Borgo, Marília (SPVS, Rua Gutemberg, 296, Batel, 80420-030, Curitiba, Pa; Curitiba, PR, 80420-030, Brazil; Phone: 0412420280; Fax: 0412420280; Email: maborgo@spvs.org.br)

 

Carbon Inventory in Atlantic Rainforest Restoration Project, Paraná, Brazil

 

M. Borgo*, G. Tiepolo, D.N. Cardoso, I.A. Andrade

 

The Atlantic Rainforest Restoration Project (ARRP – Cachoeira Natural Reserve) implemented by Wildlife Research and Environmental Education Society (SPVS) in a partnership with The Nature Conservancy and General Motors has a current area of 8,600.0 ha and it is located at Paraná state, Brazil, within Environmental Protection Area of Guaraqueçaba. A vegetation map for the ARRP area was done and several types of forests and their sucessional stages and other land uses were identified and classified. Vegetation stratified sampling was done using forest coverage (Submontane Forest, Wetland forest, Advanced/medium, Medium and Young Secondary Forest, according to the period that the original forest coverage had been disturbed). Another sampling based on soil and vegetation maps was conducted in the same plots used in the simple stratification. In addition to those forest strata, other non-forest classes such as pasture, herbaceous and shrubs vegetation were also included as part of the carbon inventory, but temporary plots were used for those strata. The methodology chosen for the carbon inventory was the one developed by Winrock International and adapted to the project conditions. For the vegetation classes of pasture/shrub and open areas destructive sampling was carried out in 24 plots. The total aboveground biomass for non-forest strata in ARRP was 3732 t C. The total carbon in the forest strata (excluding soil) was 764.847 t C. The overall weighted mean of total carbon content of forests is 88 t C ha-1, 77 % of which in the aboveground biomass. Total dead wood carbon represents about 6.1% of the aboveground carbon biomass. Small trees (dbh greater than 5 cm) represented 1.5% of total biomass and roots were 20% of the aboveground biomass, and represents 15% of the total amount. Considering just aboveground biomass, there is a total pool of 577,555 t C. Coefficients of variation for aboveground total carbon content by strata were relatively low except by the lowland forest. The coefficients range from 24-33% (lowland – 91%). Seventeen forest strata were distinguished by combining soil classes and vegetation types. Compared to the simple stratification, the total number of plots is 16.5% lower. The soil-vegetation stratification is better because it combines specific environmental conditions of forest and soil classes and it reduces the variation within each vegetation class. The total carbon in the forest strata using the stratification based on vegetation and soil maps (excluding soil) was 764,812 t C. Total aboveground biomass was 589,326 and mean carbon stocks for aboveground biomass ranged from 42-135 t C ha-1. Comparing aboveground biomass between soil and soil-vegetation stratification, the best sample was at the second method, with increases around 2% (or 11,700 t C) in the total aboveground in the inventory. As a result of the carbon inventory conducted in the ARRP it was possible to quantify the amount of carbon stored with a good level of precision (p=0.05). The inventory was used to estimate the differences between the with- and without-project carbon pools and is the primary basis for determination of project GHG benefits. The results of this effort will help to improve and develop models to measure and monitor carbon stock in heterogeneous landscapes, such as the ones found in the Atlantic Rainforest. This project was developed with the funds from Initiative for Climate Action Project Research of Department of Energy (DOE) and National Energy Technology Laboratory of USA (DE-FC26-01NT41151).