Carbon stocks in a tropical dry forest in Brazil

Francisco Jairo Soares Pereira,Poliana Costa Lemos Raymer,Lécio Resende Pereira Júnior,Helba Araújo de Queiroz Palácio,Eunice Maia de Andrade,Jacques Carvalho Ribeiro Filho

doi:10.5935/1806-6690.20160004

Francisco Jairo Soares Pereira, Poliana Costa Lemos Raymer + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5935/1806-6690.20160004

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Abstract

The dry forests are the type most widely distributed vegetation in the tropics, and studies aimed at quantifying the carbon stock in these forests are important for it to be quantified their participation as mitigating the effects of climate change. With that in mind, the aim of this research was to quantify the carbon stocks in the woody, herbaceous, litter and root components of a patch of dry tropical forest, with 30 years of regeneration in Iguatu-CE, Brazil. Initially the vegetation was inventoried by means of a floristic and phytosociological survey of the woody component in a 1 ha area which had been under conservation. The biomass was then estimated employing allometric equations, and the stored carbon was quantified. Stocks of carbon in the litter and the herbaceous plants were determined by monitoring their biomass over 24 months, with subsequent conversion into carbon. Carbon stocks in the roots were estimated as the product of their biomass and carbon concentrations, for this were collected 20 samples at a depth of up to 30 cm deep in the dry and rainy season. It was found that the carbon content varies with the chamber and evaluated by adding carbon stored in woody compartments (19,27 t ha-1) litter (2.62 t ha-1) plants herbaceous (0.57 t ha-1) and roots (4.73 t ha-1), the total carbon stored in the dry tropical forest with 30 years of regeneration is around 27.19 t C ha-1. The dry tropical forest acts effectively in reducing CO2 atmospheric.

Highlights

Dry forests are the most widely distributed type of vegetation in the tropics, covering 42% of all tropical vegetation (SANTOS et al, 2011)
The number of identified species (22) is considered low when compared to that found by Alcoforado Filho, Sampaio and Rodal (2003), who found 96 species when evaluating a tropical dry forest in Caruarú, in the state of Pernambuco
The density of quantified plants (3,805 ind ha-1) was similar to that found by Santana and Souto (2006), 4,080 ind ha-1 in a tropical dry forest preserved for 33 years in Serra Negra do Norte, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte

Summary

Introduction

Dry forests are the most widely distributed type of vegetation in the tropics, covering 42% of all tropical vegetation (SANTOS et al, 2011). They have not been in the forefront of carbon credit trading, mainly due to a lesser accumulation of biomass compared to moist forests (SKUTSCH; LIBASSE, 2010). The few studies related to the quantification of carbon stocks in dry forests, compromises understanding of the process of CO2 conversion in these ecosystems, underestimating its importance as a regulator of the carbon cycle

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