Influence of soil and topography on aboveground biomass accumulation and carbon stocks of afforested pastures in South East Brazil

摘要

In light of the devastating loss of forest cover, biodiversity, and ecosystem services in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, people are endeavoring to restore this fragmented forest system. The afforestation of abandoned or degraded land is a practical approach to restore regional ecological functions and to sequester atmospheric carbon to help mitigate the global imbalance of atmospheric carbon associated with climate change. Large gaps, however, remain in understanding the dynamics of afforested tree communities. In this study, the effect of topographical relief and soil properties on growth performance of planted trees has been assessed. Above ground dry biomass (AGB(dry)) accumulation was estimated to evaluate the performance of afforested tree communities on formerly abandoned pastures at the Reserva Ecologica de Guapiacu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The study revealed large discrepancies in AGBdry and respective organic carbon accumulationThe afforested tree community located on the sloped terrain stored only half the carbon (21.70 +/- 7.3 Mgha(-1)) that the planted trees on the flat terrain stored. (46.67 +/- 8.7 Mgha(-1)). Our results suggest that differences in tree growth performance are complex, depending largely on topography and related soil conditions. These circumstances should be considered to prevent misleading carbon sink estimates when developing regional strategies for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) that promote afforestation activities. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.