Monitoring Carbon Stock and Land-Use Change in 5000-Year-Old Juniper Forest Stand of Ziarat, Balochistan, through a Synergistic Approach

Abstract

The Juniper forest reserve of Ziarat is one of the biggest Juniperus forests in the world. This study assessed the land-use changes and carbon stock of Ziarat. Different types of carbon pools were quantified in terms of storage in the study area in tons/ha i.e., above ground, soil, shrubs and litter. The Juniper species of this forest is putatively called Juniperus excelsa Beiberstein. To estimate above-ground biomass, different allometric equations were applied. Average above ground carbon stock of the forest was estimated as 8.34 ton/ha, 7.79 ton/ha and 8.4 ton/ha using each equation. Average carbon stock in soil, shrubs and litter was calculated as 24.35 ton/ha, 0.05 ton/ha and 1.52 ton/ha, respectively. Based on our results, soil carbon stock in the Juniper forest of Ziarat came out to be higher than the living biomass. Furthermore, the spatio-temporal classified maps for Ziarat showed that forest area has significantly decreased, while agricultural and barren lands increased from 1988 to 2018. This was supported by the fact that estimated carbon stock also showed a decreasing pattern between the evaluation periods of 1988 to 2018. Furthermore, the trend for land use and carbon stock was estimated post 2018 using a linear prediction model. The results corroborate the assumption that under a business as usual scenario, it is highly likely that the Juniperus forest will severely decline.

Deforestation for Agriculture Temporarily Improved Soil Quality and Soil Organic Carbon Stocks

“…Deforestation dominates land-use changes worldwide [16] and has a significant impact on the environment, such as biodiversity loss and climate and soil-quality changes [32]. In this study, the soil BD increased gradually with soil depth, similar to previous studies [33].…”

“…Land-use change will lead to a change in the vegetation type and quantity and will affect the physical and chemical properties of the soil [15]. Land-use change has a significant impact on SOC stocks and is the second-largest source of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere [8,16] following fossil fuel combustion. Deforestation for cropland, which is the primary type of land-use change [17], may cause a significant variation in soil ecological processes and ecosystem functions.…”

Land Use Land/Cover Change Reduces Woody Plant Diversity and Carbon Stocks in a Lowland Coastal Forest Ecosystem, Tanzania

“…The woody carbon stocks within the LCF for the years 1998 and 2008 was estimated using average carbon stocks across forest, bushland, and agriculture with scattered settlement, based on our field survey and LULC classes of the year 2018. Next, the woody biomass value quantified using the LULC classes of the year 2018 was used to estimate carbon densities for the years between 1998 and 2008 [10,[81][82][83]. Finally, we estimated the total carbon stocks for the entire study area by multiplying the average carbon stocks per ha by the total LULC class area (ha) for each of the time steps (1998,2008) [81,83].…”

Mapping and Monitoring Forest Cover

“…The paper by Guo et al [1] demonstrates the benefits of using moderate-resolution imagery to monitor forest change over time and for a large area. The papers by Aljahdali et al [2] and Jallat et al [3] emphasize specific critical forest types (mangrove and juniper forests) that are especially important to map and monitor to maintain these niche ecosystems. The paper regarding large juniper forests also introduces the concept of carbon sequestration, which is particularly important to our environment today [3].…”

“…The papers by Aljahdali et al [2] and Jallat et al [3] emphasize specific critical forest types (mangrove and juniper forests) that are especially important to map and monitor to maintain these niche ecosystems. The paper regarding large juniper forests also introduces the concept of carbon sequestration, which is particularly important to our environment today [3]. The final three papers deal with higher spatial resolution remotely sensed imagery [4][5][6].…”