Carbon retention by forests under xerophytic conditions. Guantanamo, Cuba

Abstract

The research was carried out in areas of natural and artificial forests under xerophytic conditions in the Imías and San Antonio del Sur municipalities of Guantánamo province, with the objective of evaluating carbon retention in these types of forests. The data corresponding to forest dynamics and the Project for the Organization and Development of the Forest Economy of the year 2018 were processed with the automated system SUMFOR v-4.02 . Natural forests were the ones with the highest retention with 181.53 tC/ha, while artificial forests retained 179.27 tC/ha. By deposits, the highest percentage is reported in the soil with 68.55 while by forest categories the highest results are obtained by the producing forests with 186.44 tC/ha, the rest of the categories have a similar behavior between them, ranging between 170 and 179. In a projection of the carbon baseline for 10 years, it was evidenced that by the year 2028 total carbon retention would have increased 35% with respect to the initial value, growth to which natural forests would contribute 69%. Information on carbon retention was obtained for the Manigua costera, Uveral, and typical Xerophyte formations that had not yet been studied in the country, and carbon retention values for the species Trichilia hirta L. and Phyllostylon brasiliensis capan . are presented for the first time.