Forest carbon stock and biomass estimation in West Central India using two allometric models

Abstract

The west central Indian forest ecosystems strongly contribute to livelihood of local human communities as well as climate change mitigation. However, due to the lack of accurate biomass equations and predictive tools, the contribution of these forests towards carbon stock and sequestration remains poorly recognized. At present due to some developmental and mining activities these forests face huge anthropogenic pressure.Therefore, the objective of the present study was to estimate the biomass and carbon stock of forest tree species of west central India to provide baseline information. It will also be useful for measuring the changes after the intervention as well as for future management and conservation.The non-destructive allometric equation approach was adopted to estimate the biomass, carbon stock and carbon dioxide equivalent from total 28 plots of 0.1 ha at seven sites of dry deciduous forests of west central India. In the present study, the results of biomass and carbon stock were calculated by employing two different allometric models.The model with tree diameter and wood specific gravity gave higher estimations of total plant biomass (123.39 – 65.86 Mg ha−1) and carbon stock (58.61—31.28 Mg ha−1) as compared with model having only tree diameter (108.84 – 55.91 Mg ha−1) and (51.70 -26.55 Mg ha−1), respectively.We conclude that the allometric model with tree diameter and wood specific gravity was found best suited for these forests. The results also showed the positive relation between tree diversity, basal area and aboveground biomass and carbon stock.

Biomass and Carbon Stock of Trees in a Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest of Kamrup Metropolitan District, Assam, India

“…TCS of trees in the study site was found to be 492.78 Mg C ha⁻¹ (Table 1) which was quite similar to that of Hmuifang forest of Mizoram (Sharma et al 2018). However, the finding was comparatively higher than the tropical forests of India (Malunguja et al 2021, Pragasan 2022, Salunkhe et al 2023. During the present investigation, the higher value of TCS could be due to the high density of trees having higher girth size and wood-specific gravity (Yumnam and Ronald 2022).…”

“…The total AGB, BGB, and TB of trees were found to be 782.19 Mg ha⁻¹, 203.37 Mg ha⁻¹, and 985.56 Mg ha⁻¹ respectively (Table 1). The total AGB of trees was comparatively higher than those reported in tropical forests of India (Buragohain et al 2023, Salunkhe et al 2023. Tree species with higher density, DBH, and TBC were the chief contributors to high TB storage in the present study.…”

“…The Northeastern states of the country hold the highest percentage (65.15%) of forest cover with respect to the total geographical area of the region. Numerous studies have been conducted on the estimation of biomass and Carbon stocks in the forests of India (Bahuguna et al 2018, Raha et al 2020, Pragasan 2022, Salunkhe et al 2023) and particularly in Northeast India (Malunguja et al 2021, Yumnam and Ronald 2022, Buragohain et al 2023. However, such studies in tropical moist deciduous forests of Northeast India are limited (Banik et al 2018, Joshi 2020.…”