Agroforestry systems recover tree carbon stock faster than natural succession in Eastern Amazon, Brazil

Microbiome resilience of Amazonian forests: Agroforest divergence to bacteria and secondary forest succession convergence to fungi

“…Agroforestry system remains as an important alternative to slash‐and‐burn agriculture and previous studies confirmed that they are capable of recovering carbon faster than in spontaneous secondary forests (Cardozo et al, 2022 ). Apart from that, all AFS we studied resulted in higher income: cost ratio when compared with slash‐and‐burning agriculture (Cardozo et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Consequently, the goal of mimicking of MF may be unattainable for commonly used agroforestry practices, thus posing a potential obstacle in efforts to restore aboveground–belowground interactions (plant biomass and soil factors) and related functionalities. Most agroforestry practices are considered low‐impact land‐use practices that maintain similar or even higher aboveground biomass (Cardozo et al, 2022 ). By modeling the soil microbial community jointly with the aboveground biomass and soil factors, we moved beyond the mere identification of the impacts of each land‐use system.…”

“…Only CPA had received fertilization (NPK applied close to the plants and following the agronomic recommendations of each species) as well as initial liming. According to Cardozo et al ( 2022 ), the most common species in the agroforests were: açaí ( Euterpe oleracea Mart. ), mango ( Mangifera indica L.), banana ( Musa spp.…”

“…Agroforestry has been proposed a sustainable alternative to slash‐and‐burn shifting cultivation in the tropics. The core principle of agroforestry systems (AFS) lies in combining trees with crops, and/or animals in the same plot of land (a multistrata system) (Atangana et al, 2014 ) to mimic plant succession in the spontaneous forest (Cezar et al, 2015 ; Young, 2017 ), while including crop production (Cardozo et al, 2015 , 2022 ). When appropriately managed, agroforestry practices improve the topsoil physico‐chemical properties by increasing phosphorus and potassium contents (Pinho et al, 2012 ), maintain soil organic matter content (Leite et al, 2014 ), and promote nutrient cycling via nutrient pumping and safety net mechanisms (Seneviratne et al, 2006 ), which all strictly depend on ecosystem services delivered by the soil microbes (Wagg et al, 2014 ).…”

Bioeconomia na Amazônia: importância da matéria orgânica do solo para a manutenção dos sistemas produtivos

“…Os SAFs desempenham funções ecológicas importantes como o controle da erosão do solo, redução da lixiviação de nutrientes e aumento do sequestro de carbono (Wilson & Lovell, 2016), sendo considerados uma estratégia para recuperar serviços do ecossistema em áreas degradadas (Cardozo et al, 2022;Schwarza et al, 2021), inclusive em solos degradados após a queima (Celentano et al, 2020). Os SAFs permitem a manutenção e até mesmo o aumento da fertilidade do solo graças a sua capacidade de promover a ciclagem de nutrientes, protegendo e alimentando a camada de liteira da superfície do solo (Luizão et al, 2009).…”