Seasonal changes in sequestered soil organic carbon under short dry and tall wet grasslands of Jhilmil Jheel wetland, Haridwar - Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

Wetland ecosystems have the ability to remove atmospheric carbon from the atmosphere by storing it in the biosphere by the process called as carbon sequestration. So, the present study was conducted in Jhilmil Jheel wetland which is a conservation reserve for Swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii) categorized as “Vulnerable” under IUCN Red Data Book with an aim to estimate seasonal changes in soil organic carbon in percentage under two different land uses i.e., tall wet grassland and short dry grassland during autumn, winter, spring and summer season. Soil samples were collected from the depth of 0–30 cm by digging pit from both the sites and were taken into laboratory for further analysis. The result revealed that under short dry grassland site, maximum (1.25±0.15) values of soil organic carbon was observed during winter season followed by spring (1.22±0.12), autumn (1.21±0.09) and minimum (1.18±0.05) during summer season. Similarly, under tall wet grassland site, maximum (2.11±0.19) value was observed during winter season followed by summer (2.10±0.17), autumn (2.08±0.15) and minimum (2.05±0.22) during spring season. One-way ANOVA followed by post-hoc Tukey test was also applied to analyze and compare the mean significant difference between each season under both short dry grassland and tall wet grassland sites. The statistical analysis revealed that the percentage values of soil organic carbon estimated during different seasons under both the sites were observed significantly different at (p<0.05 level).