Influencia de la cobertura vegetal y relieve sobre el almacenamiento de carbono en el suelo del ecosistema páramo

Abstract

The investigation was carried out in the paramo of the community of Tamboloma belonging to the parish of Pilahuín in the canton of Ambato, the primary information was collected through a personal interview with the president of the community of Tamboloma, Mr. Humberto Matiag. Also, 48 soil samples were analyzed to determine the amount of soil organic carbon (COS) based on the study factors: relief, vegetation cover, depth and the variables evaluated were: COS, apparent density, pH, electrical conductivity. The main objective of the research was to determine the accumulation of carbon in natural and intervened páramo ecosystems and the relationship with climatic factors. Soil carbon content using the modified method of Walkey and Black (1947). The mean SOC content in the páramo ecosystem within a natural or grassland area was 147.05 t/ha and for a human intervention or grassland area it was 162.49 t/ha, where the soil order of páramo for the province of Tungurahua corresponds to the Andosols. The mean pH value of the soil was 5.64, the apparent density was 0.81 g/cm3 and with an average electrical conductivity of 629.79 uS/cm. In addition, the apparent density variable (R2 = 0.4093) was the only variable that presented a positive response with the amount of COS in the correlation analysis, while the pH and EC variables showed an R2 value of 0.0015 and 0.0056 respectively