Abstract
The intertidal vegetation along tropical and subtropical coast is defined as mangrove vegetation. India has a long coast line measuring 7516 km. The ecology of mangrove forest is relatively less studied. Mangrove systems are known to be one of the most productive systems in the world. The study aimed to estimate the carbon sequestration potential of a relatively protected sacred grove along the western coast of India, in Kagekanu, Kumta, Karnataka. One hectare permanent plot was established, with all woody stems > 1 cm dbh (diameter at breast height), which were marked and identified. Repeated measurements were made to register the growth and other parameters. Allometric equation was used to estimate the biomass, out of which 50% was considered as carbon content. A total of 1100 stems > 1 cm dbh, belonging to 4 species, were enumerated. There was an overall decline of 13.9% stems during the study period. Mean mortality rate was found to be 5.83 ± 1.85% and there was no recruitment. The biomass increased from 155.53 tons/ha to 164.28 tons/ha. There was a net gain of 4.38 tons. Avicinnia officinalis was found to contribute significantly to carbon sequestration.
Highlights
1998) and at local scale, for example Sundarbans (Gopal and Chauhan, 2006), but the studies on the patterns of diversity, Mangrove forests have attracted attention of humans structure and dynamics of mangrove are scarce
Recent estimation of mangrove forest cover is of 4639 km2, which is about 3% of the global mangrove forest area (FSI, 2011), including in this surface Sundarbans, the land shared between India and Bangladesh, which is probably the largest wet land in the world (Gopal and Chauhan, 2006)
Studies in Indian mangroves have been along the lines of documenting biodiversity (Gopal and Chauhan, 2006), biomass (Mitra et al, 2011), nutrient dynamics (Kumar et al, 2011) and other conservation aspects, such as review of status (Jagtap et al, 1993; Gopal and Chouhan, 2006)
Summary
1998) and at local scale, for example Sundarbans (Gopal and Chauhan, 2006), but the studies on the patterns of diversity, Mangrove forests have attracted attention of humans structure and dynamics of mangrove are scarce. The present study describes the dynamics of the forest, including population changes, demographical changes based on size class distribution, patterns of mortality, growth and carbon sequestration over a period of three years. This is probably the first permanent plot based systematic and an innovative and elaborate study on the mangrove forest in India. Collection and use of dead and fallen wood is allowed for performing religious rituals for the deity This particular forest patch is called Kagekanu (14° 42’ N Lat and 74° 40’ E Long). Majority of the islands are used for prawn culture after the harvest of the paddy crop
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