scholarly journals Biomass and Soil Carbon Stocks in Wet Montane Forest, Monteverde Region, Costa Rica: Assessments and Challenges for Quantifying Accumulation Rates

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence H. Tanner ◽  
Megan T. Wilckens ◽  
Morgan A. Nivison ◽  
Katherine M. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Cloud Forest ◽  
Montane Forest ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Age Difference ◽  
Biomass Carbon ◽  
Mature Forest ◽  
Large Trees

We measured carbon stocks at two forest reserves in the cloud forest region of Monteverde, comparing cleared land, experimental secondary forest plots, and mature forest at each location to assess the effectiveness of reforestation in sequestering biomass and soil carbon. The biomass carbon stock measured in the mature forest at the Monteverde Institute is similar to other measurements of mature tropical montane forest biomass carbon in Costa Rica. Local historical records and the distribution of large trees suggest a mature forest age of greater than 80 years. The forest at La Calandria lacks historical documentation, and dendrochronological dating is not applicable. However, based on the differences in tree size, above-ground biomass carbon, and soil carbon between the Monteverde Institute and La Calandria sites, we estimate an age difference of at least 30 years of the mature forests. Experimental secondary forest plots at both sites have accumulated biomass at lower than expected rates, suggesting local limiting factors, such as nutrient limitation. We find that soil carbon content is primarily a function of time and that altitudinal differences between the study sites do not play a role.

scholarly journals The impact of long dry periods on the aboveground biomass in tropical forests: 20 years of monitoring

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton Serpa de Meira-Junior ◽  
José Roberto Rodrigues Pinto ◽  
Natália Oliveira Ramos ◽  
Eder Pereira Miguel ◽  
Ricardo de Oliveira Gaspar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Aboveground Biomass ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Stem Density ◽  
Biomass Carbon ◽  
Neotropical Forests ◽  
Aboveground Carbon ◽  
Large Trees ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Long-term studies of community and population dynamics indicate that abrupt disturbances often catalyse changes in vegetation and carbon stocks. These disturbances include the opening of clearings, flooding, rainfall seasonality, and drought, as well as fire and direct human disturbance. Such events may be super-imposed on longer-term trends in disturbance, such as those associated with climate change (heating, drying), as well as resources. Intact neotropical forests have recently experienced increased drought frequency and fire, on top of pervasive increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, but we lack long-term records of responses to such changes especially in the critical transitional areas at the interface of forest and savanna biomes. Here, we present results from 20 years monitoring a valley forest (moist tropical forest outlier) in central Brazil. The forest has experienced multiple drought events and includes plots which have and which have not experienced fire. We focus on how forest structure (stem density and aboveground biomass carbon) and dynamics (stem and biomass mortality and recruitment) have responded to these disturbance regimes. ResultsOverall, the biomass carbon stock increased due to the growth of the trees already present in the forest, without any increase in the overall number of tree stems. Over time, both recruitment and especially mortality of trees tended to increase, and periods of prolonged drought in particular resulted in increased mortality rates of larger trees. This increased mortality was in turn responsible for a decline in aboveground carbon toward the end of the monitoring period. Fire in 2010, which occurred in only some of our plots, tended to exacerbate the trends of increasing mortality and losses of biomass carbon. Conclusion Prolonged droughts influence the mortality of large trees, leading to a decline in aboveground carbon stocks. Here, and in other neotropical forests, recent droughts are capable of shutting down and reversing biomass carbon sinks. These new results add to evidence that anthropogenic climate changes are already adversely impacting tropical forests.

scholarly journals Demography of the land snail Tikoconus (Tikoconus) costarricanus (Stylommatophora: Euconulidae) in tropical low montane and premontane forests, Costa Rica

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaidett Barrientos
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Land Snail ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Land Snails ◽  
Tropical Species ◽  
Spearman Correlation ◽  
Mature Forest

Abstract. Introduction: Ecology and natural history of neotropical land snails is almost unknown. Objetive: In this paper I analyse the population dynamics of Tikoconus (Tikoconus) costarricanus Barrientos, in prep., an understory endemic euconulid. Methods: I compared T. costarricanus’ demography patterns in tropical montane forests in central Costa Rica in three habitats with different restoration techniques: a mature forest, a secondary forest and a Cuppressus lusitanica plantation. I collected data in three month periods during a year. I analysed population size in relation with habitat, sampling date, leaf litter humidity, depth and quantity; and specimen size in relation with habitat and sampling date. I also kept some specimens in terraria and described part of their natural history. Results: The species is more abundant in mature forest (Ø = 0.174 ind/m2). The number of specimens in each habitat was constant throughout the year (Kruskall-Wallis = 2.0118, p = 0.57, NS) and hatching occurs in the middle and last months of the rainy season (Kruskall-Wallis = 17.3061, p = 0.00061, **). Number of specimens is related with leaf litter humidity (Spearman correlation, r = 0.3524, n = 232, p = 0.000, **), amount (Spearman correlation, r = 0.3922, n = 232, p = 0.000, **) and depth (Spearman correlation, r = 0.2543, n = 232, p = 0.000, **). This relationship is explained by the high and stable humid environment provided by leaf litter. During the drier months some specimens migrate from the foliage to the leaf litter. Eggs (Ø = 1mm) are laid on moss or soil and the young spend the first 2 or 3 weeks of their life on moss. Egg masses are small (Ø = 4 eggs), and shells look bubbly. Egg development time (20 days) was longer than in other tropical species. Adult pigmentation appears around two months after hatch. In the only case observed egg laying began 5 months after hatching and the specimen lived 9 months. Conclusions: Although no conclusive, these data point to a fragile species susceptible to habitat and climate change. Restorations techniques should consider leaf litter features in order to protect endemic neotropical humid dependent diversity.

scholarly journals The impact of long dry periods on the aboveground biomass in tropical forests: 20 years of monitoring

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton Serpa de Meira-Junior ◽  
José Roberto Rodrigues Pinto ◽  
Natália Oliveira Ramos ◽  
Eder Pereira Miguel ◽  
Ricardo de Oliveira Gaspar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Aboveground Biomass ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Stem Density ◽  
Biomass Carbon ◽  
Neotropical Forests ◽  
Aboveground Carbon ◽  
Large Trees ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Long-term studies of community and population dynamics indicate that abrupt disturbances often catalyse changes in vegetation and carbon stocks. These disturbances include the opening of clearings, flooding, rainfall seasonality, and drought, as well as fire and direct human disturbance. Such events may be super-imposed on longer-term trends in disturbance, such as those associated with climate change (heating, drying), as well as resources. Intact neotropical forests have recently experienced increased drought frequency and fire, on top of pervasive increases in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, but we lack long-term records of responses to such changes especially in the critical transitional areas at the interface of forest and savanna biomes. Here, we present results from 20 years monitoring a valley forest (moist tropical forest outlier) in central Brazil. The forest has experienced multiple drought events and includes plots which have and which have not experienced fire. We focus on how forest structure (stem density and aboveground biomass carbon) and dynamics (stem and biomass mortality and recruitment) have responded to these disturbance regimes. Results Overall, the biomass carbon stock increased due to the growth of the trees already present in the forest, without any increase in the overall number of tree stems. Over time, both recruitment and especially mortality of trees tended to increase, and periods of prolonged drought in particular resulted in increased mortality rates of larger trees. This increased mortality was in turn responsible for a decline in aboveground carbon toward the end of the monitoring period. Fire in 2010, which occurred in only some of our plots, tended to exacerbate the trends of increasing mortality and losses of biomass carbon. Conclusion Prolonged droughts influence the mortality of large trees, leading to a decline in aboveground carbon stocks. Here, and in other neotropical forests, recent droughts are capable of shutting down and reversing biomass carbon sinks. These new results add to evidence that anthropogenic climate changes are already adversely impacting tropical forests.

scholarly journals Land use change effects on runoff generation in a humid tropical montane cloud forest region

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 3543-3560 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. E. Muñoz-Villers ◽  
J. J. McDonnell
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Cloud Forest ◽  
Forest Conversion ◽  
Hydrograph Separation ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Infiltration Capacity ◽  
Event Scale ◽  
Mature Forest ◽  
Grazed Pasture ◽  
Intense Storm

Abstract. While tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) provide critical hydrological services to downstream regions throughout much of the humid tropics, catchment hydrology and impacts associated with forest conversion in these ecosystems remain poorly understood. Here, we compare the annual, seasonal and event-scale streamflow patterns and runoff generation processes of three neighbouring headwater catchments in central Veracruz (eastern Mexico) with similar pedological and geological characteristics, but different land cover: old-growth TMCF, 20 yr-old naturally regenerating TMCF and a heavily grazed pasture. We used a 2 yr record of high resolution rainfall and stream flow data (2008–2010) in combination with stable isotope and chemical tracer data collected for a series of storms during a 6-week period of increasing antecedent wetness (wetting-up cycle). Our results showed that annual and seasonal streamflow patterns in the mature and secondary forest were similar. In contrast, the pasture showed a 10% higher mean annual streamflow, most likely because of a lower rainfall interception. During the wetting-up cycle, storm runoff ratios increased at all three catchments (from 11 to 54% for the mature forest, 7 to 52% for the secondary forest and 3 to 59% for the pasture). With the increasing antecedent wetness, hydrograph separation analysis showed progressive increases of pre-event water contributions to total stormflow (from 35 to 99% in the mature forest, 26 to 92% in the secondary forest and 64 to 97% in the pasture). At all three sites, rainfall-runoff responses were dominated by subsurface flow generation processes for the majority of storms. However, for the largest and most intense storm (typically occurring once every 2 yr), sampled under wet antecedent conditions, the event water contribution in the pasture (34% on average) was much higher than in the forests (5% on average), indicating that rainfall infiltration capacity of the pasture was exceeded. This result suggests that despite the high permeability of the volcanic soils and underlying substrate in this TMCF environment, the conversion of forest to pasture may lead to important changes in runoff generation processes during large and high intensity storms. On the other hand, our results also showed that 20 yr of natural regeneration may be enough to largely restore the original hydrological conditions of this TMCF.

scholarly journals Potensi Simpanan Karbon pada Beberapa Tipologi Hutan Rawa Gambut di Kalimantan Tengah

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Abdul Qirom ◽  
Tri Wira Yuwati ◽  
Purwanto Budi Santosa ◽  
Wawan Halwany ◽  
Dony Rachmanadi
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Content ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Conversion Factor ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Carbon Pools ◽  
Soil Carbon Pools ◽  
Soil Carbon Stocks

Akurasi pendugaan simpanan karbon hutan rawa gambut dapat ditingkatkan melalui pengukuran masing-masing gudang/sumber karbon dan berbagai macam tipologi hutannya. Pengukuran tersebut berkaitan dengan besarnya kandungan dan fraksi simpanan karbon pada masing-masing gudang karbon. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan kandungan dan potensi simpanan karbon pada masing-masing gudang karbon di tipologi gambut. Pengukuran simpanan karbon dilakukan pada lima gudang karbon yakni vegetasi (tingkat permudaan pohon), serasah, tumbuhan bawah, nekromasa dan tanah. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan kandungan karbon adalah 50% dari berat kering biomassa. Kandungan karbon tidak dipengaruhi oleh gudang karbon dan tipologi gambut. Pada tanah gambut, kedalaman gambut mempengaruhi besarnya kandungan karbon sehingga besarnya faktor konversi harus memperhatikan kedalaman masing-masing tipologi gambut. Potensi simpanan karbon terbesar pada tipologi hutan sekunder dengan kedalaman gambut antara 3-3,5 m sebesar 3.722,08 Mg/ha sedangkan potensi simpanan karbon terendah pada tipologi semak belukar dengan kedalaman gambut 3-3,5 m sebesar 2243,49 Mg/ha. Pada hutan gambut, gudang karbon tanah menyumbang >95% dari simpanan karbon total. Gudang karbon nekromasa memberikan sumbangan simpanan karbon terkecil. Fraksi simpanan karbon pada masing-masing gudang karbon berturut-turut adalah tanah> vegetasi> serasah> tumbuhan bawah> nekromasa.Carbon Stocks Potential of Peatland Forests Typologies in Central KalimantanAbstractAccuracy of carbon stocks estimation can be enhanced by measuring each carbon pools in various forest peatland typologies. The carbon stocks measurement is associated with the amount of contents and fractions of carbon stocks. The research objectives were to obtain the information of carbon contents and carbon stocks potentials in each carbon pool in the peat typologies. Carbon stocks measurement was conducted in five carbon pools which were: vegetation (tree stages), litter, understory, necromass, and soil. The results showed that the carbon contents reached more than 50% of its dry weight. The carbon contents were not affected by the carbon pools and peat typologies. In the soil carbon pools, peat depth affected the amount of carbon content so that the magnitude of the conversion factor should concentrate to the depth of each peat typology. The greatest potential of carbon stocks was found in the secondary forest (3,733.08 Mg/ha) with the peat depths between 3-3.5 m, while the lowest potential of carbon stocks found in the bush typology (2243.49 Mg/ha) with the peat depths between 3-3.5 m. In the peat typology, soil carbon stocks contributed more than 95% of total carbon stocks whereas necromass carbon stocks contributed the smallest amount of carbon. The fractions of carbon stocks in each carbon pools were soil> vegetation> litter> understorey> necromass, respectively.

scholarly journals A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Río Macho Biological Station, Provincia de Cartago, Costa Rica

Check List ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1784
Author(s):  
Víctor J. Acosta-Chaves ◽  
Gerardo Chaves ◽  
Juan G. Abarca ◽  
Adrián García-Rodríguez ◽  
Federico Bolaños
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Forest Plot ◽  
Forest Species ◽  
Biological Station ◽  
Mature Forest ◽  
Riparian Species ◽  
Acoustic Surveys

We provide a checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Río Macho Biological Station (RMBS), Costa Rica. During a period of a year (2012–2013) we conducted visual and acoustic surveys in a natural mature forest plot (>50 years old) (MF), secondary forest plot (~17 years old) (SF), in open areas and riparian forest at RMBS. We found a total of 11 species of amphibians and 15 species of reptiles belonging to 11 taxonomic families. We also compared the diversity of the MF against the SF. The MF contained 10 species (five amphibians and five reptiles) and the SF seven (three amphibians and four reptiles), with similar dominance between sites. Unfortunately, some forest and riparian species have vanished at this elevation after an enigmatic decline; according to historical literature pristine areas should contain higher species richness. Perhaps, the secondary forest will provide an available habitat for an important percentage of the remaining forest species.

Conversion of secondary forest into agroforestry and monoculture plantations in Amazonia: consequences for biomass, litter and soil carbon stocks after 7 years

2002 ◽  
Vol 163 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 131-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Götz Schroth ◽  
Sammya Agra D’Angelo ◽  
Wenceslau Geraldes Teixeira ◽  
Daniel Haag ◽  
Reinhard Lieberei
Keyword(s):  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Soil Carbon Stocks

scholarly journals Epiphytic bryophytes of Monteverde, Costa Rica

2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-70
Author(s):  
Mark C. Merwin ◽  
S. Robbert Gradstein ◽  
Nalini M. Nadkarni
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Cloud Forest ◽  
Primary Forest ◽  
Forest Preserve

A survey of the literature and collections in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and adjacent pastureland yielded a total of 198 epiphytic bryophyte taxa (120 species of hepatics in 50 genera, 77 species of moss in 48 genera, and 1 hornwort): 178 in the primary forest, 63 in the secondary forest, and 84 in the pastureland.

Predicted consequences of increased rainfall variability on soil carbon stocks in a semiarid environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-69
Author(s):  
M Forouzangohar ◽  
R Setia ◽  
DD Wallace ◽  
CR Nitschke ◽  
LT Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Rainfall Variability ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Semiarid Environment ◽  
Soil Carbon Stocks
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