CARBON CONTENT SEQUESTERED IN THE NATURAL GRASSLANDS OF THE PROTECTED AREA "ICHUBAMBA YASEPAN", THROUGH GEOSTATISTICAL ANALYSIS.

Abstract

Global warming as a result of the increase in  greenhouse gases symbolizes a great threat to life on the planet, with the passage of time it has been reflected in  the increase  in temperatures causing major disasters  and altering physical, biological and human systems, so it is sought  mitigate its effects and preserve biodiversity.  Therefore, the present research proposed  to estimate the content of carbon  sequestered in the natural grasslands of the Ichubamba Yasepan protected area, with the purpose of establishing the amount of carbon present in necro mass, biomass and soil stored in the high Andean natural grasslands to have real data for future negotiations of environmental compensations and thus contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions associated with deforestation and environmental degradation. In the grassland and shrub ecosystems 4 plots were established and sampling units of square shape with dimension of 10 x10 m were installed, two circular plots with a radius of 5 and 2.5 m were installed, 8 quadrants of 50 x 50 cm were formed according to the GLORIA methodology, where  they were collected  18 necromass samples, 18 aerial biomass samples and 16 soil samples. These were processed in the laboratory of the Faculty of Natural Resources (FRN) of the Polytechnic School of Chimborazo (ESPOCh). For the statistical analysis, a database was built that was processed using the InfoStat statistical package, where values between 6.14 and 7.22 Ton C * ha-1 of  biomass, 1.74 and 11.55 Ton C * ha-1 in necro mass and according to the depth of the soil of 30 to 60 cm the amount of 93.98 Ton C * ^ha-1 was determined  ,  obtaining as total results 170.8 Ton C * ha-1 in the shrub vegetation corresponding to 220,690.68 tons of total carbon in an area of 1292.1 hectares,  while the grass vegetation registered 178.7 Ton C * ha-1 corresponding to 625,097.96 tons of total carbon distributed in 3498.03 hectares, which affirms that these ecosystems are huge carbon containers   since vegetation cover absorbs CO2 from the environment, stores part of the carbon and returns oxygen to the atmosphere, all this through the process   of photosynthesis, which prevents the destruction of the ozone layer and strengthens the mitigation of climate change worldwide.