Chapter 9 - Tree biomass and carbon stocks of different landscape elements in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India

Abstract

Assessing carbon sequestered through tree species components is of prime importance in the recent years. The study was conducted in three landscape elements such as natural forests (NFs), sacred groves (SG), and coffee plantations (CFP) of three bioclimatic zones that were categorized based on rainfall and temperature regimes in Kodagu district, Karnataka, India. Tree carbon stock was enumerated in each landscape elements by random sampling method by laying out a 20 m × 20 m sample plot in NF and SG and 25 m × 50 m that were laid out in CFP. Thus the total inventory consisted of 60 sample plots in NFs and SG and 24 plots in CFP in each landscape element of the three bioclimatic zones. The observation on tree height and diameter at breast height (DBH) was recorded. The average DBH was higher in bioclimatic zone-2 (0.61 m) that is a transitional forest belt, and species would rather grow both horizontally and vertically and when landscape elements are considered, SG had higher DBH (0.63 m). The height of trees was high in bioclimatic zone-1 (18.50 m) that is a dense closed forest and with protection as compared to other zones studied. When we compared the landscape elements, the indigenous trees had a higher height growth (19.83) in SG due to protection measures. The total tree carbon content in NFs was highest with 232.92 Mg ha−1 as compared to the SG and CFP with 219.18 and 170.43 Mg ha−1, respectively. Similarly, the interaction effects studied revealed that the bioclimatic zone-1 and NFs had a higher accumulation of tree carbon (305.09 Mg ha−1).