Redistribution of forest biomass in an heterogeneous environment of subtropical Andes undergoing agriculture adjustment

Estimations of the carbon stored in the above-ground biomass are important from traditional, ecological and forestry to contemporary climate and land-use change perspectives. Carbon sequestration and storage is reduced by deforestation and degradation and enhanced by forest regrowth and expansion. Recent studies show that forests are experiencing redistribution at different scales. Regions with steep topographical gradients simultaneously experience these four processes, upon which the final carbon balance in forests depends, but large scale patterns of above-ground carbon changes within forests have generally been overlooked. We developed above-ground carbon maps for 2000 and 2012 in a heterogeneous environment of subtropical Andes to a) explore the patterns of change in relation to biophysical variables and forests types and b) calculate the relative contribution of within forest carbon change and of forest expansion/deforestation to total above-ground carbon balance. Above-ground carbon trends showed spatial variation: biomass losses occurred in dry forests at low-mid elevations, while gains were restricted to higher elevation forests. Within forest changes implied larger changes in carbon stocks (+361976 Mg C) and in an opposite direction than deforestation and reforestation (−56750.16 Mg C), and determined an overall stability in terms of above-ground carbon for the study period. These contrasting patterns of above-ground change may be representative of larger heterogeneous regions such as tropical and subtropical Andes, and highlight the need of explicitly accounting for within forests change in current carbon regional balances.