Volume, biomass and carbon stock in the wood of a dry forest in Caicó Municipality, RN, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this study was to quantify the stocks in volume, biomass and carbon in wood of a fragment of Caatinga dry forest, in Caicó Municipality, Rio Grande do Norte State, northeastern of Brazil. The inventory and sampling of biological material was carried out for biomass and carbon analysis. Wood density of eight species representing 91% of the importance value (VI) of the fragment was determined to convert timber volume into biomass. The percentage of carbon in these species was determined by wood elemental analysis. The carbon stock was calculated based on that carbon percentage multiplied by biomass of each tree. For those species that have not been examined (9% of VI) it was used average basic density () and carbon (), weighted by importance value of the species. The observed volumetric wood stock was 15.5 m³ ha^-1. Biomass was 12 t ha^-1, corresponding to carbon stock of 5.7 t ha^-1.