Indigenous Charcoal and Biochar Production: Potential for Soil Improvement under Shifting Cultivation Systems

Land Degradation and Development

Volumn 28, Issue 3, 2017, Pages 811-821

  Coomes, Oliver T ^a   Miltner, Benjamin C ^a  

^a MCGILL UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

Amazonia; biochar; charcoal production; rain forest; tropical soils

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURE; BRICKMAKING; CHARCOAL; CULTIVATION; FORESTRY; POROSITY; PRODUCTIVITY; SOILS;

AMAZONIA; BIO CHARS; CHARCOAL PRODUCTION; RAIN FORESTS; TROPICAL SOILS;

KILNS;

AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE; BIOCHAR; CULTIVATION; PRODUCTIVITY; RAINFOREST; SOIL IMPROVEMENT; SOIL REMEDIATION; TROPICAL SOIL;

AMAZONIA; IQUITOS; LORETO; PERU;

EID: 84959017671     PISSN: 10853278     EISSN: 1099145X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2500     Document Type: Article

References (62)

1. Barrow CJ. 2012. Biochar: potential for countering land degradation and for improving agriculture. Applied Geography 34: 21–28. DOI:10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.09.008.
2. Brevik EC, Cerdà A, Mataix-Solera J, Pereg L, Quiton J, Six J, Van Oost K. 2015. The interdisciplinary nature of SOIL. SOIL 1: 117–129. DOI:10.5194/soil-1-117-2015.
3. Bruun TB, Elberling B, de Neergaard A, Magid J. 2015. Organic carbon dynamics in different soil types after conversion of forest to agriculture. Land Degradation and Development 26: 272–283. DOI:10.1002/ldr.2205.
4. Cerdà A, Flanagan CD, Le Bissonnais Y, Boardman J. 2009. Soil erosion and agriculture. Soil and Tillage Research 106: 107–108. DOI:10.1016/j.still.2009.10.
5. Certini G. 2005. Effects of fire on properties of forest soils: a review. Oecologia 143: 1–10. DOI:10.1007/s00442-004-1788-8.
6. Chave J, Coomes D, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Swenson NG, Zanne AE. 2009. Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Ecology Letters 12: 351–366. DOI:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01285.x.
7. Chidumayo EN. 1994. Effects of wood carbonization on soil and initial development of seedlings in miombo woodland, Zambia. Forest Ecology and Management 70: 353–357. DOI:10.1016/0378-1127(94)90101-5.
8. Clavo M, Fernández-Bacal J. 1999. Regeneración natural de especies arbóreas para el establecimiento de sistemas silvopastoriles. Revista de Investigaciones Veterinarias del Perú (10): 71–81. DOI:10.15381/rivep.v10i1.6624.
9. Colazo JC, Buschiazzo D. 2015. The impact of agriculture on soil texture due to wind erosion. Land Degradation and Development 26: 62–70. DOI:10.1002/ldr.2297.
10. Coomes OT, Burt GJ. 1997. Indigenous market-oriented agroforestry: dissecting local diversity in western Amazonia. Agroforestry Systems 37: 27–44. DOI:10.1023/A:1005834816188.
11. Coomes OT, Burt GJ. 2001. Peasant charcoal production in the Peruvian Amazon: rainforest use and economic reliance. Forest Ecology and Management 140: 39–50. DOI:10.1016/S0378-1127(00)00274-7.
12. Coomes OT, Takasaki Y, Rhemtulla JM. 2011. Land-use poverty traps identified in shifting cultivation systems shape long-term tropical forest cover. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108: 13925–13930. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1012973108.
13. de Oliveira SP, de Lacerda NB, Blum SC, Escobar MEO, de Oliveira TS. 2015. Organic carbon and nitrogen stocks in soils of northeastern Brazil converted to irrigated agriculture. Land Degradation and Development 26: 9–21. DOI:10.1002/ldr.2264.
14. Dubreuil MA, Moore TR. 1982. Post-fire nutrient redistribution in subarctic spruce-lichen woodlands. Canadian Journal of Botany 60: 2511–2517. DOI:10.1139/b82-304.
15. FAO. 2004. UBET: unified bioenergy terminology. FAO Forestry Department, Wood Energy Program. Retrieved from http://fao.org/docrep/007/j4504E/j4504e00.htm
16. Foley JA, Ramankutty N, Brauman KA, Cassidy ES, Gerber JS, Johnston M, Mueller ND, O'Connell C, Ray DK, West PC, Balzer C, Bennett EM, Carpenter SR, Hill J, Monfreda C, Polasky S, Rockström J, Sheehan J, Siebert S, Tilman D, Zaks DPM. 2011. Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature 478: 337–342. DOI:10.1038/nature10452.
17. Glaser B. 2007. Prehistorically modified soils of central Amazonia: a model for sustainable agriculture in the twenty-first century. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences 362: 187–196. DOI:10.1098/rstb.2006.1978.
18. Glaser B. 2014. Soil biogeochemistry. From molecular to ecosystem level using terra preta and biochar as examples. In Agroecology, ecosystems, and sustainability. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 1–40. DOI: 10.1201/b17775-2.
19. Glaser B, Haumaier L, Guggenberger G, Zech W. 2001. The ‘terra preta’ phenomenon: a model for sustainable agriculture in the humid tropics. Naturwissenschaften 88: 37–41. DOI:10.1007/s001140000193.
20. Glaser B, Lehmann J, Zech W. 2002. Ameliorating physical and chemical properties of highly weathered soils in the tropics with charcoal – a review. Biology and Fertility of Soils 35: 219–230. DOI:10.1007/s00374-002-0466-4.
21. González-Pérez JA, González-Villa FJ, Almendros G, Knicher H. 2004. The effect of fire on soil organic matter. Environment International 30: 855–870. DOI:10.1016/j.envint.2004.02.003.
22. Gómez-Luna BE, Rivera-Mosqueda MC, Dendooven L, Vázquez-Marrufo G, Olalde-Portugal V. 2009. Charcoal production at kiln sites affects C and N dynamics and associated soil microorganisms in Quercus spp. temperate forests of central Mexico. Applied Soil Ecology 41: 50–58. DOI:10.1016/j.apsoil.2008.08.007.
23. Hardy CC. 1996. Guidelines for estimating volume, biomass, and smoke production for piled slash. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.
24. Hendershot WH, Duquette M. 1986. A simple barium chloride method for determining cation exchange capacity and exchangeable cations. Soil Science Society of America Journal 50: 605–608. DOI:10.2136/sssaj1986.03615995005000030013x.
25. Hendershot WH, Lalande H, Duquette M. 1993. Soil reaction and exchangeable acidity. Soil sampling and methods of analysis. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 173–178. DOI: 10.1201/9781420005271.ch16.
26. Hosier RH. 1993. Charcoal production and environmental degradation. Energy Policy 21: 491–509. DOI:10.1016/0301-4215(93)90037-G.
27. Kern D, Ruivo M, Frazão F. 2009. Terra preta nova: the dream of Wim Sombroek. Amazonian Dark Earths: Wim Sombroek's vision. Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands, 339–349. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-9031-8_18.
28. Kirby KR, Potvin C. 2007. Variation in carbon storage among tree species: implications for the management of a small-scale carbon sink project. Forest Ecology and Management 246: 208–221. DOI:10.1016/j.foreco.2007.03.072.
29. Kroetsch D, Wang C. 2008. Particle size distribution. Soil sampling and methods of analysis (2nd ed.). CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 713–725. DOI: 10.1201/9781420005271.ch55.
30. Kurth VJ, MacKenzie MD, DeLuca TH. 2006. Estimating charcoal content in forest mineral soils. Geoderma 137: 135–139. DOI:10.1016/j.geoderma.2006.08.003.
31. Labarta RA, White DS, Swinton SM. 2008. Does charcoal production slow agricultural expansion into the Peruvian Amazon rainforest? World Development 36: 527–540. DOI:10.1016/j.worlddev.2007.04.011.
32. Lal R. 2009. Soils and food sufficiency. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 29: 113–133. DOI:10.1051/agro:2008044.
33. Lehmann J. 2007. Bio-energy in the black. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 5: 381–387. DOI:10.1890/1540-9295(2007)5[381:BITB]2.0.CO;2.
34. Lehmann J. 2009. Terra preta nova – where to from here? Amazonian Dark Earths: Wim Sombroek's vision. Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands, 473–486. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-9031-8_28.
35. Lehmann J, Joseph S. 2015. Biochar for environmental management: science and technology, Second edn. EarthScan: Sterling, VA.
36. Lehmann J, Rondon M. 2006. Biochar soil management on highly weathered soils in the humid tropics. Biological approaches to sustainable soil systems. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, Taylor & Francis Group, 517–530.
37. Lehmann J, da Silva Jr JP, Rondon M, Cravo MDS, Greenwood J, Nehls T, Steiner C, Glaser B. 2002. Slash-and-char – a feasible alternative for soil fertility management in the central Amazon? In Proceedings of the 17th World Congress of Soil Science, Bangkok, Thailand. DOI: 10.1.1.6.514
38. Mataix-Solera J, Cerdà A, Arcenegui V, Jordán A, Zavala LM. 2011. Fire effects on soil aggregation: a review. Earth-Science Reviews 109: 44–60. DOI:10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.08.002.
39. Mehlich A. 1984. Mehlich 3 soil test extractant: a modification of Mehlich 2 extractant. Communications in Soil Science & Plant Analysis 15: 1409–1416. DOI:10.1080/00103628409367568.
40. Mikan CJ, Abrams MD. 1996. Mechanisms inhibiting the forest development of historic charcoal hearths in southeastern Pennsylvania. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 26: 1893–1898. DOI:10.1139/x26-213.
41. Miltner BC, Coomes OT. 2015. Indigenous innovation incorporates biochar into swidden–fallow agroforestry systems: charcoal kiln site agriculture in the Peruvian Amazon. Agroforestry Systems 89: 409–420. DOI:10.1007/s10457-014-9775-5.
42. Nigussie A, Kissi E. 2011. Effect of charcoal production on soil properties in southwestern Ethiopia. Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 9: 807–813. DOI:10.4314/ejesm.v5i3.12.
43. Ogundele AT, Oladapo OS, Aweto AO. 2012. Effects of charcoal production on soil in kiln sites in Ibarapa area, southwestern Nigeria. Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management 5: 296–304. DOI:10.4314/ejesm.v5i3.12.
44. Oguntunde P, Fosu M, Ajayi A, de Giesen NV. 2004. Effects of charcoal production on maize yield, chemical properties and texture of soil. Biology and Fertility of Soils 39: 295–299. DOI:10.1007/s00374-003-0707-1.
45. Paz-Ferreiro J, Méndez A, Am T, Cerdà A, Gasco G. 2014. Preface: environmental benefits of biochar. Solid Earth 5: 1301–1303. DOI:10.5194/se-5-1301-2014.
46. Perrault-Archambault M, Coomes OT. 2008. Distribution of agrobiodiversity in home gardens along the Corrientes River, Peruvian Amazon. Economic Botany 62: 109–126. DOI:10.1007/s12231-008-9010-2.
47. Senelwa K, Ekakoro E, Kirongo BB, Etiégni L, Orori B, Lipwoni V, Kaherru Katigo J, Mboma LM. 2011. Effect of charcoal earth kilns construction and firing on soil chemical characteristics. Jurnal Manajemen Hutan Tropika 15: 91–95.
48. Sohi SP, Krull E, Lopez-Capel E, Bol R. 2010. A review of biochar and its uses and function in soil. Advances in Agronomy 105: 47–82. DOI:10.1016/S0065-2113(10)05002-9.
49. Sombroek W, Kern D, Rodrigues T, Cravo MDS, Cunha TJ, Woods W, Glaser B. 2002. Terra preta and terra mulata: pre-Columbian Amazon kitchen middens and agricultural fields, their sustainability and their replication. In Proceedings of the 17th World Congress of Soil Science, Bangkok, Thailand.
50. Spokas KA, Cantrell KB, Novak JM, Archer DW, Ippolito JA, Collins HP, Boateng AA, Lima IM, Lamb MC, McAloon AJ, Lentz RD, Nichols KA. 2012. Biochar: a synthesis of its agronomic impact beyond carbon sequestration. Journal of Environmental Quality 41: 973–989. DOI:10.2134/jeq2011.0069.
51. Stanchi S, Falsone G, Bonifacio E. 2015. Soil aggregation, erodibility, and erosion rates in mountain soils (NW Alps, Italy). Solid Earth 6: 403–414. DOI:10.5194/se-6-403-2015.
52. Steiner C, Teixeira WG, Zech W. 2004. Slash and char – an alternative to slash and burn practiced in the Amazon basin. Amazonian Dark Earths: explorations in space and time. Springer: Heidelberg, Germany, 182–193. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-05683-7_14.
53. Steiner C, Teixeira WG, Lehmann J, Nehls T, de Macêdo JLV, Blum WEH, Zech W. 2007. Long term effects of manure, charcoal and mineral fertilization on crop production and fertility on a highly weathered Central Amazonian upland soil. Plant and Soil 292: 275–290. DOI:10.1007/s11104-007-9193-9.
54. Swami SN, Steiner C, Teixeira WG, Lehmann J. 2009. Charcoal making in the Brazilian Amazon: economic aspects of production and carbon conversion efficiencies of kilns. Amazonian Dark Earths: Wim Sombroek's vision. Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands, 411–422. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-9031-8_23.
55. Terra Preta Program 2015. http://www.terrapretaprogram.org/homepage.aspx. Site visited November 3, 2015.
56. Tilman D, Balzer C, Hill J, Befort BL. 2011. Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108: 20260–20264. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1116437108.
57. Thomas SC, Gale N. 2015. Biochar and forest restoration: a review and meta-analysis of tree growth responses. New Forests 46: 931–946. DOI:10.1007/s11056-015-9491-7.
58. Wood SLR, Rhemtulla JM, Coomes OT. 2016. Intensification of tropical fallow-based agriculture: trading-off ecosystem services for economic gain in shifting cultivation landscapes? Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 215: 47–56. DOI:10.1016/j.agee.2015.09.005.
59. Woods WI, Denevan WM. 2009. Amazonian Dark Earths: the first century of reports. Amazonian Dark Earths: Wim Sombroek's vision. Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands, 1–14. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-9031-8_1.
60. Woolf D, Amonette JE, Street-Perrott FA, Lehmann J, Joseph S. 2010. Sustainable biochar to mitigate global climate change. Nature Communications 1. DOI:10.1038/ncomms1053.
61. Young MJ, Johnson JE, Abrams MD. 1996. Vegetative and edaphic characteristics on relic charcoal hearths in the Appalachian mountains. Plant Ecology 125: 43–50. DOI:10.1007/BF00045203.
62. Zanne AE, Lopez-Gonzalez G, Coomes DA, Ilic J, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Miller RB, Swenson NG, Wiemann MC, Chave J. 2009. Global wood density database data from: towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Dryad Digital Repository. DOI:10.5061/dryad.234.