Chittagong University Campus: Rich in Forest Growing Stock of Valuable Timber Tree Species in Bangladesh

Abstract

The campus of Chittagong University in Bangladesh is rich in forest ecosystem. The campus has large area with vast tract of land planted with valuable timber tree species. The present study identifies and discovers the potential growing stock of the plantations in the campus area. This Growing stock was measured in three parameters viz. volume, biomass and organic carbon stock. Study identified thirty three economically valuable forest tree species in the plantations of Chittagong University. Out of three growing stock parameters, volume of timber was found to be low in indigenous tree species in the plantation sites other than exotic species. This might be due to their slow growth rate and low density in the plantation sites. However, biomass and organic carbon stock of trees per hactre area showed that indigenous species gather and sequester more timber and carbon respectively than introduced species. Plantations of Chittagong University campus can acquire 25.51 m 3 /ha volume of economically important tree species, where biomass and organic carbon stock is 222.33 tonne/ha and 107.48 tonne/ha respectively. This result shows a positive impression on the plantation site to be considered as good forest reserve.

State of research on carbon sequestration in Bangladesh: a comprehensive review

“…In majority of the studies, below-ground carbon stock was calculated as 15% of above-ground carbon stock (Miah, Uddin, Bhuiyan, Koike, & Shin, 2009;Ullah & Al-Amin, 2012), but in another study, it was found 14% in real field (Rahman et al, 2015) which added further errors into the estimates. In addition, confusion compounded when someone used 0.50 (Dey et al, 2014;Islam, 2013;Shin et al, 2007) as the carbon conversion factor from biomass and some other used 0.58 (Akter, Rahman, & Al-Amin, 2013;Sohel et al, 2015). Similarly, Rahman et al (2013)…”

Growth density and regeneration of afforested mangroves at Mirersarai forest range in Bangladesh

“…From each section of each beat, five plots of size 10 m  10 m (using Gareth's method Gareth 1991) were selected randomly for growth (stems per unit area, DBH and height of trees) data collection. A complete randomized block design was followed for taking samples from the sample plots (Akter et al 2011(Akter et al , 2013. Primary data was collected from 90 randomly selected plots.…”

Carbon Forestry: Scope and Benefit in Bangladesh

“…Reports found that a healthy forest can sequester almost 150 to 300 tonne carbon per hactre area. Where, plantation in Chittagong University campus can store 107.48 tonneC/ha (Akter et al 2013). If one tonne carbon dioxide equivalent price is 50 USD in near future then the carbon value of a living forest is about 7,500-15,000 USD per hactre area.…”

“…The potential organic carbon in forest stands is almost 92 tC/ha especially in the natural hill forest of Bangladesh (Miah et al 2011) where Akter et al (2013) found this to be 150-300 tC/ha in managed plantation forest. Brown et al (1993) found this to be 255 tC/ha in potential biomass, 144 tC/ha in actual biomass and 148 tC/ha in soils within Asia.…”

“…Several researchers found that indigenous forest species could sequester more carbon as CO 2 during their lifetime. Studies depict that indigenous tree species like Dipterocarpus turbinatus, Anisoptera scaphula, Hopea odorata, Lagerstoemia speciosa, Shorea robusta, Terminalia belerica, Gmelina arborea, Chickrassia tabularis all sequester higher carbon content (45-55 percent organic carbon) in their biomass (Akter et al 2013). These species might be planted in carbon forests.…”