Biomass and Carbon in Non-woody Vegetation, Dead Wood and Litter in Iguaçu National Park

This study was carried out in 2004 in Iguacu National Park (INP), Paraná-Brazil. The vegetation is composed of Araucaria Forest (AF) (13.1%) and Seasonal Semi-deciduous Forest (FES) (86.9%). Two types of materials were analyzed: litter (L) and woody material (W) (alive (A) and dead (D)), and classified by diameter: W1(0–0.70 cm), W2(0.71–2.5 cm), W3(2.51–7.50 cm), and W4(≥7.5 cm). The results for the FES was 21.7 t/ha, with 42.4% in diameter class WD4 (8.98 t/ha) and 38.6% was litter (8.17 t/ha). The FOM was 12.87 t/ha, with 78.9% litter. The carbon stocks of the materials varied between 36.2% and 42.1% (for litter and WD4), both in the FES. There were no significant differences between the carbon stocks of the forest types. Rather differences existed between the pools (5% ANOVA and Tukey test). In the FES the carbon stock was 8.29 t/ha, which is equivalent to 30.41 tCO2e/ha, and in the FOM the stock was 4.94t/ha or 18.12 tCO2e/ha. For the vegetation types the carbon stock in INP was 8.35 tC/ha and 30.62 tCO2e/ha for the FES and FOM, respectively. The carbon pools analyzed in this study contribute significantly to the total carbon stock of a forest ecosystem and should always be taken into consideration when developing estimates for a forest.