The geoecology student Juliane Oehl took part in the European Conference of Tropical Ecology 2026 – SPECIES – ECOSYSTEMS – PEOPLE, where she presented her Master’s thesis on 25 February 2026. Her talk showcased new findings on Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) in Kilifi County, Kenya – a region where population growth and land use change are putting severe pressure on ecosystems. Together with Prof. Ali Maarifa Mwakumwanya (Pwani University) and Dr Mike Teucher, Oehl investigated soils in sacred forests (Kayas) and adjacent subsistence farms down to a depth of 1 m. The results show surprisingly higher SOC stocks in agricultural soils (12.94 Mg ha-¹) compared to forest sites (8.63 Mg ha-¹). The reasons for this are not yet fully understood and emphasise the importance of local studies. In addition, the work highlights the need to improve LOI-based SOC measurements, as no standardised clay correction exists to date.Oehl’s research makes an important contribution to the understanding of carbon dynamics and the potential of tropical soils for climate protection.The full abstract can be found on page 73 of the Book of Abstracts.
