Conclusiones.............................................................................................................56

Abstract

Forests are essential ecosystems in the biogeochemical cycles present in nature and among them, for the carbon cycle. For this reason, estimating the biomass and carbon contained in these large reservoirs is essential to understand their importance in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Using remote sensing tools and allometric equations, the aerial biomass, and carbon contained in the forested areas of the Forest of Galilea del Tolima Regional Natural Park, Colombia, were estimated. Thus, vegetation indices were correlated with the biomass estimated in 100 m² plots, and allometric equations were generated with which to estimate the biomass and carbon contained in the wooded area of the Park. The results show that the focal average of the normalized difference index had a greater correlation with the biomass estimated in the plots, and the model associated with the natural logarithm was the one that presented the greatest predictive power for all life zones within the Park. A result of 849,104.448 tons of biomass and 424,554.224 tons of carbon was obtained in the pre-montane very humid forest life zone; 590,735.168 tons of biomass and 295,367.584 tons of carbon in the low montane humid forest life zone; 99,306.696 tons of biomass and 49,653.348 tons of carbon in the life zone of the pre-montane humid forest and 289,316.288 tons of biomass and 144,658.144 tons of carbon in the life zone of the low montane very humid forest.

Key Words: Aerial biomass, Carbon, Vegetation Indices, Remote Sensing, Forests.