Carbon and Nitrogen Stock and Natural Abundance of δ¹³C in the Pirapitinga Ecological Station, MG

ABSTRACT

The integrated assessment of physical attributes, carbon (StockC) and nitrogen (StockN) stock, and natural abundance of δ¹³C are effective in detecting landscape changes. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate and compare the bulk density, StockC, StockN and natural abundance of δ¹³C in the soil profiles of different vegetation types of the Pirapitinga Ecological Station (EEP), to elucidate the changes in this area. For this, soil samples were collected and analyzed at depths up to one meter in different vegetation types of the EEP. The highest soil clay content and density of plant of forest vegetation promoted higher levels of StockC and StockN and lower bulk density values than the other grassland vegetation. The δ¹³C revealed that the areas of forest vegetation types were previously occupied mainly by plants of the C₄ photosynthetic cycle, similar to grassland currently found in the EEP.

Keywords:
dynamics of landscape; soil organic matter; isotopic composition; Cerrado vegetation types