Rubens Manoel dos Santos

Accurate mapping of woody biomass and its temporal change is critical for understanding the global carbon balance, informing restoration and supporting evidence‐based policy on climate mitigation and livelihoods. The vegetation of the dry tropics, comprised largely of dry forests and savannas, holds substantial woody carbon stocks, but both stocks and change over time remain uncertain. Where Earth Observation (EO) data have been used to estimate change over time, different products give conflicting results on the direction, magnitude and location of change. We present pan‐dry‐tropical maps of aboveground carbon density (AGCD) and AGCD change at 100 m resolution for the years 2015–2024, developed using ALOS ScanSAR satellite radar observations calibrated with in situ measurements ( n = 237). These maps suggest an aboveground woody carbon pool (AGC) in the dry tropics of 25.3 2.0 PgC, ~13.0% of global AGC. Net AGC has increased by 0.43 0.07 PgC yr ⁻¹ , ~20.0% of the global net land sink. The overall net increase (0.43 PgC yr ⁻¹ ) is comprised of gross losses from deforestation and degradation (0.27 0.05 PgC yr ⁻¹ ) and gains due to densification and extensification of 0.59 0.1 PgC yr ⁻¹ , with the balance accounted for by small changes (change < 20% of AGCD; 0.11 PgC yr ⁻¹ ). Losses are equally split between degradation and deforestation, while gains are divided roughly 2:1 between the densification of woody ecosystems and expansion into previously grass‐dominated areas. These new maps, created with a dry‐tropics‐specific EO method, highlight the importance of tropical dry forests and savannas in the global carbon cycle. The prominent role of degradation‐related losses suggests that climate change mitigation will need to focus much more on reducing losses from overharvesting than at present. The widespread increases in carbon density and the increase in tree biomass into open systems present major challenges for biodiversity conservation, restoration and livelihoods.

Recent evidence indicates that Brazilian forests are shifting from persistent carbon sinks to emerging carbon sources, with important implications for the global climate. To investigate this trend, we analyse long-term census data from 49 forest sites spanning southeast and southern Brazil, including tropical and subtropical forests. We examine above-ground carbon dynamics and its relationship with tree diversity and functional traits that are tightly linked with species’ carbon processing and storage capacities. Our findings reveal a long-term trend of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic homogenisation and a decline in the forests’ above-ground carbon sink. Specifically, homogeneous forests have lower carbon losses, whilst forests with more conservative species are associated with greater carbon gains and lower carbon losses. Overall, our study establishes a baseline to understand and predict the above-ground carbon sink in the face of ongoing climate change in this region.

Floodplains provide fertile soils and essential ecosystem services, including water purification and nutrient cycling, yet they face intense human pressure. We investigated the diversity, structure, and functional traits of a tropical floodplain across five eco-units: Marginal Levee, Lower Terrace, Higher Terrace, Lower Plain and Higher Plain. NMDS analysis showed that species composition is strongly shaped by the flooding regime, with Inga vera dominant in most eco-units and Machaerium villosum prevailing in the Higher Plain. The Higher Plain also exhibited the highest aboveground biomass (AGB) and structural heterogeneity. Diameter class distributions differed significantly among eco-units, and terraces showed a higher proportion of sprouting individuals, reflecting adaptive responses to water stress. GLMM models indicated that species adopt conservative strategies under stress, producing thicker, more durable leaves, while stem density and specific stem density respond to soil fertility. These results reveal how hydrological and edaphic factors govern community structure and functional strategies, providing essential insights for the conservation and management of floodplain forests under increasing anthropogenic and climatic pressures.

A crescente geração de resíduos sólidos no Brasil e sua gestão inadequada motivaram a criação da Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos (PNRS), instituída pela Lei nº 12.305/2010. A PNRS define princípios, instrumentos e responsabilidades para a gestão integrada dos resíduos, incluindo a logística reversa e o enfrentamento de áreas órfãs — locais contaminados por descarte irregular, sem identificação dos responsáveis. Essas áreas, comuns em regiões periféricas, representam sérios riscos ambientais e à saúde pública. No município de Cáceres-MT, a gestão de resíduos enfrenta desafios como inexistência de coleta seletiva em vários bairros, ausência de fiscalização eficaz e baixa adesão da população. Mesmo com iniciativas como o Programa Cáceres Recicla, persistem mini lixões em bairros afastados do centro. A pesquisa, de abordagem qualitativa, descritiva, bibliográfica e documental, foi realizada em duas etapas: levantamento teórico sobre a PNRS e diagnóstico de campo das áreas órfãs. Durante visitas técnicas, foram identificadas 23 áreas órfãs em 11 bairros, formando o que chamamos de Cinturão de lixo. Os resíduos foram classificados segundo a NBR 10004:2004: 48% da classe II-B (inertes), 35% da II-A (não inertes) e 17% da classe I (perigosos), com destaque para resíduos plásticos e MDF. Os resultados apontam para a urgência de políticas públicas mais eficazes, ações educativas e inclusão dos bairros periféricos nas estratégias de gestão ambiental, garantindo sustentabilidade, saúde e qualidade de vida para a população cacerense.

Seasonal floodplain forests are unique but threatened ecosystems. Trees in these ecosystems have adapted to extreme conditions of excess water and drought. However, what water sources these trees use is not fully known and therefore the vulnerability of floodplain forests to changes in the hydrological cycle remains poorly understood. In this study, we sampled different water sources (precipitation, streamflow, groundwater, soil water at different depths) and vegetation across six floodplain forests in the Rio Grande and São Francisco basins in southeastern Brazil during four campaigns (two dry and two wet seasons). We used water stable isotope data to investigate the sources for root water uptake. There was no consistent dry‐to‐wet season variation in the isotopic composition of soil water, but soil water reflected the isotopic signature of the wet season’s precipitation and overbank flow. There was a very large variability in the isotopic composition of xylem water, but no consistent pattern across the floodplains, or between tree species. Mixing model analyses suggest that for the floodplains in the Rio Grande basin, soil water was the main source of root water uptake during the wet season (64% ± 17) but not during the dry season (43% ± 17), when streamflow and groundwater were the main sources. In the São Francisco basin, soil water was the main source of root water uptake (60% ± 17 and 72% ± 15 for the wet and dry seasons, respectively). However, the uncertainties are large due to the similarity in the isotopic composition of potential water sources.

Understanding the capacity of forests to adapt to climate change is of pivotal importance for conservation science, yet this is still widely unknown. This knowledge gap is particularly acute in high-biodiversity tropical forests. Here, we examined how tropical forests of the Americas have shifted community trait composition in recent decades as a response to changes in climate. Based on historical trait-climate relationships, we found that, overall, the studied functional traits show shifts of less than 8% of what would be expected given the observed changes in climate. However, the recruit assemblage shows shifts of 21% relative to climate change expectation. The most diverse forests on Earth are changing in functional trait composition but at a rate that is fundamentally insufficient to track climate change.

The use of reference ecosystem inventories to guide ecological restoration is essential for monitoring the success of environmental recovery. The aim of this study was to carry out a floristic and edaphic inventory in old growth riparian forest remnants from the upper River Doce watershed, to provide subsidies for restoration programmes. The study was carried out in the municipalities of Rio Casca, Sem-Peixe, and Santa Cruz do Escalvado. The most representative families in species richness were Fabaceae, Meliaceae, Sapindaceae, Bignoniaceae, and Salicaceae. Based on the chemical properties of the soils, there was considerable heterogeneity among plots, with soils ranging from acidic to neutral (pH 3.8–6.3), with variable contents of phosphorus (0.0–7.6 mg × dm-3), and aluminum saturation (0.0–66.5%), among other factors. The co-inertia analysis showed a highly significant connection of 51.5% (p < 0.001) between floristic and edaphic matrices in tree stratum, and 46.5% (p < 0.001) between floristic and edaphic matrices in the sapling stratum. The reference ecosystems presented here suggest that action plans aimed at recovering the riparian forest should consider the edaphic conditions and its relationship with the plant community on a regional scale, avoiding the extrapolation of observed pattern of taxon-environment relationships to other regions.

Background: Forests in the Atlantic Forest Domain are increasingly threatened by fire, which disrupts their structure, biodiversity, and resilience. This study investigates how fire impacts functional diversity, community structure, and regeneration in fragmented forest patches near urban areas.

Tree growth and longevity trade-offs fundamentally shape the terrestrial carbon balance. Yet, we lack a unified understanding of how such trade-offs vary across the world’s forests. By mapping life history traits for a wide range of species across the Americas, we reveal considerable variation in life expectancies from 10 centimeters in diameter (ranging from 1.3 to 3195 years) and show that the pace of life for trees can be accurately classified into four demographic functional types. We found emergent patterns in the strength of trade-offs between growth and longevity across a temperature gradient. Furthermore, we show that the diversity of life history traits varies predictably across forest biomes, giving rise to a positive relationship between trait diversity and productivity. Our pan-latitudinal assessment provides new insights into the demographic mechanisms that govern the carbon turnover rate across forest biomes.