TROPICAL DECIDUOUS FORESTS POSSESS HIGH CARBON STORAGE POTENTIAL IN HIGH LANDS OF EASTERN GHATSKakoli Banerjee, Prakash Paraseth, Chitrangada Debsarma and Rakesh PaulAbstract Understanding the vegetation, species distribution, biomass and carbon in forests can only pave the way for better forest health, productivity and protection with purification of the environment through removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. In the present study, we analyzed the biomass and carbon in three sites of 250Ã250 m2 plot area each in tropical dry deciduous forests of Nabarangpur district of Odisha. Diversity study was done by calculating relative abundance (%) and above ground biomass (AGB) was estimated from field inventory data. The pre-dominating trees during the study period of 2017-2021 were Shorea robusta (61.76%), Pterocarpus marsupium (13.60%), Terminalia tomentosa (11.40%), Syzygium cumini (10.71%) and Schleichera oleosa (7.07%) respectively. The species-wise average biomass and carbon in all the study sites in all the seasons showed the trend of Shorea robusta (0.37 Mg ha-1 ; 0.17 Mg ha-1) > Pterocarpus marsupium (0.09 Mg ha-1 ; 0.04 Mg ha-1) > Terminalia tomentosa (0.06 Mg ha-1; 0.03 Mg ha-1) > Syzygium cumini (0.03 Mg ha-1 ; 0.01 Mg ha-1) > Schleichera oleosa (0.02 Mg ha-1 ; 0.014 Mg ha-1) respectively. Biomass is associated with tree DBH, height and basal area, which showed a strong positive correlation (R2=0.59 - 0.92) between these parameters. Study reflected biomass has increased with the increase of DBH, height and basal area. The present study concluded that the study area is very congenial for the growth both in terms of biomass and carbon stock, which can serve as a baseline for planning and management of forest resources in mitigating climate change. |