Wildfire legacies on pyrogenic carbon stocks in Amazonian peatlands.

Amazonian peatlands are carbon-rich ecosystems that act as long-term carbon sinks but have faced increasing fire risks in recent decades. As a legacy of past fires, the contribution of pyrogenic carbon (PyC) to carbon cycling in these peatlands remains poorly understood. Here, we assess PyC accumulation variability using six cores spanning peatlands in northwestern Amazonia using hydrogen pyrolysis. We also estimate the PyC stock for the entire Amazonian peatlands by combining our field dataset with published sources. The PyC to total organic carbon ratio averaged 1.2% across our sites and increased with peat age. We estimate a total peatland PyC stock of 0.73 ± 0.61 Pg for the Amazon Basin, representing 1.6% of their TOC stock. Due to the slower turnover of PyC in peatland ecosystems, our findings indicate the importance of PyC generated by past fires and highlight the potential long-term carbon sequestration role of PyC in the future carbon cycle.

Project(s)

Priority 4: Accelerated Taxonomy

Funder

Funder name	Awards
University of Queensland, Australia	PhD scholarship
University of Exeter, United Kingdom	PhD scholarship
Natural Environment Research Council	National Environmental Isotope Facility (NEIF) under grant NE/S011587/1 (allocation number 2353.0321 - Knowledge Exchange Fellowship (grant NE/V018760/2) - NE/W001691/1 - NE/R017980/1 - NE/N011570/1
European Research Council, European Union	European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 865403)
Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research, United States	FAIN AID-OAA-A-11-00012