Cuantificación de flujo de carbono en humedales de bosques Llucud y Guayllabamba del flanco noreste del Parque Nacional Sangay

Abstract

The objective of this research is to quantify the carbon flux in wetlands in LLucud and Guayllabamba forests located in the northeastern flank of Sangay National Park. The study area comprises 50,4932 hectares at an altitude of 3,100-3,300 masl. It was divided into 3 phases: field, laboratory, and data analysis. The field phase was developed in 6 clusters and 18 rectangular L-shaped plots for soil samples (0-30 and 30-60 cm) and rootlets. The forest species were collected by the non-destructive method according to the variables that were measured in nested plots of 1200 m2. For the collection of undergrowth, two subplots of 2500 m2 were used. In the laboratory phase, the following methods were used: biomass ratio for understory carbon, weight loss (LOI) for soil carbon and Oxitop for soil respiration. The results show different carbon concentrations: in aerial biomass 3.94 %, understory biomass 6.20 %, rootlets 8.04% and in soil 12.22% at two depths (0-30 and 30-60 cm); being the 0-30 cm the higher value with 6.71 %. Soil respiration in LLucud is lower (0.494 mg CO2 /Kg soil *5 d) than Guayllabamba (0.609 mg CO2 /Kg soil *d). Thus, this demonstrated low CO2 emissions possibly due to low biological activity, low temperatures, high percentages of humidity that exceed the saturation point (80%). It was determined that the variability of soil carbon and respiration is significant, so they regularly store carbon and constitute fragile ecosystems.