Above and below ground organic carbon stocks in a sub-tropical Pinus roxburghii Sargent forest of the Garhwal Himalayas

Abstract

Accurate estimates of tree carbon, forest floor carbon and organic carbon in forest soils (SOC) are important in order to determine their contribution to global carbon (C) stocks. However, information about these carbon stocks is lacking. Some studies have investigated regional and continental scale patterns of carbon stocks in forest ecosystems; however, the changes in C storage in different components (vegetation, forest floor and soil) as a function of elevation in forest ecosystems remain poorly understood. In this study, we estimate C stocks of vegetation, forest floor and soils of a Pinus roxburghii Sargent forest in the Garhwal Himalayas along a gradient to quantify changes in carbon stock due to differences in elevation at three sites. The biomass of the vegetation changes drastically with increasing elevation among the three sites. The above-ground biomass (AGB) and below-ground biomass (BGB) were highest at site I (184.46 and 46.386 t·ha−1 respectively) at an elevation of 1300 m followed by site II (173.99 and 44.057 t·ha−1 AGB and BGB respectively) at 1400 m and the lowest AGB and BGB were estimated at site III (161.72 and 41.301 t·ha−1) at 1500 m. The trend for SOC stock was similar to that of biomass. Our results suggest that carbon storage (in both soil and biomass) is negatively correlated with elevation.