Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Ecological Modeling, Nature and Landscape Conservation
31
Scopus Publications
3278
Scholar Citations
15
Scholar h-index
19
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Vast, overlooked peat, and organic soils in Brazil's Cerrado: carbon storage, dynamics, and stability Larissa S. Verona, Amy E. Zanne, Susan Trumbore, Paulo N. Bernardino, Guilherme M. Alencar, et al. New Phytologist, 2026 Summary Tropical peatlands are critical for climate mitigation due to their dual role as major carbon sinks and methane sources. In rainforests, high and stable rainfall supports peat accumulation in tropical climates. However, groundwater‐fed peatlands in seasonally dry tropical ecosystems remain poorly understood, despite their potential importance in global carbon dynamics. Here, we present an integrated carbon assessment in organic soil ecosystems (locally known as Veredas and Campos úmidos) in the Brazilian savanna. We quantified carbon in soil and biomass, dated carbon using radiocarbon, and evaluated chemical stability using infrared spectrometry. We used machine learning models to map their potential area. Additionally, we measured soil CO 2 and CH 4 efluxes to evaluate the influence of climatic seasonality on emissions. Veredas contained exceptionally high carbon stocks ( c. 1200 Mg C ha −1 ) accumulated over c. 20 000 yr and spanning c. 16.7 Mha. However, spectroscopy indicated low carbon stability compared to other tropical peatlands, and c. 70% of annual CO 2 and CH 4 emissions occurred during the dry season. Our findings show that the Brazilian Cerrado harbors one of the largest carbon‐storing ecosystems in the tropical Americas, yet one that is highly vulnerable to land‐use change and intensified drought. Despite their wide distribution, peat accumulation and the extent of Veredas remain uncertain.
Fishers’ local ecological knowledge provides valuable insights into the impacts of environmental changes on coastal fishing resources Johnny Antonio da Silva Lima, Andre Braga Junqueira, Jose Gilmar Cavalcante de Oliveira, Guilherme Gerhardt Mazzochini, Ana Paula de Oliveira Santos, et al. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 2025 Global changes driven by pollution, overexploitation and climate change are altering coastal systems worldwide, with significant impacts on socioecological systems, especially in fishing communities reliant on marine resources. Using local ecological knowledge from two fishing communities in Brazil’s Costa dos Corais Environmental Protection Area, we assessed the effects of these changes on fishing resources and livelihoods. Through semi-structured interviews, 113 fishermen and fisherwomen reported declines or local extinctions of key species, such as shellfish ( Tivela mactroides and Anomalocardia brasiliana ) and fish ( Albula vulpes , Caranx hippos , Epinephelus marginatus and Mycteroperca bonaci ). These declines vary by species and are linked to their commercial value and trophic level, with higher trophic levels and commercial value associated with stronger perceptions of decline. The study highlights the broad, multidirectional impacts of global changes on fishing activities and underscores the value of local ecological knowledge in understanding these effects. Such insights are crucial for developing effective, context-specific public policies and adaptation strategies to support vulnerable coastal communities.
Fire triggers reestablishment of invasive grasses in a neotropical savanna under restoration André L. Giles, Mateus C. Silva, Guilherme G. Mazzochini, Bernardo M. Flores, Lucy Rowland, et al. Restoration Ecology, 2025 Excluding invasive grasses is a significant challenge for neotropical savanna restoration. Invasive grasses alter fire regimes with feedbacks on soil nutrient pools, favoring their own dominance over native species. Here we combine remote sensing with an opportunistic experiment to monitor a savanna under restoration before and after a large natural fire. We measured vegetation and soil fertility in a 4‐year‐old restoration area in Central Brazil, which was subsequently hit by a lightning fire. The restoration area was originally utilized as pasture, dominated by invasive grasses. Over the restoration period, native fast‐growing grasses replaced the invasive species. Within the first year after the fire, we found that the fire had reduced aboveground biomass, species diversity, and abundance of native species with acquisitive resource‐use strategies. Soil phosphorus and pH increased after the fire and favored the re‐invasion of exotic grass species. Our findings suggest that fire occurrence early in the restoration process may trigger exotic grass re‐invasion driven by soil nutrient enrichment. To diminish the re‐invasion risk from exotic grasses in savannas undergoing restoration, managers should beware of the early fire or manage soil fertility after fire events. Successful restoration may also benefit by incorporating native species with high post‐fire recovery capacity.
Soil acidification controls invasive plant species in the restoration of degraded Cerrado grasslands Demétrius Lira‐Martins, Rafael O. Xavier, Guilherme G. Mazzochini, Larissa S. Verona, Thalia Andreuccetti, et al. Restoration Ecology, 2025 The Cerrado, South America's largest savanna, has acidic, nutrient‐poor soils and its native plants thrive under these conditions. However, abandoned pastures historically undergo changes in chemical properties due to interventions like liming and fertilizer use. This favors invasive African grasses and hinders native plants, impacting restoration efforts. In a Cerrado grassland undergoing restoration study, we tested whether soil acidification could restore native soil conditions and control invasives using 56 plots across 14 blocks. We hypothesized that decreased soil pH and nutrient availability would reduce invasive biomass and enhance diversity. We show that acidification reduced invasive biomass by 71%, with acidification negatively affecting invasives while sparing natives. Maintaining nutrient‐poor soil conditions can help to control invasive grasses in restoration projects, as fertilizer application can favor invasive species establishment. Soil acidification effectiveness depends on local nutrient levels. Areas with high soil cation content may require larger amendment quantities. Restoration strategies in nutrient‐poor ecosystems should aim recovering historical soil conditions to control invasives growth and support slow‐growing native plants.
Under the mantra: ‘Make use of colorblind friendly graphs’ Duccio Rocchini, Ludovico Chieffallo, Elisa Thouverai, Rossella D'Introno, Francesca Dagostin, et al. Environmetrics, 2024 Colorblindness is a genetic condition that affects a person's ability to accurately perceive colors. Several papers still exist making use of rainbow colors palette to show output. In such cases, for colorblind people such graphs are meaningless. In this paper, we propose good practices and coding solutions developed in the R Free and Open Source Software to (i) simulate colorblindness, (ii) develop colorblind friendly color palettes and (iii) provide the tools for converting a noncolorblind friendly graph into a new image with improved colors.
Spectral asynchrony as a measure of ecosystem response diversity Guilherme G. Mazzochini, Lucy Rowland, Demétrius Lira‐Martins, Fernanda de V. Barros, Bernardo M. Flores, et al. Global Change Biology, 2024 Species diversity is crucial for promoting ecosystem resilience and stability. Species diversity promotes complementarity in resource use, resulting in a wider range of responses to adverse conditions. This enables populations of different species to fluctuate asynchronously, maintaining ecosystem functioning during extreme climatic events. However, incorporating such mechanisms into conservation decisions and ecosystem modelling requires scalable metrics that represent species diversity, which is currently lacking. To address this, we introduce spectral asynchrony, a metric that captures the spatial heterogeneity of species’ functional responses occurring in distinct pixels. Here, we use remote sensing datasets to investigate the relationship between spectral asynchrony and productivity responses of seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) to climatic fluctuations. Our findings reveal that spectral asynchrony is associated with increased resistance and recovery of SDTF productivity in following extreme drought years, as well as greater productivity stability over two decades. Furthermore, higher spectral asynchrony was associated with relatively wetter regions, suggesting that increasing aridity across SDTF could potentially reduce landscape heterogeneity and limit ecosystem resilience to increasing droughts in the future. Spectral asynchrony provides an easily measurable and monitorable metric for assessing ecosystem responses to global changes, reflecting and scaling‐up the effects of species diversity at the local level.
Effects of grass functional diversity on invasion success by exotic grasses in Cerrado grasslands Guilherme G. Mazzochini, Demétrius Lira‐Martins, Fernanda V. de Barros, Ana C. C. Oliveira, Rafael O. Xavier, et al. Journal of Applied Ecology, 2024 Invasive species pose significant challenges to successful restoration efforts worldwide. A strategy to reduce invasions is to establish communities consisting of species with varied ecological strategies. These strategies typically align along the conservative and plant size axes, and more recently, along a below‐ground collaboration axis. However, we lack understanding of how the diverse ecological strategies of Cerrado grass species, their combinations and their interactions with soil conditions can mitigate invasions. Here, we investigated how native grass communities composed by species with different ecological strategies affect the invasion success in two soil types of abandoned pastures in the Cerrado. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that greater above‐ and below‐ground functional diversity reduces exotic species invasion. We also evaluated whether the isolated effects of native species on invasion were positive or negative. We installed an experiment with species richness ranging from zero to eight native grass species. In November 2019, we sowed species combinations to create communities composed by species with different ecological strategies. We quantified the above‐ground biomass of exotic species as a measure of invasion. To characterize the species ecological strategies, we measured five functional traits. Functional diversity of maximum height and specific root length (SRL) had the highest predictive power; however, the most parsimonious model included only SRL diversity, which represents the collaboration axis. Native above‐ground biomass was also negatively related to exotic species biomass. Furthermore, invasion was greater in less stressful soil conditions but did not interact with diversity. The effect of native species varied from facilitation to competition, with the annual fast‐growing native species favouring invasion. Synthesis and applications. Our results show that greater functional diversity of combined above‐ and below‐ground traits reduces invasion success, shedding light on an underexplored role of specific root length diversity. The competitive and facilitative effects of different native species highlight the need for careful selection of the species to be used in restoration programmes. Furthermore, the absence of interaction between diversity and soil types highlights the need for an integrated management of the functional composition and edaphic factors to increase resistance to invasion in these Neotropical grass communities.
Rainfall and topographic position determine tree embolism resistance in Amazônia and Cerrado sites Caio R C Mattos, Guilherme G Mazzochini, Bianca F Rius, Deliane Penha, Leandro L Giacomin, et al. Environmental Research Letters, 2023 Droughts are predicted to increase in both frequency and intensity by the end of the 21st century, but ecosystem response is not expected to be uniform across landscapes. Here we assess the importance of the hill-to-valley hydrologic gradient in shaping vegetation embolism resistance under different rainfall regimes using hydraulic functional traits. We demonstrate that rainfall and hydrology modulate together the embolism resistance of tree species in different sites and topographic positions. Although buffered by stable access to groundwater, valley plants are intrinsically more vulnerable to drought-induced embolism than those on hills. In all study sites, the variability in resistance to embolism is higher on hills than on valleys, suggesting that the diversity of strategies to cope with drought is more important for tree communities on hills. When comparing our results with previously published data across the tropics, we show greater variability at the local scale than previously reported. Our results reinforce the urgent need to extend sampling efforts across rainfall regimes and topographic positions to improve the characterization of ecosystem resistance to drought at finer spatial scales.
New insights into the plant functional strategies of woody species in the Brazilian Savanna F de V Barros, D Lira-Martins, GG Mazzochini, L Maracahipes, B Stein, ... Annals of Botany, mcag080 , 2026 2026
Vast, overlooked peat, and organic soils in Brazil's Cerrado: carbon storage, dynamics, and stability LS Verona, AE Zanne, S Trumbore, PN Bernardino, GM Alencar, ... New Phytologist , 2026 2026 Citations: 3
Ten new insights in climate science 2025 D Ospina, P Mirazo, RP Allan, S Basnett, A Bastos, N Bhattarai, ... Global Sustainability 9, e6 , 2026 2026 Citations: 3
Fishers’ local ecological knowledge provides valuable insights into the impacts of environmental changes on coastal fishing resources JA da Silva Lima, AB Junqueira, JGC de Oliveira, GG Mazzochini, ... Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292 (2058) , 2025 2025 Citations: 2
Fire triggers reestablishment of invasive grasses in a neotropical savanna under restoration AL Giles, MC Silva, GG Mazzochini, BM Flores, L Rowland, ... Restoration Ecology 33 (3), e14295 , 2025 2025 Citations: 7
Insight 4. Climate change and biodiversity loss amplify each other L Domeignoz-Horta, G Mazzochini, AS Mori, E Razanatsoa, SR Weiskopf, ... 10 New insights in climate science 2025/2026, 22-24 , 2025 2025
Soil acidification controls invasive plant species in the restoration of degraded Cerrado grasslands D Lira‐Martins, RO Xavier, GG Mazzochini, LS Verona, T Andreuccetti, ... Restoration Ecology 33 (1), e14294 , 2025 2025 Citations: 10
Under the mantra:‘Make use of colorblind friendly graphs’ D Rocchini, L Chieffallo, E Thouverai, R D'Introno, F Dagostin, E Donini, ... Environmetrics 35 (6), e2877 , 2024 2024 Citations: 5
Biodiversidade atua como um seguro GG Mazzochini Valor Econômico , 2024 2024
Spectral asynchrony as a measure of ecosystem response diversity GG Mazzochini, L Rowland, D Lira‐Martins, FV Barros, BM Flores, ... Global Change Biology 30 (2), e17174 , 2024 2024 Citations: 8
Effects of grass functional diversity on invasion success by exotic grasses in Cerrado grasslands GG Mazzochini, D Lira‐Martins, FV de Barros, ACC Oliveira, RO Xavier, ... Journal of Applied Ecology 61 (2), 271-280 , 2024 2024 Citations: 19
Rainfall and topographic position determine tree embolism resistance in Amazônia and Cerrado sites CRC Mattos, GG Mazzochini, BF Rius, D Penha, LL Giacomin, BM Flores, ... Environmental Research Letters 18 (11), 114009 , 2023 2023 Citations: 12
Using land inequality to inform restoration strategies for the Brazilian dry forest FPL Melo, GG Mazzochini, V Guidotti, AP Manhaes Landscape and Urban Planning 239, 104844 , 2023 2023 Citations: 8
Minding the gap: Range size and economic use drive functional trait data gaps in the Atlantic forest AC Petisco-Souza, FT Brum, V Marcilio-Silva, VP Zwiener, A Zanella, ... Biological Conservation 283, 110087 , 2023 2023 Citations: 3
Cost-effective restoration for carbon sequestration across Brazil's biomes FV Barros, K Lewis, AD Robertson, RT Pennington, TC Hill, C Matthews, ... Science of The Total Environment 876, 162600 , 2023 2023 Citations: 25
The role of plant diversity and facilitation during tropical dry forest restoration MV Fagundes, GG Mazzochini, G Ganade Journal of Ecology 111 (6), 1231-1241 , 2023 2023 Citations: 14
Environmental and ecological drivers of drought deciduousness across the Neotropics M Longo, R Fisher, G Lemieux, R Knox, C Koven, C Xu, JQ Chambers, ... AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 2022, B52C-06 , 2022 2022
Phylogenetic distance controls plant growth during early restoration of a semi‐arid riparian forest LH Teixeira, GG Mazzochini, J Kollmann, G Ganade Ecological Solutions and Evidence 3 (4), e12184 , 2022 2022 Citations: 4
Mapping native and non-native vegetation in the Brazilian Cerrado using freely available satellite products K Lewis, F de V. Barros, MB Cure, CA Davies, MN Furtado, TC Hill, ... Scientific reports 12 (1), 1588 , 2022 2022 Citations: 38
Loss of plant cover mediates the negative effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the multifunctionality of a dryland AP Manhães, GG Mazzochini, F Marinho, G Ganade, AR Carvalho Applied vegetation science 25 (1), e12636 , 2022 2022 Citations: 10
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
TRY plant trait database–enhanced coverage and open access J Kattge, G Bönisch, S Díaz, S Lavorel, IC Prentice, P Leadley, ... Global Change Biology , 2020 2020 Citations: 2223
Biome stability in South America over the last 30 kyr: Inferences from long‐term vegetation dynamics and habitat modelling GC Costa, A Hampe, MP Ledru, PA Martinez, GG Mazzochini, ... Global Ecology and Biogeography 27 (3), 285-297 , 2018 2018 Citations: 191
Disentangling domestication from food production systems in the Neotropics CR Clement, A Casas, FA Parra-Rondinel, C Levis, N Peroni, N Hanazaki, ... Quaternary 4 (1), 4 , 2021 2021 Citations: 151
Help restore Brazil’s governance of globally important ecosystem services C Levis, BM Flores, GG Mazzochini, AP Manhães, JV Campos-Silva, ... Nature Ecology and Evolution 4, 172–173 , 2020 2020 Citations: 106
Effects of past and present land use on vegetation cover and regeneration in a tropical dryland forest FP Marinho, GG Mazzochini, AP Manhães, WW Weisser, G Ganade Journal of Arid Environments 132, 26-33 , 2016 2016 Citations: 84
Spatial associations of ecosystem services and biodiversity as a baseline for systematic conservation planning AP Manhães, GG Mazzochini, AT Oliveira‐Filho, G Ganade, AR Carvalho Diversity and Distributions 22 (9), 932-943 , 2016 2016 Citations: 82
Plant phylogenetic diversity stabilizes large‐scale ecosystem productivity GG Mazzochini, CR Fonseca, GC Costa, RM Santos, AT Oliveira‐Filho, ... Global Ecology and Biogeography , 2019 2019 Citations: 58
Tropical riparian forests in danger from large savanna wildfires BM Flores, M de Sa Dechoum, IB Schmidt, M Hirota, A Abrahão, L Verona, ... Journal of Applied Ecology 58 (2), 419-430 , 2021 2021 Citations: 51
Low-cost strategies for protecting ecosystem services and biodiversity AP Manhães, R Loyola, GG Mazzochini, G Ganade, AT Oliveira-Filho, ... Biological Conservation 217, 187-194 , 2018 2018 Citations: 48
Global patterns of terrestriality in amphibian reproduction MB Lion, GG Mazzochini, AA Garda, TM Lee, D Bickford, GC Costa, ... Global Ecology and Biogeography , 2019 2019 Citations: 45
Mapping native and non-native vegetation in the Brazilian Cerrado using freely available satellite products K Lewis, F de V. Barros, MB Cure, CA Davies, MN Furtado, TC Hill, ... Scientific reports 12 (1), 1588 , 2022 2022 Citations: 38
PipeMaster: inferring population divergence and demographic history with approximate Bayesian computation and supervised machine-learning in R M Gehara, GG Mazzochinni, F Burbrink BioRxiv, 2020.12. 04.410670 , 2020 2020 Citations: 27
Cost-effective restoration for carbon sequestration across Brazil's biomes FV Barros, K Lewis, AD Robertson, RT Pennington, TC Hill, C Matthews, ... Science of The Total Environment 876, 162600 , 2023 2023 Citations: 25
Effects of grass functional diversity on invasion success by exotic grasses in Cerrado grasslands GG Mazzochini, D Lira‐Martins, FV de Barros, ACC Oliveira, RO Xavier, ... Journal of Applied Ecology 61 (2), 271-280 , 2024 2024 Citations: 19
Priority areas for restoring ecosystem services to enhance human well‐being in a dry forest TLSR Costa, GG Mazzochini, AT Oliveira‐Filho, G Ganade, AR Carvalho, ... Restoration Ecology 29 (7), e13426 , 2021 2021 Citations: 19
The role of plant diversity and facilitation during tropical dry forest restoration MV Fagundes, GG Mazzochini, G Ganade Journal of Ecology 111 (6), 1231-1241 , 2023 2023 Citations: 14
Rainfall and topographic position determine tree embolism resistance in Amazônia and Cerrado sites CRC Mattos, GG Mazzochini, BF Rius, D Penha, LL Giacomin, BM Flores, ... Environmental Research Letters 18 (11), 114009 , 2023 2023 Citations: 12
Soil acidification controls invasive plant species in the restoration of degraded Cerrado grasslands D Lira‐Martins, RO Xavier, GG Mazzochini, LS Verona, T Andreuccetti, ... Restoration Ecology 33 (1), e14294 , 2025 2025 Citations: 10
Loss of plant cover mediates the negative effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the multifunctionality of a dryland AP Manhães, GG Mazzochini, F Marinho, G Ganade, AR Carvalho Applied vegetation science 25 (1), e12636 , 2022 2022 Citations: 10
Spectral asynchrony as a measure of ecosystem response diversity GG Mazzochini, L Rowland, D Lira‐Martins, FV Barros, BM Flores, ... Global Change Biology 30 (2), e17174 , 2024 2024 Citations: 8