1 Short title: Sustainability of sugarcane expansion in Brazil Is the expansion of sugarcane over pasturelands a sustainable strategy for Brazil’s bioenergy industry? Dener M. S. Oliveira a,b* , Maurício R. Cherubin a,c , André L. C. Franco d , Augusto S. Santos a , Jaquelini G. Gelain a , Naissa M. S. Dias c , Tatiana R. Diniz c , Alexandre N. Almeida a , Brigitte J. Feigl c , Christian A. Davies e , Keith Paustian f , Douglas L. Karlen g , Pete Smith h , Carlos C. Cerri c and Carlos E. P. Cerri a,c a “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-260, Brazil. b Multi-user Laboratory of Natural Sciences, Federal Institute Goiano – Campus Posse, Posse, GO, 73900-000, Brazil. c Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, 13416-000, Brazil. d Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA. e Shell Technology Centre Houston, Houston, TX, 77082, USA. f Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA. g USDA-Agricultural Research Service, National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, Ames, IA, 50011, USA. h Institute of Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, 23, AB24 3UU, UK. *Corresponding Author. E-mail: denermsoliveira@gmail.com