propose constructing a user-friendly Amazon fire web portal to make data easily available to a wider public, as well as public engagement events through public lectures as we have done in Brazil in the past.
Organisations
- UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (Lead Research Organisation)
- The Eden Project (Collaboration)
- National Institute of Amazonian Research (Collaboration)
- State University of Norte Fluminense (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (Collaboration)
- Federal University of Acre (Collaboration)
- Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University (Collaboration)
- Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (Collaboration)
- Technical University of Beni Mariscal José Ballivian (Collaboration)
- National Open and Distance University Colombia (Collaboration)
- National University of Colombia (Collaboration)
- Federal University of Roraima (Collaboration)
- University of Queensland (Collaboration)
- Fluminense Federal University (Collaboration)
- James Cook University (Collaboration)
Publications
Aguirre-Gutiérrez J
(2019)
Drier tropical forests are susceptible to functional changes in response to a long-term drought.
in Ecology letters
Alvarez F
(2021)
Climate defined but not soil-restricted: the distribution of a Neotropical tree through space and time
in Plant and Soil
Bastin J
(2018)
Pan-tropical prediction of forest structure from the largest trees
in Global Ecology and Biogeography
Bruelheide H
(2018)
Global trait-environment relationships of plant communities.
in Nature ecology & evolution
Burton C
(2019)
Representation of fire, land-use change and vegetation dynamics in the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator vn4.9 (JULES)
in Geoscientific Model Development
Burton C
(2020)
El Niño Driven Changes in Global Fire 2015/16
in Frontiers in Earth Science
Coelho De Souza F
(2019)
Evolutionary diversity is associated with wood productivity in Amazonian forests.
in Nature ecology & evolution
Coelho De Souza F
(2016)
Evolutionary heritage influences Amazon tree ecology.
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Title | Artwork and infographic by Brazilian artist to communicate research about fire effects on forests in Amazonia |
Description | We worked with a Brazilian artist, Sidnei SIlva, to develop hand-drawn infographic stories to communicate to the public our research about fire effects on forests in Amazonia. |
Type Of Art | Artwork |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Impact | The material is available online to the general public on the research project and partner web pages in Brazil. We have incorporated this material in outreach material used in training sessions for the public and schools across Amazonia to teach about the effects of fire on Amazonian forests. |
Title | Cartoon stories by Brazilian artist to communicate research about fire effects on forests in Amazonia |
Description | We worked with a Brazilian artist, Evandro Alves, to develop hand-drawn cartoon stories for children to communicate research about fire effects on forests in Amazonia. |
Type Of Art | Artwork |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Impact | The material is available online to the general public on the research project and partner web pages in Brazil. We have incorporated this material in outreach material used in training sessions for the public and schools across Amazonia to teach about the effects of fire on Amazonian forests. |
Title | Creative hands-on public displays in the Eden Project Tropical Biome |
Description | Gave scientific, visual, and material input to the Eden Project team to develop hands-on public displays in the Eden Project Tropical Biome showing the effects of forest fire on tropical forests and to develop content to show the effects of climate change on precipitation, e.g., a wobbly bridge, a cloud-maker, and a rainforest hut where visitors can shelter from noisy rain (simulated) striking the tin roof while reading from artistic material on the walls of the hut. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | More than 1 million visitors visit the Eden Project each year, including international tourists, making the creative products highly visible to an international audience. |
URL | https://www.edenproject.com/media/2017/02/tropical-rainstorms-and-a-wobbly-bridge-in-cloudy-treetops... |
Title | Creative hands-on public displays in the Eden Project Tropical Biome to communicate information about historical fire in Amazonia |
Description | Gave scientific, visual, and material input to the Eden Project team to develop hands-on public displays in the Eden Project Tropical Biome to show the effects of historical forest fires on tropical forests, in collaboration with an archaeologist from the University of Exeter to provide perspectives on land use and fire use by pre-Columbian people in Amazonia. |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Impact | More than 1 million visitors visit the Eden Project each year, including international tourists, making the creative products highly visible to an international audience. |
Title | Infographics to communicate research about fire effects on forests in Amazonia |
Description | We worked with a Brazilian partner, Easy Telling, to develop infographics to communicate our research about fire effects on forests in Amazonia. |
Type Of Art | Artwork |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Impact | The material is available online to the general public on the research project and partner web pages in Brazil. We have incorporated this material in outreach material used in training sessions for the public and schools across Amazonia to teach about the effects of fire on Amazonian forests. |
Title | Youtube videos at the Eden Project Tropical Biome with Ted Feldpausch discussing the effects of fire and drought on tropical forests |
Description | Ted Feldpausch gave a filmed interview to the Eden Project on the effects of drought and forest fire on tropical forests. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | More than 1 million visitors visit the Eden Project each year, including international tourists, making the creative products highly visible to an international audience. |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgu8b-Us1xY&feature=youtu.be |
Description | Our ongoing work has resulted in the first Amazon-wide estimate of soil pyrogenic carbon storage in soils. Pyrogenic carbon (macro- and microscopic charcoal) is a component of soil organic carbon formed by the incomplete combustion of biomass and is highly resistant to decomposition. It can act as a long-term soil carbon storage pool and also indicates past fire activity. For many years, Amazon forests were considered fire-free systems. However, our work has shown that past fires left a legacy effect on soils through the presence of greater than expected concentrations of pyrogenic carbon in soils across the whole of Amazonia, including even the wettest regions considered fire resistant. We tested whether forests that had accumulated more pyrogenic carbon and which potentially had more fire in that past, also had trees with different traits such as wind-dispersed seeds, having species that were on average taller, or denser wood that would be associated with a strategy to survive or recover from fire. We found no effect, suggesting past fire had little impact on modern forests tree traits; alternatively, past fires may have occurred too long ago to still have an impact on the tree traits found in forests today. We are currently evaluating whether the presence of pyrogenic carbon in the nutrient-poor soils of Amazonia can lead to an increase in soil fertility. Our preliminary findings indicate that pyrogenic carbon (but not the non-PyC soil organic carbon) is one of the primary controls on soil fertility in Amazonia, in addition to soil mineralogy and pedogenic development. To improve understanding of how the past fire regime affected forests, we are investigating the chronology of past fires across Amazonia by radiocarbon dating charcoal found in soil. Our preliminary radiocarbon dating of charcoal from evergreen Amazon forests indicate that even the wettest regions of Amazonia have burned within the past ~800 years and that fire return intervals were a maximum of 450 years in some forests with no history of modern (post-satellite) fire. We continue to build on these results with our pan-Amazon analysis of charcoal radiocarbon dates through our project partner radiocarbon carbon laboratory in Brazil (Prof. K. Macario) and the NERC Radiocarbon Facility. With these new pyrogenic carbon and radiocarbon data in hand, we are advancing the remote sensing component of the study to evaluate whether variation in forest structure, biomass, and composition across Amazonia relate to pyrogenic carbon storage and fire history. Finally, we are advancing the understanding of the drivers of soil PyC variation and whether PyC from ancient fires affects the fertility of nutrient-poor soils in old-growth forests across Amazonia. |
Exploitation Route | We are exploring opportunities to build on this work through the analysis of soil phytoliths, charcoal reflectance analysis, and charcoal anthracological analysis to understand the long-term change (hundreds of years) in vegetation and fire regime across Amazonia. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Education Environment Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
Description | To extend our work to the public, we worked with the Eden Project, Cornwall, UK to develop interactive scientific displays about the effect of fire, drought, and land-use on tropical forests. The Eden Project receives over a million visitors a year from around the world, enabling us to reach a large audience to educate the public about the role of fire on the carbon cycle and biodiversity of tropical forests. We also conducted research training in methods in forest inventory, soil sampling, and laboratory preparation with locals and students at our field sites in four regional locations in Bolivia, Peru, Guyana, Colombia, and Nova Xavantina, Brazil. In Nov 2021, we conducted a four-day online workshop on Fire in Amazonia - Past, Present, and Future that included local archaeologists, soil scientists, fire scientists, remote sensing experts and climate and fire modellers, local fire fighters. The workshop had >300 people register from around the world, with most from Latin America. Following the workshop, we produced a short three-minute film summarising the main points from the workshop and four films summarising each day (posted to YouTube), along with infographics on Fire in Amazonia - Past, Present, and Future. The films and infographics are currently being used by the National Early Warning and Monitoring Centre of Natural Disasters: CEMADEN, Brazil, in collaboration with the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm, in training and outreach workshops on fire with local people in Amazonia. We developed a trilingual (English, Spanish, Portuguese) cartoon story and two art-based infographic with local artists in Brazil to teach children and adults about fire in Amazonia. Finally, we are doing outreach work in Mato Grosso and Acre, Amazonia with local school teachers and university students (Univ Federal de Acre) training as school teachers in a "Teach the teacher" programme to train them about the effects of fire on forests and alternative land-use in Amazonia; they then use this experience and teaching material we provide to teach their primary and secondary education students in Amazonia. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | New PhD programme in Brazil |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | I am an affiliated professor at Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (UNEMAT) and the National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA). At UNEMAT, I assisted in developing a new PhD programme. |
Description | Training in fire management in Mato Grosso, Amazonia, Brazil |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | I worked with a local NGO Alianca da Terra-Brazil who trains local farmers to reduce and manage fire in Amazonia. With one of the local firefighters from the NGO, I visited farms across the municipality of Feliz Natal, Mato Grosso, Brazil and discussed the impact of fire on their farms. Following this work, we set up plots to study how vegetation in their forest reserves changed following the fires. |
Description | Charcoal reflectance: A quantitative approach to understanding the impact of fire on an ecosystem |
Amount | £0 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 1628035 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2015 |
End | 03/2019 |
Description | NERC Oversees Develop Assistance (ODA) |
Amount | £20,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2017 |
End | 11/2019 |
Description | Santander Ayudar Colombia |
Amount | £1,680 (GBP) |
Organisation | Santander Universities |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2017 |
End | 09/2017 |
Title | C:N ratio data for ecotone forest soils in the eastern of Maracá Island, northern Brazilian Amazonia |
Description | The dataset provides information on the soil C:N ratio of ecotone forests occurring in Maracá Ecological Station, a federal protected area formed by Maracá Island and small islets on the Uraricoera River, state of Roraima, northern Brazilian Amazonia. Sampling was carried out in the PPBio (Biodiversity Research Program) research grid located in the eastern of Maracá Island. 129 permanent plots (10 x 50 m each) were established along the six East-West grid trail (see grid details at https://ppbio.inpa.gov.br). Soil samples were taken (20 cm in depth) in 30 plots. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The data have been used to understand the forest dynamic in Ecotonal forests of the Amazon. |
URL | https://www.narcis.nl/dataset/RecordID/oai%3Aeasy.dans.knaw.nl%3Aeasy-dataset%3A131935 |
Title | Floristic composition in ecotone forests in northern Brazilian Amazonia: preliminary data |
Description | We present a forest inventory carried out in 129 plots (10 m x 50 m; 6.45 ha in total) dispersed in a grid (5 km x 5 km) located in a forest zone ecotone in the eastern part of Maracá Ecological Station. All stems (tree + palm) with diameter at breast height = 10 cm were recorded, identified and measured. A total of 3040 stems were recorded (tree = 2815; palm = 225), corresponding to 42 botanic families and 140 identified species. Seven families and 20 genera contained unidentified taxa (12.2%). Sapotaceae (735 stems; 10 species), Leguminosae (409; 24) and Rubiaceae (289; 12) were the most abundant families. Peltogyne gracilipes Ducke (Leguminosae), Pradosia surinamensis (Eyma) T.D.Penn. (Sapotaceae) and Ecclinusa guianensis Eyma (Sapotaceae) were the species with the highest importance value index (~ 25%). The dominance (m2 ha-1) of these species corresponds to > 36% of the total value observed in the forest inventory. Our dataset provides complementary floristic and structure information on tree and palm in Maracá, improving our knowledge of this Amazonian ecotone forest. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The floristic survey conducted by this study expands our knowledge of forest structure and tree species composition in ecotone zones of the northern Brazilian Amazonia, improving our ability to predict changes in species composition and plant diversity when we take into account comparisons between previous forest inventories performed in Maracá. |
URL | https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/47025/list/8/ |
Title | Radiocarbon dating of charcoal pieces from soil in intact forest permanent plots in the Amazon Basin, 2015-2019 |
Description | This dataset contains radiocarbon dating of pieces of macrocharcoal (~ = 1 mm) collected from soil in Guyana, Peru and Brazil in plots located in the Amazon forest. All the sites are terra-firme, non-seasonally flooded and are part of the RAINFOR network. In total, 60 pieces of macrocharcoal were dated. The Amazon Forest Inventory Network is a long-term, international collaboration to understand the dynamics of Amazon ecosystems. Since 2000 they have developed a framework for systematic monitoring of forests from the ground-up, centred on plots that track the fate of trees and species, and includes soil and plant biogeochemical records, as well as intensive monitoring of carbon cycle processes at some sites. RAINFOR works with partners across the nations of Amazonia to support and sustain forest monitoring and help develop new generations of Amazon ecologists. The work of RAINFOR is currently supported by funding agencies in Brazil, the UK, and the EU. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This dataset has been used to estimate the fire history of intact forest plots across Amazonia, which is key information to support forest management and policy decisions about fire and its impacts on Amazonian forests. |
URL | https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/b06a08bc-39e5-4401-87dd-9568fd5048fd |
Title | Recensus of permanent plots and soil collectionin Brazilian Amazon |
Description | A team of researchers and students travelled to 3 different areas across the Brazilian Amazon forest (Alta Floresta- MT, Tapajós -PA and Caixuana -PA) to recensus permanent forest plots and collect soil samples to analyse soil fertility and pyrogenic carbon concentrations. Besides, it was also collected charcoal samples in these plots, which have been dated from the C14 technique providing evidence to understand the long-term centennial-scale effects of fire on forests. This fieldwork was part of Laura's PhD project, a NERC funded research "Do past fires explain current carbon dynamics of Amazonian forests?" (led by Dr Ted Feldpausch). |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | These datasets bring more updated information about forest dynamics and improve knowledge about the long-term centennial-scale effects of fire on forests. |
URL | http://www.rainfor.org |
Title | Recensus permanent forest plots (Brazil-Acre, Bolivia) |
Description | An international team of researchers and students recently traveled to the remote northeastern rainforests of Bolivia and southwestern Brazil to recensus permanent forest plots and sample charcoal and soil to understand the long-term centennial-scale effects of fire on forests. The fieldwork was part of the Ph.D. project by Luciana de Oliveira Pereira, a NERC-funded research Amazon Past Fire Project (PI Ted Feldpausch), and RAINFOR. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Will improve the knowledge about long-term centennial-scale effects of fire on forests |
URL | http://www.rainfor.org/ |
Title | Reflectance of charcoal from tropical rainforest plots in southern Amazonia, Brazil and southwestern Amazonia, Peru, 2015 |
Description | This dataset includes charcoal reflectance measurements. The charcoal pieces were collected from the soil surface in tropical rainforest plots in Feliz Natal (southern Brazil, n= 75) and Pucallpa (Peru, n=14) in 2015. In total, 89 charcoal pieces were measured for reflectance. The reflectance measurements were taken in a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 70 repetitions per sample. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Develop and training in new analytical methods. |
URL | https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/b2b5498c-8eef-44b0-9610-844784f9f16b |
Title | Tree diameter census data in intact forest permanent plots across the Amazon Basin, 2017-2019 |
Description | The dataset contains information of Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) of 8,729 trees. These trees are distributed in 29 RAINFOR network forest plots across the Brazilian Amazon, comprising the states of Acre, Mato Grosso and Pará. All the plot censuses are located in terra-firme non-flooded lowland forests. The measurements were collected between 2017 and 2019. The Amazon Forest Inventory Network is a long-term, international collaboration to understand the dynamics of Amazon ecosystems. Since 2000 they have developed a framework for systematic monitoring of forests from the ground-up, centred on plots that track the fate of trees and species, and includes soil and plant biogeochemical records, as well as intensive monitoring of carbon cycle processes at some sites. RAINFOR works with partners across the nations of Amazonia to support and sustain forest monitoring and help develop new generations of Amazon ecologists. The work of RAINFOR is currently supported by funding agencies in Brazil, the UK, and the EU. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This dataset has been used to estimate carbon storage and dynamics in intact forest plots across Amazonia, which is key information to support forest management and policy decisions for Amazonian forests. |
URL | https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/63d4b774-4e03-4db2-95ad-dcca18f0d681 |
Title | contribute data to the database www.forestplots.net |
Description | All field data from Amazonia collected through our project is stored on the international database www.forestplots.net. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Use of data from the database has directly led to the development of publications, including key papers in Nature and Science on topics related to the research project. |
Description | Collaboration with the Eden Project to develop educational material in the Tropical Biome for the public about fire and climate change in tropical forests |
Organisation | The Eden Project |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Ted Feldpausch contributed with scientific input to meetings with Eden Project staff at the University of Exeter and at the Eden Project site to develop educational material in the Tropical Biome for the public about fire and climate change in tropical forests. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Eden Project contributed to meetings at the University of Exeter and at the Eden Project site to discuss educational content and displays and developed the actual on-site materials in the Tropical Biome for the public about fire and climate change in tropical forests. |
Impact | public displays in the Eden Project Tropical Biome; video interviews that are posted to youtube on the effect of fire on tropical forests. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Developing new teaching and research collaboration with Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil |
Organisation | State University of Norte Fluminense |
Country | Brazil |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | In April 2020 Ted Feldpausch met with professors Carlos Rezende and Marcelo Nascimento to develop new teaching and research collaboration with Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil. We plan to sign a memorandum of understanding between the University of Exeter and Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense to further this partnership. My work has supported research in Atlantic Forest, Brazil fieldsites where they work. |
Collaborator Contribution | Profs Carlos Rezende and Marcelo Nascimento from the Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil have developed new teaching and research collaboration for this partnership. |
Impact | teaching and research exchanges |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Fieldwork Acre and Bolivia: New collaboration |
Organisation | Federal University of Acre |
Country | Brazil |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | As output of the fieldworks new collaboration were firmed with Federal University of Acre, Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales de la Amazonía Boliviana (Universidad Autónoma del Beni), and Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado (Universidad Autónoma Gabriel Rene). Two students from Federal University of Acre were trained to process the soil samples (lab methods). Six students from Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales de la Amazonía Boliviana, Universidad Autónoma del Beni were trained to collect the soil samples, charcoal radiocarbon dating, and vegetation census. |
Collaborator Contribution | They provide support regarding the logistic and people to be training at fieldwork. |
Impact | Several students were trained for future fieldwork. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Fieldwork Acre and Bolivia: New collaboration |
Organisation | Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University |
Country | Bolivia, Plurinational State of |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | As output of the fieldworks new collaboration were firmed with Federal University of Acre, Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales de la Amazonía Boliviana (Universidad Autónoma del Beni), and Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado (Universidad Autónoma Gabriel Rene). Two students from Federal University of Acre were trained to process the soil samples (lab methods). Six students from Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales de la Amazonía Boliviana, Universidad Autónoma del Beni were trained to collect the soil samples, charcoal radiocarbon dating, and vegetation census. |
Collaborator Contribution | They provide support regarding the logistic and people to be training at fieldwork. |
Impact | Several students were trained for future fieldwork. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Fieldwork Acre and Bolivia: New collaboration |
Organisation | Technical University of Beni Mariscal José Ballivian |
Country | Bolivia, Plurinational State of |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | As output of the fieldworks new collaboration were firmed with Federal University of Acre, Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales de la Amazonía Boliviana (Universidad Autónoma del Beni), and Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado (Universidad Autónoma Gabriel Rene). Two students from Federal University of Acre were trained to process the soil samples (lab methods). Six students from Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales de la Amazonía Boliviana, Universidad Autónoma del Beni were trained to collect the soil samples, charcoal radiocarbon dating, and vegetation census. |
Collaborator Contribution | They provide support regarding the logistic and people to be training at fieldwork. |
Impact | Several students were trained for future fieldwork. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus-AM, Brazil |
Organisation | National Institute of Amazonian Research |
Country | Brazil |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | I co-supervise post-graduate students from the laboratory. |
Collaborator Contribution | Co-supervise post-graduate students and analyse soil samples collected through this project |
Impact | The collaboration resulted in two publications by post-docs from the project and one publication from an MSc student on the project. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | James Cook University, Australia - Prof Michael Bird |
Organisation | James Cook University |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-supervision of post-doc. Payment for sample analysis. Manuscript development. |
Collaborator Contribution | Analysis of pyrogenic carbon samples from soils from old-growth forests across Amazonia. Co-supervision of post-doc. Manuscript development. |
Impact | Two papers developed by post-docs. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency |
Organisation | Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency |
Country | Japan |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Improve the methodology and expand the application of ALOS-PALSAR-2 images for estimate structural forest parameters. |
Collaborator Contribution | The ALOS-PALSAR-2 data will be provided by a new research agreement for the earth observation mission between the JAXA and the University of Exeter. |
Impact | We expect to publish 2 papers in Journal with high impact. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | PRONAT - UFRR Universidade Federal de Roraima - Brazil |
Organisation | Federal University of Roraima |
Country | Brazil |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-supervision of post-graduate students. Collaboration in projects funded by Brazilian grants. Manuscript development. |
Collaborator Contribution | Collecting charcoal and soil. Samples process for analysis. Manuscript development. |
Impact | One paper published. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Undergraduate dissertations in Geography at the University of Exeter |
Organisation | University of Exeter |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Bioresilience team supervised four undergraduate dissertations at the University of Exeter in academic year 2019-2020. Students received laboratory training, guidance on palaeoecological methods and data analysis and data interpretation. |
Collaborator Contribution | The students have produced excellent dissertations that provide valuable information on ecological baselines, fire activity, and pollen-vegetation relationships. Likewise, the students had the opportunity to focus their research on Colombian ecosystems, where socio-environmental conflicts are different and complex. |
Impact | Three undergraduate dissertations on long-term vegetation dynamics and fire activity in the high-lands of the Colombian Andes and one undergraduate dissertation on pollen-vegetation relationships of the tropical dry forest. Stronger collaboration with the program of Geography and their laboratories at the University of Exeter. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia UNAD de Colombia |
Organisation | National Open and Distance University Colombia |
Country | Colombia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are contributing to developing research, advancing the scientific career of several academics, and supervising students at this university under our NERC BioResilience project |
Collaborator Contribution | Our partners are contributing to the soil science and forest ecology components of our BioResilience project. |
Impact | This partnership has just begun. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Bogota |
Organisation | National University of Colombia |
Country | Colombia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are contributing to developing research, advancing the scientific career of several academics, and supervising students at this university under our NERC BioResilience project |
Collaborator Contribution | Our partners are contributing to the remote sensing component of our NERC BioResilience project |
Impact | this partner just began |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil - AMS Radiocarbon Laboratory - Prof Kita Macário |
Organisation | Fluminense Federal University |
Country | Brazil |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-supervision of post-graduate students. Support of the laboratory for sample analysis. Manuscript development. |
Collaborator Contribution | Radiocarbon dating of charcoal sampled from soil from old-growth forest plots across Amazonia. Co-supervision of post-graduate students. Manuscript development. |
Impact | Publication by MSc student from Brazil. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | University of Queensland - Brisbane, Australia |
Organisation | University of Queensland |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We bring our expertise from Amazonia forest ecology and fire to the work they are doing with atmospheric circulation, palaeo vegetation and fire analysis, and peat. |
Collaborator Contribution | They bring to our project expertise on atmospheric circulation, palaeo vegetation and fire analysis, and peat. |
Impact | We had a research meeting at UQ Brisbane to discuss results, draft a PhD advert, and draft a grant proposal. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Academic opportunities - UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | On April 2019, I gave a talk to the post-graduate students at National Institute for Space Research - Brazil about my research proposal and academic opportunities for foreign graduated and post-graduated at the United Kingdom |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Accessing the past fire to understand the C dynamic in the Amazon forest |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Public talk at Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niteroi - Rio de Janeiro/Brazil |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Carbono pirogénico: un component poco conocido de los suelos forestales tropicales. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Talk in the "Foro Adapatacion al cambio climático em Colombia: El papel de los bosques nativos". Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia, Bogota - Colombia |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Fieldwork training activities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I undertook 3 fieldwork campaigns in the regions of Alta Floresta - MT, Tapajós- PA and Caxiuana - PA. In these field campaigns, undergraduate students and local people were involved and learnt how to do recensus vegetation and soil sampling. In average 18 people contribute to the recensus and 5 people learnt and helped in laboratory procedures. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Historical climatic, vegetational and human controls on Pyrogenic Carbon in Amazonia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Public talk at Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São José dos Campos/SP - Brazil |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Interview with the Hay Festival by Dr Ted Feldpausch and Dr Naomi Millner |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Feldpausch and Dr Millner participated in a live online interview during the Hay Festival to discuss our research in Colombia. This was also the launch of a YouTube animation discussing studying fire, changes in vegetation, and the interaction over time of Colombia with the natural world. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.hayfestival.com/p-16765-naomi-millner-ted-feldpausch-and-juan-cardenas-in-conversation-w... |
Description | New Insights into Pyro-fertilization of Amazonian soils |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Talk in the Ecology Group - University of Exeter. We discussed whether the PyC, as a legacy of past fire, can drive Amazonia soil fertility and statistical analysis to answer this question. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Past and recent fire effects on Amazon forests: assessing dynamics from lidar and soil analysis |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Talk at National Institute for Space Research (INPE) especially attendance for postgraduate students of the TREEs group. After the talk, we could discuss different opinions about how ancient and recent fires are changing forest dynamics and methodologies to be used. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Public evening lecture at Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Evening public talk in Portuguese at the Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Brazil, a small rural university in Amazonia. Following the event I gave an interview with the local TV station (in Portuguese). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
Description | Research talk at the Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Ted Feldpausch presented a research talk on fire in Amazonia at the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | SAR DATA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I gave a talk to the Ecology group at the University of Exeter about my experience in modeling forest structure using Synthetic Aperture Radar /Remote sensing data. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Soil pyrogenic carbon stock in the northern of Amazon forest depends of ignition source distance and hydro-edaphic conditions |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Oral presentation selected for the BES, 2018 - BIRMINGHAM. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GrNsqKZle0wJ:https://www.britishecologicalsoci... |
Description | Talk - Ecology laboratory group (Brazil) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | On April 2019, I gave a talk to the Ecology laboratory group at Juiz de Fora Federal University (Juiz de Fora-MG/ Brazil) about my research proposal and academic opportunities for foreign graduated and post-graduated at the United Kingdom. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.ufjf.br/ambienteconstruido/eventos-2/serie-vida-academica/ |
Description | Talk at British Ecology Society conference - 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Oral presentation "The soil pyrogenic carbon stock in the northern of Amazon forest depends on ignition source distance and hydro-edaphic conditions" at BES, Birmingham 2019. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Talk by Ted Feldpausch on the effects of fire on tropical forests at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, Southeast Asia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Ted Feldpausch presented a talk on the effects of fire on tropical forests at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, Southeast Asia |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Talk by Ted Feldpausch, "Historical fire in Amazonia: charcoal, soil, and plant functional traits" at the University of Oxford |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Ted Feldpausch presented the talk "Historical fire in Amazonia: charcoal, soil, and plant functional traits" at the University of Oxford |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Teach the teacher: developing local capacity to teach about forest fires risks and impacts and alternative land-use in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Amazonia, Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Our approach, based on the concept of "teach the teacher", will work with local partners to train local secondary education teachers about the effect of fire on forests and alternative land-use practices in Cruzieiro do Sul, Amazonia. The teachers will then use the new training and teaching material we provide to teach their students in new ways and on new topics about fire and alterative land-use in Amazonia. Objectives- 1) Identify teaching needs and develop outreach material: First, meet with local secondary education teachers and learn from them which specific themes about fire in their region would be most beneficial to develop teaching material, e.g., burning impacts on air quality, water availability, or biodiversity. Develop outreach and educational material, building on material about fire produced by our project in collaboration with local partners, including a book (Fogo!), infographics, and cartoon drawings for children. Make the material available on a project website for future use by teachers. 2) Teach the teacher: Work with local research partners to train local university students in secondary education programmes about fire and alternative land-use based on findings from our NERC-supported research across Amazonia, doing this in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Amazonia heavily affected by fire. 3) Local school outreach: With local partners, develop the capacity of local secondary education teachers to teach about fire. We ran a one-day workshop and training session with local teachers. We will produced a short film about the teachers' experiences and publicise the work through social media and a web page. Feedback from the teachers will be used to improve online teaching material. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Teach the teacher: developing local capacity to teach about forest fires risks and impacts and alternative land-use in Mato Grosso, Amazonia, Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Our approach, based on the concept of "teach the teacher", will work with local partners to train local secondary education teachers about the effect of fire on forests and alternative land-use practices in Mato Grosso, Amazonia. The teachers will then use the new training and teaching material we provide to teach their students in new ways and on new topics about fire and alterative land-use in Amazonia. Objectives- 1) Identify teaching needs and develop outreach material: First, meet with local secondary education teachers and learn from them which specific themes about fire in their region would be most beneficial to develop teaching material, e.g., burning impacts on air quality, water availability, or biodiversity. Develop outreach and educational material, building on material about fire produced by our project in collaboration with local partners, including a book (Fogo!), infographics, and cartoon drawings for children. Make the material available on a project website for future use by teachers. 2) Teach the teacher: Work with local research partners to train local university students in secondary education programmes about fire and alternative land-use based on findings from our NERC-supported research across Amazonia, doing this in Mato Grosso, Amazonia heavily affected by fire: Mato Grosso State University via a PhD student at UNEMAT, Brazil supervised by PI Feldpausch, and on leave from his post as a secondary education teacher, with a requirement by his state school to produce teaching material. 3) Local school outreach: With local partners, develop the capacity of local secondary education teachers to teach about fire. We ran a three-day workshop and training session with local teachers. We will produce a short film about the teachers' experiences and publicise the work through social media and a web page. Feedback from the teachers will be used to improve online teaching material. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
Description | Teach the teacher: developing local capacity to teach about forest fires risks and impacts and alternative land-use in Rio Branco, Acre, Amazonia, Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Our approach, based on the concept of "teach the teacher", will work with local partners to train local secondary education teachers about the effect of fire on forests and alternative land-use practices in Acre, Amazonia. The teachers will then use the new training and teaching material we provide to teach their students in new ways and on new topics about fire and alterative land-use in Amazonia. Objectives- 1) Identify teaching needs and develop outreach material: First, meet with local secondary education teachers and learn from them which specific themes about fire in their region would be most beneficial to develop teaching material, e.g., burning impacts on air quality, water availability, or biodiversity. Develop outreach and educational material, building on material about fire produced by our project in collaboration with local partners, including a book (Fogo!), infographics, and cartoon drawings for children. Make the material available on a project website for future use by teachers. 2) Teach the teacher: Work with local research partners to train local university students in secondary education programmes about fire and alternative land-use based on findings from our NERC-supported research across Amazonia, doing this in Rio Branco, Acre, Amazonia heavily affected by fire. 3) Local school outreach: With local partners, develop the capacity of local secondary education teachers to teach about fire. We ran a three-day workshop and training session with local teachers. We will produced a short film about the teachers' experiences and publicise the work through social media and a web page. Feedback from the teachers will be used to improve online teaching material. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Teaching at Universidade Federal de Roraima - Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Teaching R introduction to statistics and Experimental statistics to postgraduate students at Program in Natural Resources, Universidade Federal de Roraima, Brazil. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Teaching at Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Teaching a post-graduate course on tropical forest ecology to Brazilian students at the Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
Description | Training for post-graduate students in Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Profs. Ted Feldpausch, Plinio Camargo, and Dr Lidiany Carvalho led the training of post-graduate students from UNEMAT, Brazil and CENA, Brazil in field research methods for soil analysis and vegetation sampling in Mato Grosso, Brazil. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Training of Brazilian post-graduate students in field and lab methods - UNEMAT - Nova Xavantina, Brazil |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Trained Brazilian post-graduate students in soil sampling and laboratory processing - UNEMAT - Nova Xavantina, Brazil, which led to them taking on leadership of the work, with one MSc and one PhD student developing independent research projects based on the training. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | University of Queensland, James Cook University, Univ of Exeter research workshop - Univ of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | We had a research workshop at UQ Brisbane to give talks to post-graduate students in the School of the Environment, discuss results, draft a PhD advert for future work, and draft a grant proposal. The topics focused on understanding the variation in historical fire in Amazonia, changing vegetation, and the role of atmospheric transport in carrying pyrogenic carbon into the wet interior of Amazonia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Workshop on Science and Practices of Fire in Amazonia: past, present, future |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The Workshop focused on the state of the art of science in knowledge about fire and its use by populations at different times of occupation of the Amazon and reflecting on current environmental changes, their relationship to the risk and impacts of forest fires and thinking about prevention strategies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | leading training to collect soil and charcoal in Peru, Guyana and Colombia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Training for a group of researchers and students to teach the method to sample charcoal and soil for pyrogenic carbon analysis. This training was offered during the fieldwork campaign in Peru, Colombia, and Guyana. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | ¿Los Fuegos Pasados Explican la Dinámica de Carbono Actual de Los Bosques Amazónicos? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Public talk at Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno, Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Bolivia |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | ¿Que nos revela los carbones de los bosque Amazonicos? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Public talk at Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Cusco - Peru |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |