Carbon storage and sequestration rate assessment and allometric model development in young teak plantations of tropical moist deciduous forest, India

Abstract

Carbon (C) sequestration through plantations is one of the important mitigation measures for rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This study aimed to assess C stocks and their sequestration rate, and to develop allometric models for estimation of C stocking in age-series young teak (Tectona grandis) plantations (1, 5, 11, 18, 24 and 30 years) by using biomass and productivity estimation and regression, respectively. These plantations were raised in tropical moist deciduous forests of Kumaun Himalayan tarai. Total C stocks estimated for these plantations were 1.6, 15.8, 35.4, 39.0, 61.5 and 73.2 Mg ha -1 , respectively. Aboveground and belowground C storage increased with increasing plantation age; however, the range of their percentage contribution showed little variation (87.8-88.2 and 11.7-12.7 %, respectively). The rate of C sequestration for these respective plantations was 1.06, 6.95, 5.46, 5.42, 3.39 and 5.37 Mg ha -1 a -1 . Forty percent of the aboveground annual storage was retained in the tree while 60 % was released in the form of foliage, twigs, and fruit litter. In the case of total (tree) annual production, 43 % was retained while 57 % was released as litter including root. C stock, C sequestration rate, accumulation ratio (1.4-18.1), root:shoot C ratio (0.61-0.13) and production efficiency (0.01-0.18) were comparable to some previous reports for other species and forests. These data could be useful in deciding the harvesting age for young teak with respect to C storage and sequestration rate. Four allometric models using linear regression equations were developed between biomass (twice the C stock) and diameter, girth, and height of the tree at different ages. The diameter model was found more suitable for C stock prediction in similar areas.

Restoration of degraded forest reserves in Ghana

“…For example, an assessment of carbon stocks by Jah (2015) in young (1, 5, 11 years old) Tectona grandis plantations with stand densities of 1183, 1728 and 376 trees per hectare respectively, growing under similar environmental conditions as the present study showed that 1.6, 15.8, and 35.4 Mg ha -1 was stored in the 1-year, 5-year, 11-year-old Tectona grandis standsrespectively. By comparison, it is evident that the 4-year-old Tectona grandis stand in our study stores more carbon than the 5-year-old Tectona grandis stand studied by Jha (2015), notwithstanding that the stand density in the Jha (2015) study was almost twice higher (1728 trees per ha) than in the current study (911 tree per ha). This suggests that the trees at the project sites potentially can sequester significant quantities of carbon and gain carbon credits in the future.…”

Biomass estimation models for Acacia saligna trees in restored landscapes

“…However, higher RSR values were also reported for Juniperus procera (42%) and Acacia abyssinica (54%) from northern Ethiopia [52]. Such variations indicate that the root-shoot ratio might vary depending on tree species, tree size, tree age, agroecology, soil conditions, and water stress level [18,23,24]. Thus, it is important to be cautious when using RSR values to estimate the belowground biomass, particularly when there is no available species-specific RSR values for the study tree species [24].…”

Root Carbon Sequestration and Its Efficacy in Forestry and Agroforestry Systems: A Case of Populus euramericana I-214 Cultivated in Mediterranean condition

“…Carbon stock estimation was done using biomass estimated above and Carbon conversion factor (Gower et al, 2001;Nowak and Crane, 2002;Terakunpisut et al, 2007;Jha, 2015).…”

“…Further, Magnussen and Reed (2004) have proposed to take 0.475 as a fraction of biomass to estimate Carbon in any vegetation. Nevertheless, instead of taking empirical factor, it is always good to take species and site specific factor (Jha, 2015) to have accurate estimation since universal factor is prone to over-estimation or under-estimation in the specific case. Since there was no factor available for the study area and concentration varied in different plant parts (Table 1), an average Carbon concentration value (45.56%) of roots of poplar plantations growing in different climates was used as conversion factor in this study.…”