Estoque de carbono em fragmento florestal na Zona da Mata Sul do estado de Pernambuco

Abstract

Native forests have a strong presence in climatic change mitigation on the planet, mainly on carbon sequestration. However, Atlantic Forest suffered a historical fragmentation process linked to exploration, resulting in carbon stock modification of this ecosystem. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate the carbon stocks in soil and vegetation of an Atlantic Forest fragment in Pernambuco, Brazil, assigning a comparative relation for edge and forest areas. The study was performed in an area from Usina Trapiche, in Sirinhaém, Pernambuco, in an Atlantic Forest fragment. Were evaluated the carbon stocks, soil organic carbon, soil labile carbon, tree and litter biomass in edge and forest situations, in plots of 250 m2. In each plot, soil samples were collected in three different depths (0-10, 10-20 and 20-40 cm), also collecting 0,25 m2 of litter in each plot and data from a phytosociological study were used to estimate the above-ground plant biomass. For statistical analysis, were performed F test and Tukey test, at 5% probability, after data treatment for normality test and homoscedasticity, on SAS and Sisvar software. There was significant difference in contents of soil organic carbon (S.O.C) and carbon stocks of soil in situation of edge and forest of the fragment, accepting the hypothesis of edge effect caused by fragmentation. However, this effect was not sufficient to have a difference in labile carbon. Was observed a major content and stock in the superficial layer of soil (0-10 cm), which is common in forest environments, mainly for the larger deposition of organic matter in surface. The above-ground biomass and litter biomass presented significant difference between edge and forest, possibly for being a heterogeneous environment and for edge effect existence in the fragment. Even with fragmentation, was observed that soil reservoir keeps stocking more carbon than vegetation reservoir, being the disturbance, up to the limits established by this study, less enough to alter the carbon storage and ecosystems services in a conserved area. So, understand the importance of the knowledge and preservation of native forests for the environment functioning as a carbon tank.