Cuantificacion del carbono almacenado en la biomasa aerea y el mantillo en sistemas agroforestales de café en el suroeste de Costa Rica

Carbon stored in aboveground phytomass (live biomass and litter layer) was quantified in different agroforestry systems with coffee in the Southern Pacific zone of Costa Rica. Allometric relationships were developed to estimate timber tree biomass (two species). Random sampling was used to evaluate the biomass in one "service" tree species, coffee and the litter layer. Comparing 14 year old Coffea arabica plantations (monocultures and shaded plots), inclusion of Eucalyptus deglupta (seven years old) increased the C stock in the above ground phytomass by 17 t ha-1. This value included the amount of C stored in the above ground tree biomass (14 tC ha-1) and the increase in the litter layer from 1.2 tC ha-1 under full sun coffee to 4.2 tC ha-1 under E. deglupta. When different tree-coffee systems (four years old) were compared Terminalia ivorensis stored the largest amount of C in the aboveground biomass (12.4 tC ha-1), followed by E. deglupta (5.3 tC ha-1) and Erythrina poeppigiana (4.4 tC ha-1).