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Published on: November 21, 2015
Land-Use Change and Carbon Flux Between 1970s and 1990s in Central Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico
1El Colegio de la Frontera Sur Apartado Postal 63 San Cristóbal de las Casas, C.P. 29200, Chiapas, Mexico
Abstract:
/ We present results of a study in an intensively impacted and highly fragmented landscape in which we apply field-measured carbon (C) density values to land-use/land-cover (LU/LC) statistics to estimate the flux of C between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere from the 1970s and 1990s. Carbon densities were assigned to common LU/LC classes on vegetation maps produced by Mexican governmental organizations and, by differencing areas and C pools, net C flux was calculated from the central highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, during a 16-year period. The total area of closed forests was reduced by half while degraded and fragmented forests expanded 56% and cultivated land and pasture areas increased by 8% and 30%, respectively. Total mean C densities ranged from a high of 504 tons C/ha in the oak and evergreen cloud forests class to a low of 147 tons C/ha in the pasture class. The differences in total C densities among the various LU/LC classes were due to changes in biomass while soil organic matter C remained similar. We estimate that a total of 19.99 thick similar 10(6) tons C were released to the atmosphere during the period of time covered by our study, equal to approximately 34% of the 1975 vegetation C pool. The Chiapas highlands, while comprising just 0.3% of Mexico's surface area, contributed 3% of the net national C emissions. KEY WORDS: Land use; Land cover; Carbon flux; Forests; Chiapas highlands; Mexico
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