Abstract

GALICIA, Leopoldo; SAYNES, Vinisa  and  CAMPO, Julio. Aboveground biomass, belowground biomass and necromass in a forest harvesting chronosequence of temperate forests. Bot. sci [online]. 2015, vol.93, n.3, pp.473-484. ISSN 2007-4476.  https://doi.org/10.17129/botsci.66.

The sustainable forestry has been considered a strategy for adaptation and mitigation of increased atmospheric CO₂. In this context, the effects of timber harvesting on biomass and its recovery in highland managed temperate forests are poorly documented. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of logging on biomass and necromass, and recovery in temperate forests of the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, Mexico. For it, forest with different abandon time after harvest were selected (1 to 20 years of abandonment) and mature forests in a dry slope (900 mm annual rainfall) and wet slope (1,400 mm annual rainfall). In each of the forests five plots (10 m × 50 m) were established and aboveground biomass, belowground biomass and necromass (coarse woody debris and litter) were estimated. The contribution of these compartments to the total mass of harvested forests was 74, 4, 17 and 5 % of the aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, coarse woody debris and litter, respectively. The harvest reduced the magnitude and distribution of biomass and forest necromass after a year of disturbance. However, the masses and their distribution patterns showed recovery after 20 years after harvesting. The mass of coarse woody debris increased 42 % in the forest after a year after harvesting, it is a component that can become a sink for atmospheric CO₂ in the longer term.

Keywords : carbon sequestration; Mexico; forest floor; coarse woody debris.

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