Determination of total carbon stored in reforestations established in the National Park Iztaccíhuatl Popocatépetl

The Natural Protected Areas, are considered highly efficient, given their natural vocation and the objectives which are to keep their forests and meadows in perfect condition The objective of this work was to generate allometric equations to estimate biomass and carbon from Pinus hartwegii and Muhlenbergia macroura, in addition to the carbon content in the soil, considered as carbon reservoirs. A destructive sampling of 94 trees from one to ten years old and 55 grass samples was carried out. The study was conducted in the Iztaccíhuatl-Popocatépetl National Park. Carbon from aerial biomass in reforestation and natural grassland was calculated using the generated equations and data obtained from 234 sampling sites. For the organic carbon determination in the soil, 35 samples were extracted at two depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm). The resulting equation for the estimation of the Pinus hartwegii biomass was B=0.0092Db2.7303 and for Muhlenbergia macroura the equation were B=0.075+0.00001393Db2h. The average carbon content was 50.3 and 42.1% for trees and pastures, respectively. In order of magnitude the total carbon storage in the 750 hectares was 76,566.7 Mg of C in the soil, 2,249.50 Mg of C in pastures and 37.12 Mg of C in reforestation.