This paper deals with the study of vegetation analysis of tree species in Ganesh and Ramnagar community forests (CF) of the Terai region. For the study, altogether 63 concentric sample plots (each plot of 500 m 2 ) were laid using systematic sampling with a sampling intensity of 0.5%. A total of 967 individual trees representing 16 different tree species were identified. Both CF was dominated by monospecies such as Mallotus philippensis (Ganesh CF) and Shorea robusta (Ramnagar CF) based on the Importance Value Index (I.V.I). Likewise, the Shannon-Wiener diversity index was higher in Ganesh CF whereas the dominance index was low. Similarly, the index of evenness and richness was also slightly higher in Ganesh CF than Ramnagar CF. The study provided information about the structure, composition, and dominance of tree species which is essential for conservation and sustainable management of community forests. Therefore, this article serves as an example of establishing community forests so as to initiate the conservation and preservation of local biodiversity.
Assessment of soil organic carbon (SOC) pool is an essential pace for understanding the carbon sequestration potential (CSP) of the soil system as a mitigation strategy and also investigate that they act as a source or sink for the atmospheric CO2 subject to the level of saturation. Improved CSP has been recognized as one of the possible solutions for mitigating climate change. The CSP of soil system for the community forests (CFs) in Nepal is not well recognized. Therefore, a study was conducted in two community-managed forests viz Ganesh (degraded) and Ramnagar (non-degraded) CFs situated in the Kanchanpur district of Nepal to quantify the SOC and Bulk density (BD). For determining SOC, systematic sampling with a sampling intensity of 0.5% was used for collecting altogether 189 soil samples from both the CFs. In addition, the soil samples from varying depths (0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm) of each soil profile were collected from each sampling plot. The mean SOC observed upto 30 cm soil depth in Ganesh and Ramnagar CF was 42.55 ± 3.10 t ha -1 and 54.21 ± 3.59 t ha -1 respectively. While, maximum SOC was noticed at 0-10 cm whereas minimum at 20-30 cm in both the CFs. Moreover, SOC decreased and bulk density increased with increasing soil depth in both the CFs. SOC and BD was negatively correlated in both CFs. The total SOC pool exhibited a significant (p<0.05) difference between the two CFs. Hence, the outcome of study shows that the both CFs has enormous potential to sequester the atmospheric concentration of CO2 into soil. With this concern, the participation of local people in sustainable management of community forests enhance the soil quality and meets strategy to mitigate the climate change.
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