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Carbon storage in a high-altitude Polylepis woodland in the Peruvian Andes

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Abstract

Polylepis woodland occurs in Peru’s tropical highlands at elevations between 3,500 and 5,000 m above sea level and Polylepis is the most common tree at timberline in South America. The objective of this study was to assess the total ecosystem carbon stock in a Polylepis incana woodland, i.e., aboveground biomass (canopy trees and understory), root biomass and soil carbon stocks were all quantified. As part of this study, an allometric equation for the quantification of the aboveground biomass of individual P. incana trees was developed for the first time. The most important carbon pool was the soil (39.7 ± 6.9 kg m−2) followed by the aboveground biomass of Polylepis trees (3.8 ± 0.7 kg m−2). The total ecosystem carbon stock was estimated to be 43.9 ± 7.6 kg m−2; thus, 90.6 % of the ecosystem carbon stock is soil carbon.

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Acknowledgments

We thank J. Takahashi and the University Científica del Sur for financial support of the study. We also thank the Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (SERNANP) for permission to destructively harvest Polylepis trees, and especially we thank the SERNANP staff (Che et al.) that work in Yauyos Cochas National Park for their help during the field campaign.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Científica del Sur, Panamericana Sur km19, Lima 33, Peru

    Ekatherina Vásquez & Brenton Ladd

  2. Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Brenton Ladd

  3. Agrosphere (IBG-3), Jülich Research Centre, 52425, Jülich, Germany

    Nils Borchard

  4. Departamento de Edafología, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico

    Nils Borchard

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  1. Ekatherina Vásquez
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  2. Brenton Ladd
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  3. Nils Borchard
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Correspondence to Brenton Ladd.

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Vásquez, E., Ladd, B. & Borchard, N. Carbon storage in a high-altitude Polylepis woodland in the Peruvian Andes. Alp Botany 124, 71–75 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-014-0126-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-014-0126-y

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