Quantificação da densidade de carbono abaixo do solo, dos principais tipos de vegetação tropical seca no Parque Nacional do Banhine

Abstract

Knowledge of quantifying soil carbon density is fundamental for characterizing and monitoring a given area in relation to soil quality, and this also serves as a key indicator in the provision of environmental services. The present work was carried out in Gaza Province in the Banhine national park, and aimed to quantify the below-ground carbon density of the main types of dry tropical vegetation. For this purpose, three classes of land use and coverage were defined, namely mopane forest, mecrusse forest and wooded prairie, where 45 plots of 25x20 in total were established and for each forest stratum 15 plots were established. Soil samples were collected in the center of each plot in the different forest strata, specifically in the 1mx1m subplots, 1 meter deep pits were made in the subplots. 5 soil profile layers were considered, with the respective distances between them 0-0.2m, 0.2-0.4m,0.4-0.6m,0.6-0.8m,0.8-1m. samples of undisturbed and disturbed soil were taken in each layer. Samples of disturbed and undisturbed soil were taken to the laboratory to determine carbon in the soil, samples of undisturbed soil were taken to determine apparent density using the volumetric method known cylindrical (EMBRAPA, 2017) and the disturbed soil samples were taken to determine the Total organic carbon content using the Walkley-Black method (EMBRAPA, 2017) and the carbon below ground was determined by equation 1 of Pearson and Sarah 2005 . Having calculated the carbon in the soil, it was possible to verify the carbon density below the ground for each forest type and what impact this has on the different forest strata