Aerial biomass in a floodplain Forest at Araucaria, Parana State, South Brazil.

Abstract

The studied site is located at Araucária (PR), Brazil, in an area of floodplain forest, near to Barigui River. The aerial biomass was evaluated in this area, focusing on the arboreal vegetation (leaves, fruits, seeds, thin and thick branches, vascular and non-vascular epiphytes, wood and bark), the regenerated vegetation higher than 1.30 m (trunk, thin and thick twigs, leaves, vascular and non-vascular epiphytes), the regenerating vegetation lower than 1.30 m (aerial parts and roots), the herbaceous (aerial parts and roots) and litter. Some dendrometric variables of the studied materials were measured, the green weight and samples of the plants collected to measure the dry weight. As general results, dry aerial biomass of 195.5 t/ha was obtained with the arboreal vegetation correspond to 86.88% of this value, followed by the regenerating vegetation higher than 1.30 m (10.27%), the litter (2.23%), the regenerating vegetation lower than 1.30 m (0.38%) and the herbaceous (0.23%).