Characterization of carbon storage in small Andean Wetlands of the upper Rio Barbas Watershed (Quindio, Colombia)

This paper presents a characterization of the carbon accumulation process in small Andean wetlands located in the Upper Rio Barbas, in the town of Finlandia, Quindio, Colombia. Decomposition bags were used to estimate organic matter decomposition rates and values for the decomposition constant in the short term; loss on ignition and carbon-14 dating were used to calculate rates of carbon accumulation in the long term. The 52 wetlands occupy an area of 7.2 ha and are located at elevations between 2,000 and 2,200 masl. The decomposition constant, k is 0.524 for wetland soils in contrast with 0.962 for well drained soils. The carbon concentration in the three wetlands varies between 91 and 319 g C kg(-1). Carbon stocks per unit area in the three studied wetlands range between 80 and 117 kg C m(-2). The long term rate of carbon accumulation - LARCA - is between 30 and 50 g C m(-2) yr(-1), comparable to those found for peat areas of Andean paramos.