Carbon accumulation in aboveground and belowground biomass
Contents
1. In this study with the exemption of herbaceous vegetation and necromass the compart ments that account for the greatest amount of carbon in the ecosystem were estimated with acceptable sampling errors between 10 and 15 which are within the levels proposed by MacDicken 1997 The fact that the stem accounts for the largest amount of carbon from total tree biomass has been largely documented with ranges going from 50 to 92 for different species from forest plantations Guti rrez and Lopera 2001 P rez and Kanninen 2003 Redondo 2007 Redondo and Montagnini 2006 Although our results are within this range 62 and 55 6 for V guatemalensis and H alchorneoides respectively these are found within the lower end of the reported range considering that we included coarse roots in our estimations Coarse roots accumulate the largest amount of belowground carbon but are almost unknown for most tropical tree species MacDicken 1997 Sarmiento et al 2005 When using the average percentage of coarse roots in total tree biomass for both species esti mated in this study 22 an increase of 18 8 Mg C ha would be obtained if compared to the 10 15 recommended by MacDiken 1997 as a conservative estimate This result agrees with Sarmiento et al 2005 who state that most estimates from this component are most probably underestimations At an ecosystem level necromass and herbaceous vegetation are also usually neglected in most studies Chave et al2. 2004 Sarmiento et al 2005 These represented in our study almost 15 from the total carbon in the biomass evidencing the importance of such pools for carbon accounting These pools also play an important role for their contribution to soil fertility and degraded land restoration processes Fisher 1995 Montagnini and Mendelsohn 1997 Montagnini 2000 Allometric models The selection of the equation to be used for the estimation of biomass and carbon has been regarded as the most important source of error Chave et al 2004 Navar 2009 with overestimations as high as 100 due to the use of generic equations van Noordwijk et al 2002 Common errors when selecting an equation occur when using these for zones different from those where it was developed Buvaneswaran et al 2006 or for diameter ranges outside the one used in their construction Losi et al 2003 Chave et al 2004 Sarmiento et al 2005 These same authors mention that when constructing an equation weaknesses are usually related to a small sample size and failing to take into account wood specific gravity Published allometric models for individual tropical trees P rez and Kanninen 2002 Montero and Montagnini 2006 Navar 2009 rarely include the amount of carbon corre sponding to coarse roots or the amount of biomass and carbon per hectare from other biomass compartments The presented models were developed including all compartments Springer New Forests based o
3. 33 1039 1045 FAO 2006 Global Forest Resource Assessments 2005 progress towards sustainable forest management FAO Forestry Paper N 146 http www fao org documents show_cdr asp url_file docrep 008 a0400e a0400e00 htm Fisher RF 1995 Amelioration of degraded rain forest soils by plantations of native trees Soil Sci Soc Am J 59 544 549 Fonseca W Alice F Rey Benayas JM 2009 Modelos para estimar la biomasa de especies nativas en plantaciones y bosques secundarios en la zona Caribe de Costa Rica Bosque 30 36 47 Gaboury S Boucher JF Villeneuve C Lord D Gagnon R 2009 Estimating the net carbon balance of boreal open woodland afforestation a case study in Quebec s closed crown boreal forest For Ecol Manage 257 483 494 Gamboa A Hidalgo C de Le n F Etchevers J Gallardo J Campo J 2008 Nutrient addition differentially affects soil carbon sequestration in secondary tropical dry forests early versus late succession stages Restor Ecol 18 2 252 260 http www3 interscience wiley com journal 121356707 abstract Gayoso J Guerra J 2005 Contenido de carbono en la biomasa a rea de bosques nativos en Chile Bosque 26 33 38 Gifford R 2000 Carbon contents of above ground tissues of forest and woodland trees Australian Greenhouse Office National Carbon Accounting System Technical Report No 22 Canberra 17 p Guo LB Gifford RM 2002 Soil carbon stocks and land use change a meta analysis Glob Change Biol 8 345 360 Guti r
4. IL 1004 suonejue d ADSeIoJ sordads a 8urs S1SVa1DWa1D13 ut _ ey SN uoDeInuunooe uoqreo pue sseworg T AQEL pringer AS New Forests CS 38eIeAV OOFSIOL 5SLZ 860 OITFOLLI CLEFS86 6LIFETIT CIWFOEL T9OLFLOL COLFCLL 959 6YCcT 00 60 Uy Fee 60 F971 TLF GT VIF9T TIFSO TOFTO 00 00 00 00 00 FTI ETT EG OC FITS LOFTET OT FCT OC F OT IT FEE LOFTO 00 00 00 TO vo 90 10 70 v0 90 SO FOT vO OT 90 FLO 90F TT CO F 160 OII E89 T6LFTOS 69 F9T9 LSTFRPS Lri 06c OSFVL LSITFSIT 90490 VOFLY Sr FEHI 97 FOYI OS FEEL Cv FOL LIFLT Se FCS TOF TO 8S8 FYES bI lve TOF TEE LOL F 087 T9 F SHI STFLE 99 F 68 0 F 0 SI FLS Er FOS SE FST 89 811 8t FLS 60 F TI Ov FITS 10 TO TOF TT LOF LI g0 l 80 LI g0 81 LOF LO VIF9T 10 10 SET FSO LOVFESIL 65 TSCT SISFTITT 98CF CI9 LUFOVE ete FLO CT cl Vol F96 T6 67 ESFO6T LILFLLZ 18 FOEI CV FSIE 9LFIOIL 0 C0 SCC FESI 88C 89 9 S99 TEFBSS Oecl FLTE ts ZL Cel O08 90 SO Ly 961 0 8 8 l ELFOST ecelFLec TOL FOCI Sl Fe V8F90I TOFTO SO FOE VI LE 80 F 67 LIFE LOFIE LIFI TE FOS 0 F 0 91 Lvl CT 90 6 TL S TE 8 0 0 SITee 93y 9 TOS 93 181 JULY D SSBUIOIDIN D snoseoeqIeH 391 VIOL s 00Y suas soyourig SOAROT D IL 99 TeloT NON suas soyourig SOAROT g IL sjuouodwop 1004 SUODBIUBId nsaJo saroads Fus s2p1024 1049 D H ul ey SW uoneInuunooe Uoqreo pue ssewoig Z AQEL pringer AS New Forests Carbo
5. Institute for Agricultural Development WRI http www winrock org REEP PUBSS html Mena M 2009 Clima de Costa Rica Vertiente del Caribe Instituto Meteorol gico Nacional http www imn ac cr educacion climacr vertient_caribe html Mendoza J Karltun E Olsson M 2003 Estimations of amounts of soil organic carbon and fine root carbon in land use and land cover classes and soil types of Chiapas highlands Mexico For Ecol Manage 177 191 206 Montagnini F 2000 Accumulation in above ground biomass and soil storage of mineral nutrients in pure and mixed plantations in a humid tropical lowland For Ecol Manage 134 257 270 Montagnini F Mendelsohn RO 1997 Managing forest fallows improving the economics of Sweden agriculture R Swedish Acad Sci Ambio 26 2 118 123 Montagnini F Kanninen M Montero M Alice F 2003 Sostenibilidad de las plantaciones forestales Ciclaje de nutrientes y efectos de la especies sobre la fertilidad de los suelos 13 p http www una ac cr inis docs suelos Florencia pdf Montero M Kanninen M 2002 Biomasa y Carbono en plantaciones de Terminalia amazonia Gmel Excell en la zona Sur de Costa Rica Revista Forestal Centroamericana 39 40 50 55 Montero M Montagnini F 2006 Modelos alom tricos para la estimaci n de biomasa de diez especies nativas en plantaciones en la regi n Atl ntica de Costa Rica Recursos Naturales y Ambiente 45 118 125 Montero M de los Santos H Kanninen M 2007 Hieronyma alcho
6. al 1997 Results Biomass and carbon accumulation At ages 0 5 when most of the biomass was herbaceous vegetation the amount of carbon in the total biomass was 1 1 and 0 9 Mg ha in V guatemalensis and H alchorneoides respectively It then increased to 97 3 Mg ha in V guatemalensis and 78 7 Mg ha in H alchorneoides by 16 years of age Tables 1 2 Averaged across 16 years the MAI for total biomass and carbon in the total biomass were 14 5 and 7 1 Mg ha for V guate malensis and 10 0 and 5 3 Mg ha for H alchorneoides For carbon in the aboveground tree biomass these were 4 2 and 3 0 Mg ha year for V guatemalensis and H al chorneoides respectively There was a positive correlation between carbon in the biomass and age for V guatemalensis r 0 79 P lt 0 01 n 56 and for H alchorneoides r 0 63 P lt 0 01 n 61 From the total tree biomass stems of V guatemalensis and H alchorneoides represent 62 0 and 55 6 respectively followed by coarse roots 22 6 and 22 8 respectively and branches 11 7 and 17 5 respectively Leaves represented just a marginal proportion from total tree carbon Table 1 2 At an ecosystem level total biomass for both species trees account for approximately 85 while necromass large and fine contains about 12 5 There was a negative correlation between the ratio of aboveground and below ground biomass related to plantation age r 0 39 P 0 01 n 53 for
7. million ha of the world s total forest area FAO 2006 but their potential to absorb and store carbon has been recognized to play a more important role in the future mitigation of climate change Canadell et al 2007 Besides if forestry plan tations are designed as elements within broader land management plans they could be compatible with adaptation measures Canadell et al 2004 IPCC 2007 Paquette and Messier 2010 while overcoming some of the shortcomings discussed on some of the social and environmental benefits associated to these type of ecosystems Bodegom et al 2008 Paquette and Messier 2010 specially through native forest tree plantations Montagnini et al 2003 Jackson et al 2005 Turner et al 2005 Bodegom et al 2008 However scientific information that allows for the precise assessment of all these benefits and therefore the development of adequate policies is far from being complete IPCC 2007 Nabuurs et al 2007 Many authors agree on the weaknesses from current estimates on the absorption and storage capacity of forest ecosystems Elias and Potvin 2003 Chave et al 2004 Sarmiento et al 2005 and the implications these have on the development of climate change related policies Ito et al 2008 Somogyi et al 2008 Such is the case of a future REDD mechanism or any other results based payment scheme In order to have a just distribution on the costs and benefits from these type of schemes local national or regional m
8. secondary forests in northeastern Costa Rica For Ecol Manage 255 1326 1335 Sch ning I Totsche KU K gel Knabner I 2006 Small scale spatial variability of organic carbon stocks in litter and solum of a forested Luvisol Geoderma 136 631 642 Segura M Andrade H 2008 C mo hacerlo C mo construir modelos alom tricos de volumen biomasa o carbono de especies le osas perennes Agroforester a de las Am ricas 46 89 96 Segura M Kanninen M 2002 Inventario para estimar carbono en ecosistemas forestales In Orozco L Brumer C eds Inventarios forestales para bosques latifoliados en Am rica Central CATIE Turrialba pp 173 212 Serie T cnica Manual T cnico No 50 Segura M Kanninen M Alfaro M Campos JJ 2000 Almacenamiento y fijaci n de carbono en bosques de bajura de la zona Atl ntica de Costa Rica Revista Forestal Centroamericana 30 23 28 Singh SK Singh AK Sharma BK Tarafdar JC 2007 Carbon stock and organic carbon dynamics in soils of Rajasthan India J Arid Environ 68 408 421 Sol s M Moya R 2004a Hyeronima alchorneoides en Costa Rica San Jos Costa Rica FONAFIFO Ministerio de Energ a y Ambiente de Costa Rica 98 p http www fonafifo com text_files proyec tos ManualHieronyma pdf Sol s M Moya R 2004b Vochysia guatemalensis en Costa Rica San Jos Costa Rica FONAFIFO Ministerio de Energ a y Ambiente de Costa Rica 100 p http www fonafifo com text_files proyectos ManualVochysia pdf Soliz B 1
9. 003 Based on our biomass data and comparing both the obtained carbon fraction and the lower end value from the accepted range 0 45 we determined underestimations in total tree biomass between 4 and 6 depending on specie due to the use of 0 45 Overestimations are still more common when considering components less lignified such as fine necromass tree leaves and herbaceous vegetation For these as results from this study show and which are supported by Gifford 2000 Gayoso and Guerra 2005 and Sarmiento et al 2005 carbon fractions are in the range of 0 40 and 0 45 Therefore extrapolating on the assumption that all plant biomass has a constant carbon fraction will only lead to increased errors Biomass expansion factor BEF BEF determined for both species in this study 1 56 is within the lower end of the range reported for different species in tropical natural forests and forest plantations 1 5 2 88 Springer New Forests Soliz 1998 Segura et al 2000 Arreaga 2002 Montero and Kanninen 2002 Dauber et al 2008 Fonseca et al 2009 Using a 1 75 BEF recommended by Brown and Lugo 1989 and cited by Chacon et al 2009 as an appropriate average used in the Costa Rican National Greenhouse Gas Inventory we estimated an average of 29 more carbon when applied to our total tree biomass data 27 7 and 20 8 Mg C ha for V guatemalensis and H alchorneoides respectively Carbon distribution in the biomass compartments
10. 998 Valoraci n econ mica del almacenamiento y fijaci n de carbono en un bosque subh medo estacional de Santa Cruz Bolivia Tesis Mag Sc CATIE Turrialba 113 p Sombroek WG Nachtergaele FO Hebel A 1993 Amounts dynamics and sequestering of carbon in tropical and subtropical soils Ambio 22 417 426 Somogyi Z Teobaldelli M Federici S Matteucci G Pagliari V Grassi G Seufert G 2008 Allometric biomass and carbon factors database Forest 1 107 113 http www sisef it iforest Subak S 2000 Forest protection and reforestation in Costa Rica Evaluation of a clean development mechanism prototype Environ Manage 26 3 283 297 Tan Z Liu S Tieszen L Tachie Obeng E 2009 Simulated dynamics of carbon stocks driven by changes in land use management and climate in a tropical moist ecosystem of Ghana Agric Ecosyst Environ 130 3 4 171 176 Tschakert P Coomes OT Potvin C 2007 Indigenous livelihoods slash and burn agriculture and carbon stocks in Eastern Panama Ecol Econ 60 807 820 Turner J Lambert MJ Johnson DW 2005 Experience with patterns of change in soil carbon resulting from forest plantation establishment in eastern Australia For Ecol Manage 220 259 269 UNFCCC 2010 Report on the informal meeting of experts on enhancing coordination of capacity building activities in relation to using the intergovernmental panel on climate change guidance and guidelines as a basis for estimating forest related greenhouse gas emissions and re
11. C Frolking S Fearon MG Chini LP Wang A Price DT 2008 Can we reconcile differences in estimates of carbon fluxes from land use change and forestry for the 1990s Atmos Chem Phys 8 3291 3310 www atmos chem phys net 8 3291 2008 Jackson R Jobba E Avissar R Somnath R Barrett D Cook CH Farley K Le Maitre D McCarl B Murray B 2005 Trading water for carbon with biological carbon sequestration Science 310 1944 1947 Jandl R 2006 Secuestro de carbono en bosques el papel del suelo Taller internacional sobre secuestro de carbono TUFRO RIFALC 9 p Keith H Mackey BG Lindenmayer DB 2009 Re evaluation of forest biomass carbon stocks and lessons from the world s most carbon dense forests PNAS 106 28 11635 11640 http www pnas org content 106 28 11635 short Loguercio G Defoss G 2001 Ecuaciones de biomasa a rea factores de expansi n y de reducci n de la lenga Nothofagus pumilio Poepp et Endl Krasser en el So del Chubut Argentina In Simposio Internacional Medici n y Monitoreo de la Captura de Carbono en Ecosistemas Forestales Valdivia Chile 18 al 20 de octubre de 2001 11 p Springer New Forests Losi CJ Siccama TG Condit R Morales JE 2003 Analysis of alternative methods for estimating carbon stock in young tropical plantations For Ecol Manage 184 355 368 MacDicken K 1997 A guide to monitoring carbon storage in forestry and agroforestry projects Forest carbon monitoring program Winrock International
12. Carbon accumulation in aboveground and belowground biomass and soil of different age native forest plantations in the humid tropical lowlands of Costa Rica William Fonseca Federico E Alice amp Jos Maria Rey Benayas New Forests International Journal on the Biology Biotechnology and Management of Afforestation and Reforestation an international journal ISSN 0169 4286 N e F r e t New Forests W 0 9 9 DOI 10 1007 11056 011 9273 9 biology biotechnology and management of afforestation and reforestation Springer A Springer Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science Business Media B V This e offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self archived in electronic repositories If you wish to self archive your work please use the accepted author s version for posting to your own website or your institution s repository You may further deposit the accepted author s version on a funder s repository at a funder s request provided it is not made publicly available until 12 months after publication Y Springer New Forests DOI 10 1007 s11056 01 1 9273 9 Carbon accumulation in aboveground and belowground biomass and soil of different age native forest plantations in the humid tropical lowlands of Costa Rica William Fonseca Federico E Alice Jos Mar a Rey Benayas Received 31 July 2010 Accepted 26 May 2011 O Springer Science Bus
13. IE 2003 rboles de Centroam rica un manual para extensionistas J Cordero y DH Boshier ed Turrialba Costa Rica CATTE 1079 p Chac n AR Montenegro J Sasa J 2009 Inventario Nacional de Gases con Efecto Invernadero y Absorci n de Carbono en Costa Rica en el 2000 y 2005 Gobierno de Costa Rica Ministerio del Ambiente Energ a y Telecomunicaciones Instituto Meteorol gico Nacional 78 p http cglobal imn ac cr Pdf gases Inventario 20Gases 20Efecto 20Invernadero pdf Chave J Condit R Aguilar S Hernandez A Lao S Perez R 2004 Error propagation and scaling for tropical forest biomass estimates Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 359 409 420 http si pddr si edu dspace bitstream 10088 6729 1 Chave_Condit_Aguilar_Hernandez_Lao_and_Perez_2004 pdf Springer New Forests Cubero J Rojas S 1999 Fijacion de carbono en plantaciones de Gmelina arborea Tectona grandis y Bombacopsis quinata Tesis de Licenciatura Heredia Costa Rica Universidad Nacional Escuela de Ciencias Ambientales 94 p http cglobal imn ac cr Pdf mitigacion Estudio 20sobre 20Fijacion 20de 20Carbono 20en 20Plantaciones pdf Dauber E Teran J Guzman R 2008 Estimaciones de biomasa y carbono en bosques naturales de Bolivia Revista Forestal Iberoamericana 1 1 1 10 http www revforiberoamericana ula ve archivos DOC2 pdf Elias M Potvin C 2003 Assessing inter and intra specific variation in trunk carbon concentration for 32 neotropical tree species Can J For Res
14. V guate malensis and r 0 32 P 0 05 n 58 for H alchorneoides Springer New Forests CS F 38eBIeAV 0 0 O LOL 00 FTI 00 90 00 70 00 756 00 9ST 00 V9 OO FTE 00 FOT 00 UZIZ 00 975 00 S SpI 00 88 OO TS 91 0 0 048 OOFTE OO FLT 00 FSE Ctr LIL 96 FEST SOE 6v 6EF OS LOF SI 626 8 LSI 61 OTE 0 69 L 601 Y8 FYE STF ve vl 605 SLLI 60 FT TL FLT 80 F90 Lt VCO vol v91 SST 8 ps Sel 981 TL FLT TIS col vV ITF SEE LCE FOEI LOT 66E STFV9 CT 6 99 S LZI LIZ UZI LO 91 SO L 0 THT F 69 08 FOLI vv TOY Or FBS SOFET LOS STEI 89I CVE 005 058 L8 FYTI VIFOE 68E F S6 vVZIF TE TT 07 90 90 691 L 9p LL TOl SOL 887 VEFSS CI FOr T6E 8 86 681 FEIT 9 CC F T09 CLF CCI STF SV STT F 91 TOFI cl TZ vo F90 el FETE 60 F 9 TI FOOT ClLFOE 0 TZ 0 8 989 OC FOET OL FV OV LUZTF L8 vVOF TS 9 l 601 00 00 VIFO6T TOF 0 Cel F 66 SEF OT TIF OS CV FTE CEFF CT VLC F COL 09 8 SIT 68 OLFES OV FE TE 881 858 00 00 00 00 OL FST COF 0 00 00 00 FO 00 00 10 10 SEO FS 0 00 FO TOF SO 10 TO TOFTO L0 OTS 7911 00 00 00 00 TOF TT 93 18 out 39 1 BIOL 1004 suas soyourrg SOAvO T 3991 VIOL 1004 suas soyourlg SOAvO T 0 SITeeA 38V syu uodwop 2 TOS D SSeUUOIOo9N D snosseqioH D IL g
15. ave resulted from the use of default values showing how site and species specific data contribute to the overall goal of improving carbon estimates and providing a more reliable account of the mitigation potential of forestry activities on climate change Keywords Allometric equations Biomass expansion factor Carbon fraction Native tree plantations Soil W Fonseca lt F E Alice Escuela de Ciencias Ambientales Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Campus Omar Dengo 86 3000 Heredia Costa Rica e mail wfonseca una ac cr J M Rey Benayas Departamento de Ecolog a Universidad de Alcal Madrid Spain Published online 14 June 2011 A Springer New Forests Introduction After a long discussion on the contribution of forest ecosystems to the global carbon cycle it seems as if these will finally be recognized through a Reduced Emissions from Defor estation and Degradation REDD mechanism not only for their ability to absorb anthropogenic carbon but its function as a carbon reservoir Both these functions have been estimated globally in the absorption of approximately 3 Pg C year 3 billion tons year through net growth 30 of CO emissions from fossil fuel and deforestation and the storage of an amount of carbon greater than that found in the atmosphere Canadell and Raupach 2008 Forest tree plantations have only had a small contribution to the total balance of ter restrial carbon 3 8 or 140
16. d from the private sector References Arreaga W 2002 Almacenamiento de carbono en bosques con manejo forestal en la Reserva de la Biosfera Maya Pet n Guatemala Tesis Mag Sc CATIE Turrialba CR Bauhus J Khanna P K Hopman P Ludwing B Weston C 2005 Evaluation of soil organic matter as a meaningful indicator of important soil properties and processes in native forest ecosystems Australian Government Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation Project No PN99 803 53 p http www fwpa com au Resources RD WAPIS PN99 803 pdf Bremner JM Mulvaney C 1982 Carbon inorganic nitrogen In Miller R Keeney D eds Methods for soil analysis chemical and microbiological properties 2nd edn American Society of Agronomy Madison pp 552 673 682 Buvaneswaran C George M P rez D Kanninen M 2006 Biomass of teak plantations in Tamil Nadu India and Costa Rica compared J Trop For Sci 18 3 195 197 Canadell JG Raupach MR 2008 Managing forests for climate change mitigation Science 320 1456 Canadell J Ciais P Cox P Heimann M 2004 Quantifying terrestrial carbon sinks Clim Change 67 145 146 Canadell JG Kirschbaum MUF Kurz WA Sanz MJ Schlamadinger B Yamagata Y 2007 Factoring out natural and indirect human effects on terrestrial carbon sources and sinks Environ Sci Policy 10 370 384 Carpio I 1995 Maderas de Costa Rica 150 especies comerciales Ed Universidad de Costa Rica 2nd edn San Jos 338 p CAT
17. een an important advance in terms of the knowledge on these species including genetic improvement programs to improve their productivity and wood quality Solis and Moya 2004a b Montero et al 2007 Springer New Forests While trying to increase the precision and reliability of carbon estimates at a regional scale we would also expect that the availability of such information might increase the consideration of the mitigation potential of these activities into forest policymaking The objectives for this work were 1 to estimate the amount of accumulated biomass and carbon captured by single species forestry plantations of two native species at different ages as well as its distribution in the different pools biomass and soil 2 to determine the biomass expansion factor for both species 3 to determine the carbon fraction in the biomass for all the different components and 4 to develop biomass models based on allometric relations to estimate biomass and carbon at the tree and ecosystem level Materials and methods Study site and sample size This study was conducted in the Costa Rican Caribbean region corresponding to the very humid tropical forest life zone Holdridge 1967 The altitude varies between 50 and 350 m asl The climate is humid to very humid hot to very hot with or without a dry season of less than 25 intermittent days with water deficit per year Herrera 1985 Mena 2009 The mean annual precipitation varies be
18. emalensis and H alchorneoides All models with P lt 0 0001 Species Selected model R aj SEE IF n Log BT 1 32107 0 678129 G 95 3 0 381 1 28 64 V guatemalensis Cba 0 146365 1 38023 lt G 96 6 0 657 56 Log CBT 0 540135 0 68418 y G 94 6 0 413 0 73 64 BT exp 0 891012 1 08278 G 96 4 0 333 65 H alchorneoides Log Cba 1 42086 1 51576 VY G 96 0 0 406 1 27 51 CBT exp 0 0934072 1 11676 y G 96 4 0 345 65 G basal area in m hat BT total biomass in Mg ha Cba carbon in tree biomass Mg ha CBT carbon in total biomass in Mg ha Raj adjusted coefficient of determination SEE model s standard error IF furnival index n sample size exp natural log base 2 718271 Allometric models for the estimation of biomass and carbon The selected allometric models to estimate total biomass and carbon in plant material planted trees herbaceous vegetation and necromass resulted in adjusted R greater than 94 5 all models were significant P lt 0 01 had low standard errors Table 4 and showed a normal distribution The models with the better adjustment express the loga rithmic transformation of the dependent variable as a square root function of the basal area Discussion Carbon accumulation in forest tree plantations Despite differences in methodologies and environmental conditions other tree plantations in Costa Rica have reported similar C accumulation rates to those obtained through
19. ery corner of the main 500 m plot In each 1 m subplot all plant material was harvested to ground level and weighed in the field Necromass Necromass or dead woody material found at ground level was divided into fine necromass litter and woody material lt 2 cm in diameter and large necromass dead woody material gt 2 cm in diameter Fine necromass was estimated from four 0 5 x 0 5 m subplots grouping these 4 subplots into one sample for analysis while large necromass was evaluated from one 5 x 5 m subplot all distributed randomly throughout the 500 m plot The collected material was then weighed in the field Soil organic carbon The amount of carbon stored per hectare was obtained considering soil depth cm bulk density g cm and the percentage of soil organic carbon content SOC The sampling depth to determine carbon content was 30 cm based on findings that support that as much as 60 of stored carbon has been found at this depth Russell et al 2007 Schedlbauer and Kavanagh 2008 and that at lower depths stored carbon tends more stable Sombroek et al 1993 since the soil is less altered by mechanization practices or by changes in forest cover Bulk density was determined through the cylinder method MacDicken 1997 collecting one cylinder per plot To determine SOC a total of four soil samples were randomly selected within the main plot extracted and mixed together in order to obtain a sample of approximately 1 kg Samp
20. he biomass The carbon fraction for the more lignified biomass components stem branches roots and large necromass in plantations of 0 5 16 years varied between 46 5 4 7 and 48 6 3 7 in V guatemalensis tree plantations and between 47 9 9 and 49 7 3 8 in H alchorneoides Table 3 The carbon fraction for leaves herbaceous vegetation and fine necromass litter from these plantations varied between 38 5 2 9 and 44 6 3 3 in V guatemalensis and between 42 8 9 1 and 45 9 4 7 in H alchorneoides The standard deviations were below five except for branches herbaceous vegetation and fine necromass of H alchorneoides Table 3 Biomass expansion factor BEF The BEF for V guatemalensis was 1 56 0 72 and 1 57 0 42 for H alchorneiodes Table 3 Carbon fraction in the biomass of forest tree plantations with ages between 0 5 and 16 years Species Statistics Stem Branches Leaves Roots Herbaceous Large Fine vegetation necromass necromass V guatemalensis X 48 11 46 46 42 95 48 63 44 64 48 51 38 50 SD 4 11 4 73 3 85 3 68 3 26 4 57 2 97 n 59 59 59 59 68 41 44 H alchornevides X 49 67 47 65 45 94 49 24 43 99 46 98 42 79 SD 3 77 7 99 4 74 3 39 21 25 9 9 9 11 n 61 60 61 58 72 45 51 X average SD standard deviation n number of samples Springer New Forests Table 4 Selected model for the estimation of total biomass and carbon in the biomass Mg ha in forestry plantations of V guat
21. ield sub sample was taken to the laboratory for analyses Aboveground tree biomass In each 500 m sampling plot diameter at breast height dbh was measured for every tree and the tree with average dbh was selected and harvested for biomass measurements A total of 54 trees with diameters between 0 5 and 40 5 cm were harvested in V guate malensis and 58 for H alchorneoides with diameters between 0 5 and 28 8 cm To quantify Springer New Forests biomass a direct destructive sampling method was used separating leaves branches stem and root components For trees that due to their size represented an income for the plantation owner to calculate their biomass we determined merchantable volume through the formula by Smalian Prodan et al 1997 and used the reported wood specific weight Carpio 1995 CATIE 2003 Belowground tree biomass Belowground biomass refers exclusively to structural or coarse roots and all of the fine roots attached to the main root after harvesting from planted trees Excavation and extraction was carried out with a retro excavator or trencher agricultural tractor and or manually with a chain hoist These roots were then washed in the field and weighed once they were air dry for 1 2 h Biomass in herbaceous vegetation small woody material and seedlings Grasses lianas ferns shrubs and some tree seedlings from natural regeneration with a dbh lt 2 5 cm were measured in 1 x 1 m subplots located in ev
22. ies agree with these losses these have been reported to recover after several years Gaboury et al 2009 Tan et al 2009 Similar to our results significant net changes after the transition from pasture lands to secondary forests have been reported Veldkamp et al 2003 Powers and Veldkamp 2005 Schedlbauer and Kavanagh 2008 but in different age forest fallows other studies have failed to find significant differences among different age groups Tschakert et al 2007 All these results reveal that there is not a common trend or at least not one that can be easily discerned from our results and that most probably carbon accumulation in the soil responds to a combination of circumstances that include everything from previous land use site specific conditions Sch ning et al 2006 and the land cover being evaluated Therefore identifying consistent changes in the carbon stock from soils seems to require site specific measurement and extrapolations should be avoided Biomass carbon fraction A carbon fraction of 0 5 has been recognized as an acceptable average therefore being the most common conversion factor used Hoen and Solberg 1994 Husch 2001 Losi et al 2003 Sarmiento et al 2005 Montero and Montagnini 2006 Redondo 2007 However studies have also shown that the use of carbon fractions in the range of 0 45 and 0 50 might account for as much as a 10 difference when applied to the same site and the same set of data Elias and Potvin 2
23. iness Media B V 2011 Abstract Generic or default values to account for biomass and carbon accumulation in tropical forest ecosystems are generally recognized as a major source of errors making site and species specific data the best way to achieve precise and reliable estimates The objective of our study was to determine carbon in various components leaves branches stems structural roots and soil of single species plantations of Vochysia guatemalensis and Hieronyma alchorneoides from 0 to 16 years of age Carbon fraction in the biomass mean standard deviation for the different pools varied between 38 5 and 49 7 3 and 3 8 Accumulated carbon in the biomass increased with the plantation age with mean annual increments of 7 1 and 5 3 Mg ha year 1 for forest plantations of V guatemal ensis and H alchorneoides respectively At all ages 66 3 10 6 of total biomass was found within the aboveground tree components while 18 6 20 9 was found in structural roots The soil 0 30 cm contained 62 2 13 and 71 5 17 1 of the total carbon biomass plus soil under V guatemalensis and H alchorneoides respectively Mean annual increment for carbon in the soil was 1 7 and 1 3 Mg ha year in V guatemalensis and H alchorneoides Allometric equations were constructed to estimate total biomass and carbon in the biomass which had an Raj adjusted R square greater than 94 5 Finally we compare our results to those that could h
24. ling size were 58 for H alchorneoides and 54 for V guatemalensis Carbon fraction analysis in plant material and soil Each sub sample of the different components of the biomass was taken to the lab and dried in an oven at 60 C for 72 h to estimate its dry matter content DMC Soil samples were Springer New Forests dried at 55 C for 3 days and subsequently ground and run through a 240 um sieve Carbon content in the plant biomass and soil was determined following the methods by Pregl and Dumas Bremner and Mulvaney 1982 in an auto analyzer Perkin Elmer series II CHN S 2400 Norway Co Biomass expansion factor BEF The biomass expansion factor is used to expand from a certain amount of tree volume or biomass which includes some but not all tree compartments to another one that includes more or all tree compartments Somogyi et al 2008 In this case is the ratio between total aboveground biomass and stem to be applied to transform stem volume into total aboveground biomass Loguercio and Defoss 2001 Segura and Kanninen 2002 Dauber et al 2008 Biomass allometric models selection The models were adjusted using the method of ordinary least squares Methods presented by Salas 2002 and Segura and Andrade 2008 were followed to determine the best fit equation Mean annual increment MAI This was expressed on the basis of both biomass B and carbon C per number of years t B t and C t in Mg ha Prodan et
25. movals forest carbon stocks and forest area changes Bonn 25 26 May 2010 http unfccc int files methods_science redd application pdf expert_meeting_report pdf van Bodegom A van den Berg Y van der Meer P 2008 Forest plantations for sustainable production in the tropics Wageningen University and Research Centre The Netherlands ISBN 978 90 8585 231 5 http www cdic wur nl NR rdonlyres DFDA8928 9664 4EF3 A593 C5E3023D3164 68149 Rapport_ Forestplantations_totaal_lowres_sec pdf van Noordwijk M Rahayu S Hairiah K Wulan YC Farida A Verbist B 2002 Carbon stock assessment for a forest to coffee conversion landscape in Sumber Jaya Lampung Indonesia from allometric equations to land use change analysis Sci China 45 Series C 75 86 Veldkamp E Becker A Schwendenmann L Clark D Schulte Bisping H 2003 Substantial labile carbon stocks and microbial activity in deeply weathered soils below a tropical wet forest Glob Change Biol 9 1171 1184 Springer
26. n a large set of samples n gt 50 and in the case of tree biomass on a large range of diameters and ages and achieving a good prediction capacity gt 94 5 in all cases Conclusions Carbon in the biomass was over 78 Mg ha but the soil represents the main carbon sink at an ecosystem level with more than 85 Mg ha Mean annual increments for carbon in the biomass was above 5 3 Mg ha and over 1 3 Mg ha in the soil The stem represents the most important component from tree biomass with carbon MAI values above 3 Mg ha Considering that the development of local biomass equations is a resource expensive operation models that allow per hectare quantification of biomass and carbon using simple field estimation variables such as basal area represents an important advantage towards the precise and reliable quantification of carbon accumulation in these plantations However we agree with most authors in cautioning that the use of these equations should be preceded by a thorough review of their applicability to the studied community in order to avoid over or underestimations Acknowledgments The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Johan Montero and Henry Toru o researchers at the Forestry Research and Services Institute from the National University of Costa Rica for their support during field data collection This work received finance from the National University of Costa Rica the Costa Rican Ministry of Science and Technology an
27. n accumulated in the soil at 30 cm depth in the period from 0 5 to 16 years of age went from 85 8 to 107 0 Mg ha in V guatemalensis 46 5 and 14 1 and 77 2 101 8 Mg ha 45 0 and 21 8 in H alchorneoides The average for all MAI values for the different ages in the carbon found at the soil was 1 7 and 1 3 Mg ha year respectively Changes observed for carbon in the soil were statistically significant and the correlation between soil carbon and plantations age was positive but low r 0 38 P 0 01 n 56 for V guatemalensis and r 0 36 P 0 01 n 61 for H alchorneoides The amount of total carbon biomass and soil went from 88 7 Mg ha at early ages when 98 9 is soil carbon to 204 3 Mg ha at 16 years when 52 4 is soil carbon in V guatemalensis forest plantations For H alchorneoides these results were 79 4 Mg ha in recently established plantations when 99 7 is soil carbon and 180 48 Mg ha at 16 years when 56 4 is soil carbon Soil carbon had a negative correlation with the age of the stand r 0 68 P lt 0 01 n 56 for V guatemalensis and r 0 62 P lt 0 01 n 61 for A alchorneoides The total amount of carbon stored in the soil averaged 62 2 and 71 5 in V guatemalensis and H alchorneoides respectively with average MAI for total carbon of each of the different ages evaluated in forest plantations of V guatemalensis of 8 7 and 6 5 Mg C ha in H alchorneoides Carbon fraction in t
28. of 0 66 Mg ha in forestry plantations Russell et al 2007 and similar to 1 9 for Springer New Forests secondary forests in Ecuador Rhoades et al 2000 However SOC estimates in tropical forest ecosystems where carbon content is highly variable according to spatial distribution makes comparisons as well as precise measurements and extrapolations quite difficult Mendoza et al 2003 Bauhus et al 2005 Jandl 2006 Although most studies agree that the soil is the most important carbon pool in forest ecosystems Russell et al 2007 Schedlbauer and Kavanagh 2008 Sol s and Moya 2004b Tschakert et al 2007 changes in carbon stocks within this pool are not easy to assess Changes observed were statistically significant although the positive but low correlation between soil carbon and age suggests a low enhancement of soil carbon due to forest tree plantations These results could be explained due to the young age of the studied planta tions and the slow carbon incorporation to the soils reported by other studies Singh et al 2007 Gamboa et al 2008 However previous land use might be also playing an important role Guo and Gifford 2002 cited by the IPCC 2007 report that sites with low initial soil carbon stocks such as those after prolonged cultivations increase carbon content after reforestation while it might decrease after reforestation occurs on sites with high soil carbon contents such as grasslands Although some stud
29. oni toring reporting and verification systems with a higher degree of confidence in the esti mates on the changes in carbon stocks is required UNFCCC 2010 This leads to the need for site and species specific data since the interactions between environmental and anthropogenic factors that cause variations in the carbon concentrations within the biomass with global variations ranging from 1 to 35 t CO ha year IPCC 2007 Sarmiento et al 2005 Keith et al 2009 are not being reflected under current estimates These are in most cases currently performed using generic values on the amounts of biomass carbon in the biomass or generic allometric equations to determine biomass and carbon for a given forest ecosystem Attempting to make a small but important contribution to the understanding of tropical forest ecosystems and as a means towards more precise and reliable estimates this work provides exhaustive information for two native tree species V guatemalensis and H alchorneoides under forest plantations in humid tropical ecosystems in the Costa Rican Caribbean Region These species were selected since they are the most promising native species in terms of productivity Montero and Montagnini 2006 Piotto et al 2010 Redondo 2007 and therefore the most commonly planted in the region These have been used for construction or in the case of V guatemalensis as wood pallets for shipping Due to the combination of these factors there has b
30. rez VH Lopera J 2001 Metodolog a para la cuantificaci n de existencias y flujo de carbono en plantaciones forestales Valdivia Chile Simposio Internacional Medici n y Monitoreo de la Captura de Carbono en Ecosistemas Forestales 18 al 20 de octubre del 2001 17 p http www uach cl procar bono pdf simposio_carbono 15_Gutierrez PDF Herrera W 1985 Clima de Costa Rica Vegetaci n y Clima de Costa Rica Volumen 2 G mez LD ed UNED San Jos 118 p Hoen H Solberg B 1994 Potential and economic efficiency of carbon sequestration in forest biomass through silvicultural management Forest Sci 40 429 451 Holdridge L 1967 Life zone ecology Centro Cient fico Tropical San Jos Husch B 2001 Estimaci n del contenido de carbono en los bosques Valdivia Chile Simposio Inter nacional Medici n y Monitoreo de la Captura de Carbono en Ecosistemas Forestales 18 al 20 de octubre del 2001 9 p http www uach cl simposiocarbono doc Husch PDF IPCC 2007 Climate change 2007 mitigation of climate change In Metz B Davidson OR Bosch PR Dave R Meyer LA eds Contribution of working group III to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change Cambridge University Press Cambridge p 851 ITCR 2004 Atlas digital de Costa Rica Laboratorio de Sistemas de Informaci n Geogr fica Escuela de Ingenier a Forestal Cartago CR Ito A Penner JE Prather MJ de Campos CP Houghton RA Kato T Jain AK Yang X Hurtt G
31. rneoides Ecolog a y silvicultura en Costa Rica Turrialba Costa Rica CATIE 50 p Serie t cnica Informe t cnico n 354 ISBN 978 9977 57 434 9 Nabuurs GJ Masera O Andrasko K Benitez Ponce P Boer R Dutschke M Elsiddig E Ford Robertson J Frumhoff P Karjalainen T Krankina O Kurz WA Matsumoto M Oyhantcabal W Ravindranath NH Sanz Sanchez MJ Zhang X 2007 Forestry In Metz B Davidson OR Bosch PR Dave R Meyer LA eds Climate change 2007 mitigation Contribution of working group III to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change Cambridge University Press Cambridge Navar J 2009 Allometric equations for tree species and carbon stocks for forests of northwestern Mexico For Ecol Manage 257 427 434 Paquette A Messier C 2010 The role of plantations in managing the world s forests in the Anthropocene Front Ecol Environ 8 1 27 34 P rez D Kanninen M 2002 Wood specific gravity and aboveground biomass of Bombacopsis quinata plantations in Costa Rica For Ecol Manage 165 1 9 P rez D Kanninen M 2003 Aboveground biomass of Tectona grandis plantations in Costa Rica J Trop For Sci 15 199 213 Petit B Montagnini F 2004 Growth equations and rotation ages of ten native tree species in mixed and pure plantations in the humid neotropics For Ecol Manage 199 243 257 Piotto D Craven D Montagnini F Alice F 2010 Silvicultural and economic aspects of pure and mixed native tree species plan
32. tations on degraded pasturelands in humid Costa Rica New For 39 369 385 doi 10 1007 s11056 009 9177 0 Powers JS Veldkamp E 2005 Regional variation in soil carbon and 6 C in forests and pastures of northeastern Costa Rica Biogeochemistry 72 315 336 Prodan M Peters R Cox F Real P 1997 Mensura forestal Serie de investigaci n y evaluaci n en desarrollo sostenible San Jos Costa Rica ICA GTZ 561 p Redondo A 2007 Growth carbon sequestration and management of native tree plantations in humid regions of Costa Rica New Forests 34 253 268 Redondo A Montagnini F 2006 Growth productivity biomass and carbon sequestration of pure and mixed native tree plantations in the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica For Ecol Manag 232 168 178 Rhoades CC Eckert GE Coleman DC 2000 Soil carbon differences among forest agriculture and secondary vegetation in lower montane Ecuador Ecol Appl 10 497 505 Russell AE Raich JW Valverde OJ Fisher RF 2007 Tree species effects on soil properties in experi mental plantations in tropical moist forest Soil Sci Soc Am J 71 4 1389 1397 Salas C 2002 Ajuste y validaci n de ecuaciones de volumen para un relicto del bosque de Roble Laurel Lingue Bosque 23 2 81 92 Sarmiento G Pinillos M Garay I 2005 Biomass variability in tropical American lowland rainforests ECOTROPICOS 18 1 1 20 Springer New Forests Schedlbauer J Kavanagh K 2008 Soil carbon dynamics in a chronosequence of
33. this study 4 2 Mg ha year in V guatemalensis and 3 0 Mg ha year in H alchorneoides For native species such as Bombacopsis quinata Terminalia amazonia V guatemalensis Dip teryx panamensis H alchorneoides and Virola koschnyi results have been reported between 1 7 7 Mg ha year Cubero and Rojas1999 Montero and Kanninen 2002 P rez and Kanninen 2003 Redondo and Montagnini 2006 Redondo 2007 In exotic tree species Tectona grandis and Gmelina arborea reported results are in the range of 2 0 6 7 Mg ha year Cubero and Rojas1999 Subak 2000 P rez and Kanninen 2003 However these estimates do not take into account components such as roots herbaceous vegetation or necromass which as shown by our results cause significant increases in MAT 7 1 Mg ha year for V guatemalensis and 5 3 Mg ha year in H alchorneoides In this study the differences in biomass and carbon accumulation between both species were largely due to differences in their growth rates Redondo 2007 V guatemalensis has a fast growth rate and a short rotation period close to 15 years Petit and Montagnini 2004 Solis and Moya 2004b while H alchorneoides has a lower growth rate and rotation periods between 25 and 40 years Solis and Moya 2004a b Montero et al 2007 Annual carbon accumulation rates in the soil from this study 1 7 Mg ha in forest plantations of V guatemalensis and 1 3 Mg ha in H alchorneoides are above MAI values
34. tween 3 420 and 6 840 mm and mean annual tem perature between 25 and 27 C Soils are Ultisols with less than 35 base saturation deep well drained red or yellow in color and with a relatively low fertility ITCR 2004 A total of nine sites with forest plantations of H alchorneoides and V guatemalensis established in local farmers lands were selected In general terms these plantations were established in lands where the previous land use was abandoned pastures with relatively compacted soils and medium fertility Distance between trees when planting took place was 3 x 3 for both species although when sampling units were established these plan tations showed different distances due to age and management practices such as clearing and thinning In each plantation of a given age between one to eight sampling plots were established depending on the size of the plantation The sampling units were rectangular with an area of 500 m A total of 58 sampling plots were established in forest plantations of H alchorneoides and 54 in V guatemalensis Plantation ages ranged from 0 5 to 16 years Biomass estimation The estimates for the biomass and stored carbon followed the methods proposed by MacDicken 1997 with some modifications A nested plot design was used measuring the various biomass components trees herbs and necromass in different sized subplots For each of the biomass components that are described below an approximately one kg f
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search