Estimation of Biomass and Carbon Stocks: the Case of

the Atlantic Forest

Simone VieiraCena/USP

Estimation of Biomass and Carbon Stocks: the Case of The

Atlantic Forest

Simone A. Vieira, Luciana F. Alves, Marcos Aidar, Luciana Spinelli Araújo, Tim Baker, João Luís F. Batista, Mariana Cruz Campos, Plinio B. Camargo, Jerome Chave, Welington B. Delitti, Niro Higuchi, Euridice Honorio, Carlos A. Joly, Michael Keller, Luiz A. Martinelli, Eduardo Arcoverde de Mattos, Thiago Metzker, Oliver Phillips, Flavio A. M. Santos, Mônica Takako Shimabukuro, Marcos Silveira, Susan E. Trumbore

Tropical forests are obviously a source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere through land use

change

But what are the dynamics of C in intact forests and what is their potential to respond to global environmental change such as - increased CO2

- climate change - anthropogenic pressure ?

and why Atlantic Forest???????

The Atlantic Forest 500 years ago

(1.36 million km2)

The Atlantic Forest today

(92 thousand km2)

How much C was emitted to the atmosphere due to the land use

change in Atlantic forest?

http://www.ib.unicamp.br/destaques/biota/gradiente_funcional/index.html

0 m

1,000 m

How does the structure and the function of the

forest change along this altitudinal gradient?

Our questions –

What is the capacity for these forests to store C?Where could it be stored and for how long?

Our approach –

First - Look at components of C stocks: Above and below ground and the environmental variables that control them.

Use radiocarbon to determine the residence time of carbon in trees and soils

10m100m

300m

1000m

Floristic composition, structure and forest dynamics

Coastal flooded fo

rest

(restinga)

Lowland dense forest

Submontane dense

forestMontane dense forest

RJSP

X

Y

Sed

e N

úcle

o S

anta

Vir

gíni

a

Fazenda Capricórnio

Casa da Farinha

Restinga

 

 

C

B

D

E

G

H

IJ

F

Stem information

-Number

-Location (X and Y)

-Identification(Floristic)

-Measurement

-DBH (1,30m)

-HDBH

-Total Height

-Trunk quality

-Illumination of canopy

-Vertical trunk position

trees, palms and tree ferns

Mininum size:

4.8cm DBH

Propagation of error

Data quality

Allometric model quality

Size of the sampled area

How well the plots represent

the forest

DBH of one tree

AGB of one tree

AGB of one plot

AGB of the forest

measurement

Allometric model

Sum of trees

Mean of plots

Chave et al. (2004)

Propagation of error in estimating the biomass of Tropical Forest

Selection and validation of models

• Diameter (DBH, cm)• Height (m)• Wood density – specific gravity of wood (g/cm3, 15%

humidity)

Fonte: http://www.edb.ups-tlse.fr/equipe1/chave/ctfswd.htm

Atlantic ForestAbove ground biomass

• Tiepolo et al. (2002) – Guaraqueçaba (PR)

• Burguer (2005) – Santos (SP)

• Rolim et al. (2005) – Linhares (ES)

Allometric model – trees Dry biomass above ground (kg ha-1)

Reference Allometric model

(AGB) R2

DBH range

(cm)

Allometric Model with 1 variables – DBH

Chambers et al.

(2001)

exp(+1 ln(DBH)+2 (ln(DBH))2-3

(ln(DBH))3) -0.37 0.333 0.933 -0.122 0.973 5-130

Burger (2005) = exp(+1ln(DBase)) -

6.80067 3.77738 - - -0.915 12.5-27.9*

Tiepolo et al.

(2002) +1 (DBH)+2 (DBH)2 21.297 -6.953 0.74 - 0.91 4-116

Allometric Model with 2 variables – DBH and wood density or DBH and Height

Chave et al.,

(2005)a**

X exp(+1ln(DBH)+2ln(DBH))2 -

3 ln(DBH))3) -1.499 2.1481 0.207 -0.0281 0.996 5-156

Scatena et al.

(1993) = exp(+1 (ln(DBH)2 X H)) -3.282 0.95 - - 0.947 2.5-57

Allometric Model with 3 variables– DBH, wood density, height

Chave et al.,

(2005)b* = X exp(+ln(X DBH2 * H) -2.977 - - - 0.989 5-156

* Base diameter ** These models refer to the moist tropical forests.

Life-

form Reference

Allometric model

(AGB) R2

DBH (cm) and

H (m) range

Pal

ms

Allometric Model with 1 variable – DBH or Height

Tiepolo et al. (2002) = + 1*(Height) 0.3999 7.907 - 0.75 1-33

Brown et al. (2005) =+ (1(DBH0.5)*ln(DBH)) 6.6666 12.826 -

Hughes et al. (1999) = exp (((+1 ln(DBH2))*2 )/103 5.7236 0.9285 1.05001 0.82 -

Allometric Model with 2 variables – DBH and Height

Saldarriaga et al.

(1988) = exp (+1 ln(1/(DBH)2)+2ln(Height)) -6.3789 -0.877 2.151 0.89 -

Tre

e fe

rn Allometric Model with 1 variable – DBH

Tiepolo et al. (2002) = /(1-1exp-2 * Height) -4266348 2792284 0,313677 0.88 1-8

Lia

nas

Allometric Model with 1 variable – Diameter

Gehring et al. (2004) = exp (+1 (ln(D)) 7.114 2.276 0.945 0.1-13.8 (Db)

0.2-48(H)

Schnitzer et al. (2006) = exp (+1 (ln(D)) -1.484 2.657 0.694 1-23

Gerwing et al. (2000) = exp (+1 (ln(D)) 0.07 2.17 0.95 1-13.5

Allometric model – other life forms

Amazon forest

Atlantic Forest

Tree total height x DBH in Amazon forest (western Amazon) and Atlantic forest (Picinguaba).

DBH (cm)

0 20 40 60 80 100

Hs´

(m

)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Coastal F. forestLowland forestSubmontane forestMontane forest

Scaranello (2007)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Submontane forest

Bio

mas

s (M

g h

a-1)

Scatena et a. (1993)

Chave et al. (2005)b

Tiepolo et al (2002)

Chave et al. (2005)a

Chambers et al. (2001)

Submontane dense forest

Abo

ve g

roun

d bi

omas

s (M

g/ha

)

• ca.22,000 tree stems > 4.8 cm DBH

• Dens = 1477 180 ind ha-1 ( CI 95%)

• BA = 34.0 4.1 m2 ha-1

• > 10 cm DBH - change between altitudinal

density 25%

Basal area– 69%

biomass – 30%

Forest Structure

AltitudeAltitude

Total Above Ground BiomassTotal Above Ground Biomass

AltitudeAltitude

74%

47%

71%

69%

> 30 cm> 30 cm

AB

C

D

E

F

G HI

J

N

-3

-3.5

-1 1 3

-2.5

-1.5

-0.5

0.5

Axis 1

Axi

s 2

FOD

Montana

FOD Terras Baixas Explorada

Restinga

FOD Terras

Baixas

FOD Submontana

FOD Submontana

Forest Structureimplications to carbon stocks

Disturbance

Forest structure and biomass

Carbon stock

Residence time and Residence time and forest dynamicforest dynamic

Edaphic factorsEdaphic factors

Biomass distribution in DBH size class

Dry season

Altitudinal Position

Biomass distribution in DBH size class

Spatial patterns in carbon storage above and belowground in Brazilian Tropical Forest: Amazon and Atlantic Forest

FinanciamentoFinanciamento

Este trabalho foi financiado pela Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) no âmbito do Projeto Temático Gradiente Funcional (Processo 03/12595-7), que faz parte do Programa BIOTA/FAPESP - O Instituto Virtual da Biodiversidade (www.biota.org.br). Autorização COTEC/IF 41.065/2005 e autorização IBAMA/CGEN 093/2005.

http://www.ib.unicamp.br/destaques/biota/gradiente_funcional/index.html