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Biomass, Carbon, and Nitrogen Pools in Mexican Tropical Dry Forest Landscapes

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Abstract

Tropical dry forest is the most widely distributed land-cover type in the tropics. As the rate of land-use/land-cover change from forest to pasture or agriculture accelerates worldwide, it is becoming increasingly important to quantify the ecosystem biomass and carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools of both intact forests and converted sites. In the central coastal region of México, we sampled total aboveground biomass (TAGB), and the N and C pools of two floodplain forests, three upland dry forests, and four pastures converted from dry forest. We also sampled belowground biomass and soil C and N pools in two sites of each land-cover type. The TAGB of floodplain forests was as high as 416 Mg ha–1, whereas the TAGB of the dry forest ranged from 94 to 126 Mg ha–1. The TAGB of pastures derived from dry forest ranged from 20 to 34 Mg ha–1. Dead wood (standing and downed combined) comprised 27%–29% of the TABG of dry forest but only about 10% in floodplain forest. Root biomass averaged 32.0 Mg ha–1 in floodplain forest, 17.1 Mg ha–1 in dry forest, and 5.8 Mg ha–1 in pasture. Although total root biomass was similar between sites within land-cover types, root distribution varied by depth and by size class. The highest proportion of root biomass occurred in the top 20 cm of soil in all sites. Total aboveground and root C pools, respectively, were 12 and 2.2 Mg ha–1 in pasture and reached 180 and 12.9 Mg ha–1 in floodplain forest. Total aboveground and root pools, respectively, were 149 and 47 kg ha–1 in pasture and reached 2623 and 264 kg ha–1 in floodplain forest. Soil organic C pools were greater in pastures than in dry forest, but soil N pools were similar when calculated for the same soil depths. Total ecosystem C pools were 306. The Mg ha–1 in floodplain forest, 141 Mg ha–1 in dry forest, and 124 Mg ha–1 in pasture. Soil C comprised 37%–90% of the total ecosystem C, whereas soil N comprised 85%–98% of the total. The N pools lack of a consistent decrease in soil pools caused by land-use change suggests that C and N losses result from the burning of aboveground biomass. We estimate that in México, dry forest landscapes store approximately 2.3 Pg C, which is about equal to the C stored by the evergreen forests of that country (approximately 2.4 Pg C). Potential C emissions to the atmosphere from the burning of biomass in the dry tropical landscapes of México may amount to 708 Tg C, as compared with 569 Tg C from evergreen forests.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Estación de Biologia Chamela, UNAM and Ramiro Peña and Mario González of the Ejido San Mateo for allowing us to conduct these studies on their lands and for providing logistical support during the study. We are grateful to Georgina Garcia and Pilar Islas for skillful technical assistance in the laboratory. Raúl Ahedo provided invaluable help during field work and in preparing the figures and tables for the manuscript. Pedro González Flores and Teresa González assisted in data collection in the field. We also thank R. Flint Hughes and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on previous drafts. This study was funded by Cooperative Agreement CR-821860-01-0 with the US Environmental Protection Agency and by the National Science Foundation’s Ecosystems Studies Program. V.J.J. acknowledges the support of the START program of IGBP during data analysis, as well as UNAM, CONACyT, and Dr. Dennis Ojima, through NASA grant no. NAGS-4646, for providing support with manuscript preparation during a sabbatical leave. J.B.K. and D.L.C. thank Cimarron Kauffman for his patience and Kenai Kauffman, who delayed coming into this world long enough for the first draft of this manuscript to be completed.

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  1. Departamento de Ecología de los Recursos Naturales, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A.P. 27-3 Xangari, C.P. 58090 Morelia, Mich., México

    Víctor J. Jaramillo & Lyliana Rentería-Rodríguez

  2. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97330, USA

    J. Boone Kauffman, Dian L. Cummings & Lisa J. Ellingson

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  1. Víctor J. Jaramillo
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Correspondence to Víctor J. Jaramillo.

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Jaramillo, V., Kauffman, J., Rentería-Rodríguez, L. et al. Biomass, Carbon, and Nitrogen Pools in Mexican Tropical Dry Forest Landscapes . Ecosystems 6, 609–629 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-002-0195-4

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