Structure of a forest ecosystem and its relationship with the carbon stock in Northeastern Mexico

Abstract

There is a positive relationship between the horizontal and vertical diversity of vegetation with the carbon stock (CS). The objective was to characterize a forest ecosystem and generate a model that describes the behavior of the CS in relation to the diversity of vegetation through diversity indexes. 10 sampling sites 2 500 m2 were established. Basal area (G), Carbon stock (CS), and Shannon-Wiener (H') and Pretzsch (A) indexes was calculated. Site 3 had the highest G with 49.01 ± 7.74 m2 ha-1, and site 8 had a G of (22.67 ± 2.5 m2 ha-1). Site 3 had the highest value CS (123.48 ± 17.19 Mg ha-1), site 8 had the lowest CS with 58.35 ± 5.75 Mg ha-1. Site 2 had the highest value A = 2.53, with Amax = 3.5, and site 6 had the lowest values (A = 1.5 and Amax = 2.48). Site 2 had the highest values H '= 1.78 and H'max = 2.40; site 8 had the lowest (H' = 0.83 and H'max = 1.10). Site 3 is characterized by northeast aspect and slope > 100 %, while sites 6 and 8 have northeast-east aspect and slopes of 20 to 40 %. The best regression model between the CS and H’, and for A was an exponential one with R2 = 0.62 and R2 =0.59 (respectively). We conclude that there is a relation between the CS and the studied indexes.