Recuperación de la biomasa mediante la sucesión secundaria, Cordillera Central de los Andes, Colombia

Abstract

Estimations on biomass recovery rates by secondary tropical forests are needed to understand the complex tropical succession, and their importance on CO2 capture, to offset the warming of the planet. We conducted the study in the Porce River Canyon between 550 and 1 700m.a.s.l. covering tropical and premon-tane moist belts. We established 33 temporary plots of 50mx20m in secondary forests, including fallows to succesional forests, and ranging between 3 and 36 years old; we measured the diameter at breast height (D) of all woody plants with D≥5cm. In each one of these plots we established five 10mx10m subplots, in which we measured the diameter betweem 1cm≤D<5cm of all woody plants. We estimated the biomass of pastures by harvesting 54 plots of 2mx2m, and of shrubs in the fallows by harvesting the biomass in 18 plots of 5mx2m. We modeled Bav (above ground live biomass of woody plants) and Brg (coarse root biomass) as a function of suc-cesional age (t) with the growth model of von Bertalanffy, using 247t/ha and 66t/ha as asymptote, respectively. Besides, we modeled the ratios brg/bav=f(D) and Brg/Bav=f