Resumo

VELA CORREA, Gilberto; LOPEZ BLANCO, Jorge  e  RODRIGUEZ GAMINO, María de Lourdes. Levels of total organic carbon in The Suelo de Conservación of the Distrito Federal, Central Mexico. Invest. Geog [online]. 2012, n.77, pp.18-30. ISSN 2448-7279.

The Suelo de Conservación (SC) of the Distrito Federal (Central Mexico) is a reservoir of carbon, so it is important to have storage-capacity data under different types of vegetation. In this paper we estimated the total organic carbon content in soils (TOCS) of land cover areas of forest, forested areas and agricultural use. Geomorphogenetic units were delineated that were the basis for soil sampling. In total 50 sites were considered with soil samples taken at a 0-30 cm depth with different land cover. We determined the total amount of organic carbon in soil (TOCS) from an equation considering the bulk density, porosity and surface area. The highest content of TOCS is presented in the soils of sites reforested with Abies religiosa, Pinus spp. and Pinus-Cupressus. The agricultural soils contain less than a half of COS in relation the forest soils. Higher levels of TOCS content are located in the Las Cruces and Guadalupe Ranges, as well as the volcanic soils of the Pelado, Tláloc and Cuautzin volcanoes. Local administrative units whose soils have the highest concentration of TOCS are Cuajimalpa and Magdalena Contreras. It is necessary to assess, from an economic-environmental approach the ecosystem services provided by the SC, in this case as a soil carbon storage, so that economic incentives are attractive to the local land-owners.

Palavras-chave : Climate change; total organic carbon; Suelo de Conservación; soil carbon; Distrito Federal.