Global review and state-of-the-art of biomass and carbon stock in the Amazon

Understanding how studies have been carried out in the region helps to understand the Amazon rainforest potential in mitigating climate change. In addition, evaluating scientific production is essential to verify the main methods and places researched. Thus, this study objective was to build an overview and identify the main gaps regarding research related to biomass and carbon stocks with the coverage limit of the Amazon rainforest. Therefore, an analysis of the publications indexed in the Scopus database was developed until 2020, performing a bibliometric analysis and a systematic and state-of-the-art review. Initially 2042 publications were obtained, of which 786 met the inclusion criteria. The first work indexed in the Scopus database related to the theme was published in 1982. Over time, it was possible to observe an increasing behavior in relation to the interest in the theme. Natural environments were the most researched and change in the land use and occupation of the Amazon Rainforest is still poorly evaluated. Brazil is the country with the highest number of studies, followed by Peru and Colombia. Guyana and Suriname appear as possible scientific gaps and potential environments to be studied. Studies preferentially explore the biomass carbon, with the soil being little evaluated when compared to the total amount of papers found. When observing only the biomass studies, the aboveground biomass is the most evaluated, while the roots and necromass are little studied. The main variables used in biomass equations were diameter at 1.3 m above ground and total tree height. The biomass to carbon conversion factor has been widely used, but it can generate unreliable results. It is recommended to carry out local assessments of the carbon content, especially using the dry combustion method, which generates less waste, with more precise results and shorter execution time of the analyses. Such assessments present values for the location that can avoid false or misinterpretations of the biomass and carbon stocks in the Amazon Rainforest.