The EcoRespira-Amazon project is largely defined by the following research questions – and their implications:

• What are soil respiration (ecosystem respiration) rates in the Amazon basin?
• Does soil respiration change after deforestation and change of land cover? If so, how?
• Is there a relationship between soil carbon and nitrogen pools and respiration fluxes?
• How do those pools and the respiration rates relate to comparable land-cover types outside of the inner wet tropics?
• What does soil respiration in the Amazon reveal about organic matter turnover rates and are those results in line with previous independent studies?
• How does the pedogeochemistry look like in the Amazon basin?
• Does the geochemical composition of the different soils at the intended sites and transects show rather narrow distribution?
• Are there unusual element concentrations in certain major, minor or trace elements?
• Can we discern between soil microbial and fungal (Mycorrhiza) activity?
• How do the new data compare to older ones, e.g. by Georg Irion?