Soil Carbon Storage in Experimental Forest Plantations with Tropical Species

Celia De La Mora-Orozco,José Germán Flores Garnica,César S Magaña Martínez,Laura Izascum Pérez Valencia,Irma Julieta González Acuña,Juan De Dios Benavides Solorio

doi:10.4236/ojf.2022.121001

Abstract

Forest ecosystems represent a third of the total organic carbon (TOC) stored in the soil. However, studies still need to be carried out to generate reliable information on its soil carbon storage potential in an experimental plantation. Therefore, the objective of this research was to determine the storage of total organic carbon (TOC) in the soil in two experimental forest plantations with tropical species, located in the state of Nayarit, México. The research was carried out in two experimental plantations with tropical species, located at the Santiago Ixcuintla Experimental Field (CESIX) and at the El Verdine?o Experimental Site (SEEV). The established species are Swietenia macrophylla King (mahogany), Cedrela odorata L. (cedar) and Tabebuia rosea Bertoil (pink trumpet-tree). In addition, data from dasometric variables were used in order to define if any of these variables had a similar variation to the soil TOC stock by species. The sampling was done under a randomized block experimental design in each experimental forest plantation (CESIX and SEEV). Nine composite samples were collected in the soil under the tree species at a depth of 0 - 30 cm, and 1.5 m distance from the tree. To determine the soil TOC, an elemental analyzer with a thermal conductivity detector Thermo Scientific (Flash 2000) was used. The results showed that TOC presented mean values of 103.60 and 219.98 t·ha-1 at a depth of 0 - 30 cm in CESIX and SEEV respectively. The highest TOC was obtained in soil under mahogany; 142.95 t·ha-1 in CESIX and 284.41 t·ha-1 in SEEV. The analysis of the differences in TOC between the two plantations was highly significant. In the analysis of the species, it showed a statistically significant difference (p

Highlights

In recent decades, the importance of forest ecosystems has been recognized in mitigating global climate change, due to their high carbon capture and storage capacity
Data from dasometric variables were used in order to define if any of these variables had a similar variation to the soil total organic carbon (TOC) stock by species
The objective of this research was to determine the amount of total organic carbon stored in the soil, under different tropical species, of two experimental forest plantations located in the state of Nayarit, México

Summary

Introduction

The importance of forest ecosystems has been recognized in mitigating global climate change, due to their high carbon capture and storage capacity. The tree structural attributes are especially important in a forest plantation, the fundamental tree variables involving in a forest productivity plantations are; diameter at breast height, mean height, basal area and volume. Abiotic factors such as; climate, annual average temperature and annual precipitation are correlated with forest productivity either to soil carbon stock (Amundson, 2001; Kuznetsova et al, 2021)

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