Forest fragments from Amazon are important long-term carbon (C) reservoirs with an essential role in the global C balance. They are often impacted by understory fires, deforestation, selective logging and livestock. Forest fires convert soil organic matter into pyrogenic carbon (PyC), but little is known about its distribution and accumulation along the soil profile. Thus, the objective of this study is to estimate the refractory carbon stocks derived from PyC accumulated in the soil vertical profile of different seasonal forest fragments in the Amazon. Sixty-nine soil cores (1 m deep) were collected in 12 forest fragments of different sizes considering edge and interior gradients. The mean total organic C (TOC) and PyC contents for the edge and interior gradients were 0.84% and 0.009%, respectively. The PyC/TOC ratio ranged from 0.53% to 1.78%, with an average of 1.32% and increasing in depth, being low when compared with other studies, where the contribution of PyC to TOC ranges from 1 to 9%. PyC stocks on the edge (1.04 ± 0.04 Mg ha-1) differed significantly from the interior (1.46 ± 0.03 Mg ha-1). The analyzed forest fragments presented a weighted PyC stock of 1.37 ± 0.65 Mg ha-1. The vertical distribution of PyC declined in depth with 70% of PyC concentrated in the surface soil layers (0-30 cm). These results indicate that the PyC accumulated in the vertical profile of soils in forest fragments in Amazonia are important, and they need to be considered in Brazilian and global reports on carbon stocks and fluxes.
Keywords: Carbon stocks; Forest fires; Seasonal forests; Spatial distribution.
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