Home

Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2018, 8(2): 139-150
[XML] [EndNote] [RefManager] [BibTex] [ Full PDF (571K)] [Comment/Review Article]

Article

Assessment of biomass and carbon stock in temperate forests of Northern Kashmir Himalaya, India

Davood A. Dar, Paulami Sahu
School of Environment and Sustainable Development, Central University of Gujarat, Sector- 29 and 30, Gandhinagar, Gujarat- 382030, India

Received 7 February 2018;Accepted 15 March 2018;Published 1 June 2018
IAEES

Abstract
Accurate characterization and estimation of carbon stock in forest ecosystems of temperate region is important to illustrate their potential contribution to global carbon stocks. In the present study, we evaluated the biomass and carbon stock of Gulmarg forest range of northern Kashmir Himalaya, India. In this study, five forest types: Pinus wallichiana (PW), Abies pindrow (AP), Cedrus deodara (CD), Picea simithiana (PS) and Betula utilis (BU) were selected. The results have revealed that total tree biomass ranged from 319.2¡À208.5 Mg ha-1 in BU forest to 496.7¡À278.9 Mg ha-1 for the CD forest. The results showed that total biomass carbon stock varies from 143.63¡À93.87 to 228.47¡À128 Mg C ha-1 across all forest types. The study reveals that the variation in the carbon stocks of different forest types is due to the presence of different composition of species, stand area, tree class size and altitude. This study indicates that the species, CD, present in Gulmarg Forest Range, is the most potent species to sequestrate carbon and hence this forest range plays a significant role in reducing carbon emissions from forest degradation and deforestation. It can be suggested that afforestation using CD species will be helpful in mitigating the impact of regional Climate Change.

Keywords Kashmir Himalaya;biomass;carbon stock;broad leaf forest;climate change.


International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences. E-mail: office@iaees.org
Copyright © 2009-2024 International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences. All rights reserved.
Web administrator: office@iaees.org, website@iaees.org; Last modified: 2024/4/25


Translate page to: