Impacts of forest loss on soil carbon sequestration in an area under anthropogenic threats

Forests are essential carbon stocks worldwide; however, they are losing their storage capacity due to deforestation, degradation, and land-use changes caused by anthropogenic activities in forest ecosystems. The soil organic carbon store (SOC) is the most critical reservoir, accounting for over 40% of the total carbon stored in forests. The present study provides information on the SOC storage capacity of forest ecosystems compared to other land uses in the Texcoco Forest Region, State of Mexico. Vegetation was classified into phases: Phase 1, primary or undisturbed land use and vegetation (LUV); Phase 2, modified LUVs with various disturbances; Phase 3, LUVs resulting from anthropogenic activities such as agriculture, forest plantations, and fruit trees. The largest SOC reserve was found in sites with the least anthropogenic disturbance. Forest ecosystems presented up to three times as much SOC as Phase 3 land uses; thus, coniferous forests were the largest SOC reservoirs, more efficient than agricultural and oak ecosystems, which did not show large SOC stocks.