Abstract
BackgroundThe homestead forests of Bangladesh occupy 0.27 million hectares (10% of the total forested area) and have potential to store carbon (C) and conserve biodiversity. Small scale forestry practices, however, are lacking reliable estimation of C stocks and tree species diversity. This may hinder successful implementation of REDD + and similar mechanisms as they concentrate on large-scale forests. This study aimed to estimate the above- and below-ground carbon stocks in homestead forests of Maheshkhali Island in Bangladesh and how tree species diversity and stand structural variation affect these C stocks. We randomly surveyed a total of 239 homestead forests in the hillside, beachside, and inland in 2019.ResultsTree biomass C stocks were 48–67% greater in the inland and hillside forests than in the beachside due to significantly greater stand density, basal area, tree diameter. In total we found 52 tree species, but most abundant species in the inland and hillside forests, Mangifera indica, Samanea saman, and Artocarpus heterophyllus stored the most C in tree biomass. Greater tree species richness and diversity index in the inland and hillside forests indicated greater above- and below-ground tree biomass C stocks. An increase in tree species richness and diversity index by one unit was found to increase the tree biomass C stock by 22 and 30 Mg C ha−1, respectively. The total soil C stock was also affected by tree species diversity, stand density, and their interaction with soil properties. Total soil C stocks were greatest (51 Mg ha−1) in the inland forests, having also the greatest stand density and tree species richness. C stock in soil surface was greatest in the hillside forests due to the greatest litterfall, but the average share of litterfall from the total biomass C was only 0.1%.ConclusionsHomestead forest ecosystems could store 96 Mg C ha−1 in total, which can contribute to climate change mitigation by generating C credits for small-scale homestead forests owners. Above- and below-ground tree biomass C stocks were found to correlate with tree species diversity, which may also contribute to biodiversity conservation in the REDD + in Bangladesh and countries alike.
Highlights
The homestead forests of Bangladesh occupy 0.27 million hectares (10% of the total forested area) and have potential to store carbon (C) and conserve biodiversity
Conclusions and policy implications The hillside and inland homestead forests stored remarkable amount of tree biomass carbon, which was significantly increased with increasing stand density, Basal area (BA), Diameter at breast height (DBH), height, species richness and diversity
Higher litterfall in the hillside homestead forests may have contributed to surface soil carbon stocks, but the overall soil carbon stock in the study was affected by types of litter of species, the stand density, and species richness
Summary
The homestead forests of Bangladesh occupy 0.27 million hectares (10% of the total forested area) and have potential to store carbon (C) and conserve biodiversity. Small scale forestry practices, are lacking reliable estimation of C stocks and tree species diversity This may hinder successful implementation of REDD + and similar mechanisms as they concentrate on large-scale forests. Bangladesh has forest areas of about 2.53 million hectares, representing 17.5% of the total land area [12, 13] These tropical forests are consisted of hill, mangrove, sal forests, and coastal mangrove plantations, with semievergreen and deciduous tree coverage. Natural hill and sal forests are being degraded due to illicit felling, shifting cultivation, and conversion to other land uses [14, 15] Apart from these natural and planted forests, tree outside forest (TOF) including homestead forests, roadside plantation is booming in Bangladesh [13]
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