An inventory of Guadua (Guadua angustifolia) bamboo in the Coffee Region of Colombia

Abstract

Management of renewable natural resources and the corresponding policy formulation should be founded on reliable data and information. This refers both to information on the resource itself and to information on the market situation. In this paper, we present methodology and major results of an inventory of the Guadua resources, in a study area of about 1 million ha within the Coffee Region of Colombia. This inventory produced for the first time sample-based statistical estimations of the Guadua area and growing stock. In the study area, land cover of Guadua patches was estimated to be 3.9% or about 40,000 ha (minimum patch area 0.3 ha). This is higher than figures published earlier. Estimation for mean number of standing culms (including shoots and dry culms) per hectare was 6,940 with a mean diameter at breast height of 10.8 cm, apparent commercial volume of 654 m 3 /ha, commercial wood volume of 304 m 3 /ha, oven-dry biomass of 311 ton/ha, and total carbon stock of 156 ton/ha. While the lowintensity sampling approach worked well and may serve as an example for similar studies, we identified a number of issues for further research, particularly in what refers to as the basic mensurational models for Guadua volume and biomass estimation from inventories.

Length curves and volume functions for guadua bamboo (Guadua angustifolia Kunth) for the coffee region of Colombia

“…The sample culms came from an inventory that had been carried out in a research project on Guadua bamboo (Kleinn and Morales 2006). Systematic two-stage sampling was applied.…”

“…It has a wide distribution all over Colombia and covers an estimated area of 51,500 ha, of which about 46,250 ha are natural stands and 5.250 ha are plantations (Londoño 1998). Within the coffee region, where this study was done, a recent inventory yielded an estimated of about 40,000 ha of Guadua stands (Kleinn and Morales 2006), which are highly fragmented and follow mainly the courses of rivers and creeks as ''gallery bamboo forest''. For numerous rural communities, this bamboo resource plays an important role for their livelihoods as raw material for manifold construction purposes and also for handicraft.…”

Derivation of two-way volume equation for bamboo, Phyllostachys pubescens

“…For this reason, numerous volume equations for various tree species and districts have been proposed (e.g., Avery and Burkhart 2002;West 2004), whereas there are few studies on volume equations for bamboo species (Aoki 1955;Kondo et al 2004). As Kleinn and Morales-Hidalgo (2006) state, there is a lack of basic models for predicting apparent culm volume (i.e. the total culm volume including the hollow parts) or wood volume (i.e.…”

Alouatta seniculus: Density, Home Range and Group Structure in a Bamboo Forest Fragment in the Colombian Andes

“…Natural guaduales have a mean guadua stem density between 3,000 and 7,000/ha, in different states of maturity [Kleinn and Morales, 2006]. Each stem produces an intricate network of long thin lateral branches with strong hooks that looks like a thorn grid.…”

“…Guadua is a native, thorny, woody bamboo (Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae) that grows either as pure stands or mixed with trees. About 40,000 ha of guaduales (Guadua bamboo forests), most of them natural, are estimated to exist in the Eje Cafetero [Kleinn and Morales, 2006].…”