Forest diversity plays a key role in determining the stand carbon stocks of Mexican forests

Defining the most important factors related with forest carbon (C) stocks in different forest types is still a controversial topic. In this study we used data from 10,500 plots from The National Forest Inventory of Mexico encompassing the six main forest types in Mexico (conifer, broadleaf, mixed, evergreen and semi-deciduous, dry and semiarid forests) in order to identify the main factors related to the spatial pattern of C stocks, including climate (temperature and rainfall), forest diversity (structural and species richness), topographic and soil characteristics (soil depth, slope and land tenure) and disturbance factors (fires, pests and tree felling). We built two different types of models, one taking all plots into account (global model, R2 = 0.54, P