Assessment of Biomass and Carbon Stock of planted teak forest in Terai region of Kumaun Himalaya, India

Abstract

The ability of forests in atmospheric carbon sequestration is increasingly gaining attention. Present study deals with the estimation of biomass and carbon stock of the teak plantation in the terai central forest division in Kumaun, Uttarakhand State of India. Very few scientific studies were done regarding the teak plantation and the estimation of its biomass in Kumaun. Therefore this study was carried out in this region to assess the role played by teak plantation in climate change. The information regarding the changes in pattern of carbon storage is vital and important because it can be used by government and policymakers to predict the deposit pattern for changing climate. Three sites i.e., Kamola block (Site I), Kamola beat (Site II) and East Gadappu beat (Site III) were selected for the study. Large scale variations in biomass and carbon stock were noted among all three sites. Site III (East Gadappu) showed the maximum biomass and carbon stock (297.03 tha-1 and 143.18 tha-1) followed by site I (Kamola block) (241.9 tha -1and 117.27 t ha-1) and site II ( Kamola beat ) (175.76 t ha-1and 85.79 t ha-1). Although stand density and total basal area of the forest showed almost similar value on all three sites, still the differences in biomass and carbon stock at all sites indicated the positive contribution of biodiversity as shown in the results and negative implications of human disturbance to the forest.