Best Poster in Soil Chemistry
At the annual meeting of the German Soil Science Society (DBG), doctoral candidate Elisa Diaz was awarded for her poster entitled "Influence of rainfall on soil organic carbon and nitrogen stocks in pastures and forest successions of southwestern Amazonia". Her research explored a 350 km transect in south-western Amazonia to gain insight into how rainfall and land use influence organic carbon and nitrogen levels in the topsoil. The findings demonstrate that rainfall amount is the dominant factor influencing these stocks, while direct effects of land use are comparatively modest. Significantly, the results suggest that deforestation to create pastureland could, by reducing rainfall, lead to a gradual and long-term loss of soil carbon – with possible repercussions for climate stability.
Resilience through biodiversity
"I’m motivated by the need to understand how climate change impacts biodiverse ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest. I’m especially interested in tropical soils, particularly in how land use changes and drought stress impact soil processes and microbial communities", explains Elisa Diaz, recalling with appreciation her experiences in the field. She highlights the strong support received from her colleagues in the PRODIGY project, as well as from local residents and local authorities who made the fieldwork possible.
The PRODIGY project seeks to understand whether greater biodiversity – from soil ecosystems to socioeconomic dimensions – can enhance the resilience of the western Amazon Basin. The work centres on mapping complex interactions within the ecosystem and identifying potential tipping points, where sudden and often irreversible changes occur. In partnership with communities in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, the teams are co-developing sustainable strategies aimed at preventing such tipping points and protecting livelihoods in this region, already facing pressures from climate change and other environmental challenges. A key focus is on biodiversity-driven processes within the soil, critical for vital ecosystem services such as water regulation and nutrient cycling.
PRODIGY is part of the international and interdisciplinary programme "Ecological and Biological Tipping Points (BioTip)", funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
