Employing Measurers of Spatial Distribution of Carbon Storage in Periyar Tiger Reserve, Southern Western Ghats, India

Abstract

Carbon stock distribution in the protected areas (PAs) of India is rarely studied, although they constitute 21.34% of the geographical area under forest cover. A quantitative assessment of ecosystem service is used here to evaluate the PAs of India in terms of storage and spatial distribution of carbon stocks. The area selected for the study was Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), in the Southern Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Carbon storage on a land parcel largely depends on the amount of five carbon pools: aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, dead wood, litter, and soil organic matter. The Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model uses land cover types and data on the stocks in the five carbon pools to estimate the amount of carbon stored in a landscape. The InVEST model is multiservice and has a modular design that provides an effective tool for exploring the likely outcomes of alternative management and climate scenarios and for evaluating trade-offs among sectors and services. The results showed that the average carbon (C) stock in the study area was 76 t/ha, and a sum of 15.43 million tons were stored in PTR. The multiservice, modular design of the ecosystem service analysis provides decision-makers an effective tool for evaluating and managing natural resources.