Abstract

MONTES-PULIDO, Carmen Rosa; PARRADO-ROSSELLI, Ángela  and  ALVAREZ-DAVILA, Esteban. Plant functional types as estimator of carbon in dry forest of the Colombian Caribbean. Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2017, vol.88, n.1, pp.241-249. ISSN 2007-8706.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmb.2017.01.006.

Functional traits variation, as part of a plant functional types (PFT) for knowing carbon plant performance, has been poorly studied. The objective of this research was to establish the best PFT for carbon store prediction, in aboveground biomass in Colombian Caribbean dry forest, through a) evaluation of 4 functional traits associated with the stored carbon, b) characterizing and comparing PFT according with the variation of functional traits, and c) to determine PFT that better predicts carbon. In 5 permanent parcels of 1 ha, and trees with a diameter ≥ 10 cm, measurements of specific leaf area; leaf dry matter, leaf nitrogen concentration and leaf carbon concentration were taken. Two PFT were generated with analysis of hierarchical conglomerates. The obtained values of carbon in every single PFT, and estimated by the allometric equation are compared with the estimated for the arboreal community of the parcel. The PFT 1 was the best carbon predictor in the 5 parcels with conservative use of resources. This study contributes to support actions over the entailment of dry forest in carbon markets.

Keywords : Specific leaf area; Aboveground biomass; Leaf nitrogen concentration; Leaf dry matter; Functional plant traits.