Carbon stock and rate of carbon sequestration in Dipterocarpus forests of Manipur, Northeast India

Abstract

We examined the carbon stock and rate of carbon sequestration in a tropical deciduous forest dominated by Dipterocarpus tuberculatus in Manipur, North East India. Estimation of aboveground biomass was determined by harvest method and multiplied with density of tree species. The aboveground biomass was between 18.27–21.922 t ha−1 and the carbon stock ranged from 9.13 to 10.96 t C ha−1 across forest stands. Aboveground biomass and carbon stock increased with the increase in tree girth. The rate of carbon sequestration varied from 1.4722 to 4.64136 t ha−1 year−1 among the dominant tree species in forest stands in tropical deciduous forest area. The rate of carbon sequestration depends on species composition, the density of large trees in different girth classes, and anthropogenic disturbances in the present forest ecosystem. Further work is required to identify tree species having the highest potential to sequester CO2 from the atmosphere, which could lead to recommendations for tree plantations in a degraded ecosystem.