Photosynthetic Activity as a Productive Potential in Fragmented Forest Ecosystems

The inertia of fragmented ecosystems allows the study of mechanisms that transform these at plant level, the objective of this research was to develop the methodology to evaluate the photosynthetic activity and the capacity of different plant species that are part of the ecosystem, to recover their productivity. The study was carried out in Acajete Puebla, Mexico, delimiting conserved, transitional and agricultural areas. Tests were carried out with two chlorophyll extraction techniques, and at the same time the CO2 consumed by the plant was randomly measured. The technique with the highest recovery was maceration with 2.38 g of chlorophyll per gram of fresh material. On other hand, the productivity of the agricultural area is greater than the one in transition, which is attributed to the fact that agricultural area is more dynamic since most of the species are herbaceous and have a short life span, contributing to the rapid assimilation, storage and sequestration of carbon. This concludes that the herbaceous species Lachemilla procumbens (gross photosynthetic rate 0.19 ppm CO2/s) and Stevia subpubescens (0.16 ppm CO2/ s) are optimal to start the recovery of a degraded ecosystem.