Establishment of regression equation between the herbaceous cover and herbage carbon of different plant functional types in a dry tropical grassland of BHU, Varanasi

Abstract

Grasslands are one of the largest carbon sinks and are crucial in the carbon cycle. However, modelling each species' carbon versus cover relationship is complex, and modelling ground flora covers of plant functional types simplify model development and provide a helpful link between physiologic strategies and ecosystem processes. The present experiment randomly selected 115 quadrats of 1×1 meters from the Banaras Hindu University campus. The cover of each herbaceous species was recorded by visual charting method and measured by gridding each 1×1 meter quadrat into 100 cells; each represented 1% cover. Species-wise, herbage carbon content was calculated. Species-wise, herbage carbon, and cover were further categorized into different functional types. Prostate, perennials, grasses, and native plants accumulate more carbon and could solve global warming problems. The established regression equation between plant cover and carbon content could be used at a worldwide scale for non-destructive estimation of carbon at functional group levels. Furthermore, non-destructive methods are superior to destructive methods in maintaining the diversity of tropical grassland because biomass harvesting can destroy the habitat spaces of rare and endangered species.