Tropical forests are generally known for their high biodiversity and importance as
carbon sink. However, while scientific research and nature conservation mainly
focused on tropical rainforests, seasonal dry tropical forests remained mostly
unnoticed. In those regions, anthropogenic disturbances, such as deforestation and overgrazing, are the most important threats. The present study focusses on two main topics: First, the effect of different land use options (preservation areas, pastures, irrigation agriculture) on the plant diversity, forest density, and populations structure is investigated. Second, above and belowground carbon stocks are quantified and analysed with respect to the land use. The study region is the Itaparica Reservoir located in the semiarid Caatinga region of northeastern Brazil.