CARBON STORAGE UNDER DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOIL USE IN THE CAATINGA (BRAZILIAN SAVANNAH) BIOME

Abstract

Human activities modify the natural landscape and promote changes in land use and cover, causing negative impacts and contributing to climate change. Mapping land use and cover is relevant to understanding in which ways the land use modifies soil carbon stock and the CO₂ emission into the atmosphere. This research aims to evaluate the soil carbon storage capacity under different use classificationin Serrolândia municipality, Bahia State, Brazil. The usage map was drawn up based on MapBiomas data. Soil samples were collected from the surface at 0 to 10, 10 to 20, and 20 to 30 cm depths in the Caatinga (Brazilian Savannah) ecosystem and in the pasture and agriculture agroecosystems to evaluate the carbon stock. Results indicate predominance of pastures (76.08%) in contrast to the Caatinga vegetation (18.57%). The Caatinga showed a higher soil organic carbon stock with 40.86 Mg ha^-1 at 30 cm soil depth, followed by pasture with 22.34 Mg ha^-1 and agriculture with 20.71 Mg ha^-1. Changing the Caatinga to pasture and farming resulted in organic carbon stock losses of approximately 45.32% and 49.32%, respectively, contributing to increased carbon dioxide emissions.