Carbon sequestration associated to the land-use and land-cover changes in the forestry sector in Southern Brazil

We studied the Paraiba do Sul river watershed, Sao Paulo state (PSWSP), Southeastern Brazil, in order to assess the land use and cover (LULC) and their implications to the amount of carbon (C) stored in the forest cover between the years 1985 and 2015. The region covers an area of 1,395,975 ha. We used images made by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor (OLI/Landsat-8) to produce mappings, and image segmentation techniques to produce vectors with homogeneous characteristics. The training samples and the samples used for classification and validation were collected from the segmented image. To quantify the C stocked in aboveground live biomass (AGLB), we used an indirect method and applied literature-based reference values. The recovery of 205,690 ha of a secondary Native Forest (NF) after 1985 sequestered 9.7 Tg (Teragram) of C. Considering the whole NF area (455,232 ha), the amount of C accumulated along the whole watershed was 35.5 Tg, and the whole Eucalyptus crop (EU) area (113,600 ha) sequestered 4.4 Tg of C. Thus, the total amount of C sequestered in the whole watershed (NF + EU) was 39.9 Tg of C or 145.6 Tg of CO2, and the NF areas were responsible for the largest C stock at the watershed (89%). Therefore, the increase of the NF cover contributes positively to the reduction of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) may become one of the most promising compensation mechanisms for the farmers who increased forest cover at their farms9998Conference on Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology XVIII2016-09-26Edinburgh, Escóciasem informaçã

Correction to:Sugarcane Straw Removal: Implications to Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Demand in Brazil (BioEnergy Research, (2019), 12, 4, (888-900), 10.1007/s12155-019-10021-w)

The original version of this article was published with a wrong heading by mistake. The correct heading is Original Paper

Sugarcane Straw Removal:Implications to Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Demand in Brazil

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) straw is a promising feedstock for bioelectricity and cellulosic ethanol in Brazil, but some straw is also needed to sustain nutrient cycling and crop yields. A literature review and two field studies were conducted to quantify above-ground macronutrient accumulation by sugarcane. Five straw removal scenarios using different amounts of biomass and nutrient composition data of top (green) and bottom (dry) leaves were constructed to estimate fertilizer requirements associated with straw removal in central southern Brazil. Calculated straw removal for five scenarios (S1 to S5) was 3.5, 7, 3, 6, and 12 Mg ha−1, respectively. By removing 12 Mg ha−1 of straw (S5), the potential N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S removal was 69, 7, 92, 45, 16, and 14 kg ha−1, respectively. It represents a nutrient (NPK) replacement cost of US$90.00 ha−1 or US$ 7.60 per Mg of removed straw. The scenario analysis shows that less-impacting strategies are those that maintain top leaves in the field and harvesting only bottom leaves (S1 and S2), whereas total removal (S5) could double NPK-fertilizer consumption in sugarcane fields by 2050. Our findings provide stakeholder guidelines for improved straw management, establish an economic value for accumulated plant nutrients, and promote both socio-economic and environmental benefits of more sustainable bioenergy production in Brazil