Tree biomass and carbon density estimation in the tropical dry forest of Southern Western Ghats, India

Abstract

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change highlights the significance of carbon storage and emission in forests towards climate change mitigation. The aim of this study was to quantify the tree biomass and carbon density (carbon storage) in the tropical dry forest of the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary of Kerala located in the Southern Western Ghats, India. We investigated the species-wise contribution of carbon (C) storage, as well as the species-wise and plot-wise correlation between carbon and other dendrometric variables. We also analysed the girth (diameter) wise distribution of carbon and tree density in the study region. The study was conducted in eight selected sample plots of the region, each with an area of 0.1 hectare. Species-specific volume and specific gravity relationship coupled with suitable regression equation were used to estimate biomass. Tree carbon was assumed to be 47% of the biomass. The results showed that the average biomass and carbon density of the vegetation were 64.13 t ha-1 and 30.46 t-C ha-1 , respectively. Among the 32 species identified, Tamarindus indica L. (17%), Hardwickia binata Roxb. (14%), Terminalia arjuna (Roxb. ex DC.) Wight & Arn (10%) and Pleiospermium alatum (Wight & Arn.) Swingle (10%) were dominant as for carbon storage. The correlation analysis showed that basal area is a good predictor of tree biomass and carbon, while the role of tree density and tree diversity remain uncertain in determining carbon storage. With respect to diametric class distribution, tree density showed a reverse J-shaped pattern indicating the sustainable regeneration of the analysed forest, where the small-(diameter at breast height 3-9 cm) to medium-sized trees (diameter at breast height 10-69 cm) were found to contribute to more than 50% of biomass and carbon in the forest. The study provides useful information for carbon mitigation strategies in a tropical dry forest in the Southern Western Ghats.

Tree species diversity of Pegunungan Bintang, Papua, Indonesia as potency of wood supply

“…This situation shows that the potential of timber forest products in these two subdistricts is still complete, where small to large diameters are still formed in this mixed natural forest structure. The reverse J-shaped curve in the graphs indicated that the forest had a more or less good condition (Myanmar 2016;Padmakumar et al 2018). Based on the distribution of the number of individuals per unit area of a hectare and diameter class for the two sub-districts, it can be seen that the number of individuals scattered in the two sub-districts did not experience a big difference (Figure 5).…”

Soil Properties and Biomass Attributes in a Former Gravel Mine Area after Two Decades of Forest Restoration

“…The lower above-ground biomass stock recorded in the restored area can be attributed to the higher number of trees with larger diameter in the natural forest [71][72][73]. Usually, mature forests are characterized by old trees with higher diameter; trees in younger stands on the contrary have smaller diameters in restored forest [74]. The lower above-ground biomass in the semi-natural forest in comparison to the natural could be attributed mainly to anthropogenic disturbance such as logging and man-made wildfires in the area [28,29].…”

Ecosystem-level carbon storage and its links to diversity, structural and environmental drivers in tropical forests of Western Ghats, India

“…Padmakumar et al . 37 assessed the tree C stocks of Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Western Ghats and observed a strong positive relationship with basal area. There is a paucity of information regarding the ecosystem-level C stocks and their relationships with diversity {species richness, species evenness, Shannon’s diversity index and Simpson’s dominance index}, structural attributes {density, basal area, big-sized trees (≥ 60 cm DBH) and mean tree DBH} and environmental factors {elevation, mean annual precipitation (MAP), mean annual temperature (MAT), slope and aspect} in tropical forests of India, particularly in Western Ghats.…”