Forest inventories
We established one 20 × 45 m plot in each of the aforementioned forest
stands, totaling 30 plots. For second-growth forests and restoration
plantations, which usually had a small and elongated area, we allocated
the inventory plots as centralized as possible in the forest stand in
order to avoid edge effects. In old-growth forest stands, which were
larger than the aforementioned forest typologies, we took the main trail
that crossed these forests an established the inventory plot when
distant at least 50 m from the forest edge. For all plots, we avoided
forest gaps or patches affected by human disturbances (e.g. fire or
logging).
We measured the diameter at breast height (DBH) of all trees and shrubs
(DBH ≥ 5 cm) within each plot and identified them to species level,
without distinguishing between planted or spontaneously regenerated
trees, and used these data to calculate above-ground biomass based on
the equations developed by Chave et al. (2014), with wood density values
mostly compiled from Chave et al. (2009) and César et al. (2017).
Above-ground carbon stocks were calculated by multiplying above-ground
biomass by 0.46, the average carbon content of dry woody biomass of
Atlantic Forest trees (Ferez, Campoe, Mendes, & Stape, 2015).