Gold mining has become one of the main environmental threats in the Amazon region, including peatlands and forests. The complete transformation of the Amazonian landscape caused by mining can have far-reaching consequences. The issue of mining’s effects has received little coverage in terms of chemical, microbial, and greenhouse gas emissions. (…)

This project links microbial distribution, soil geochemistry, and functional traits of CH-mediating microbes.4in Amazonian peatlands. Various forms of modeling observations at the meter and kilometer scale were evaluated, identifying critical values ​​and potential ways to incorporate microbes into methane emissions estimates. This research was coupled with educational objectives, uniting research, (…)

This pioneering study systematically measured gas emissions in Amazonian peatlands for the first time, along with productivity and hydrology. It documents how variations in water and geochemistry modulate emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The researchers were professors, postdocs, doctoral students, bachelor’s, undergraduate, and secondary school students.