Assessment of Pinus gerardiana tree carbon stock in Chilgoza forest of Suleiman range, Pakistan
Assessment of Pinus gerardiana tree carbon stock in Chilgoza forest of Suleiman range, Pakistan
Pervez Manan1, Farhat Jabeen1 and Ahmad Zamir2
ABSTRACT
Pinus gerardiana is known for its high value edible seeds (nuts), locally called as “Chilghoza”, rich in carbohydrates and proteins. It is native to the north-western Himalaya and is distributed in eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and north-western India, growing at altitudes ranging between 1800 and 3300 m. It is often associated with the Blue pine (Pinus wallichiana) and Deodar (Cedrus deodara). In Pakistan these forests are mainly located in the dry temperate zone of the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya region i.e. Sherani Area (Suleiman range) on the border between Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), South Waziristan, Chitral, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jamu & Kashmir (Sherani and Urooj, 2019). As the potential economic benefits of Chilghoza to local livelihoods is worth billions of rupees annually thus economic importance is always given priority and its most important role of the maintenance and protection of vital ecosystem services (e.g. carbon storage and climate change mitigation, soil and flood protection, wildlife habitat, water recharge, watershed conservation and water flow regulation, fodder, etc) are still not accounted properly. Therefore, this study was conducted to ascertain the carbon stock of Pinus gerardiana at the landscape level. The study was conducted in Chilghoza Forest of Suleman Range. Systemic sampling approach was adopted. The circular plots with a radius of 17.84 (0.1 Ha area) were used. In each plot, diameters at breast height (DBH) and height of trees with DBH more than 5 cm were measured. Above-ground dry Biomass (AGB) in Kg per 0.1ha was calculated at plot level by using the following equation (Ali, 2015):
AGB = 0.0253D2.6077 (1)
Where AGB is above-ground dry biomass in Kilogram (Kg) and D is DBH in cm. to obtain per hectare value the plot level AGB was multiplied by 10. While, below-ground biomass (BGB) default values of root-shoot ratio were used (IPCC, 2006). To obtain mean total dry biomass per ha, mean value for AGB and BGB per hectare were added. While mean total dry biomass in Kg per ha was multiplied by 26000 to obtained total dry biomass for the whole study area.
Carbon stock (C) in Kg was calculated by the following equation (IPCC, 2006):
C = 0.47M (2)
Where, M is dry biomass.
In both Biomass and Carbon Kg were converted to Tonne (t) by dividing it by 1000.
The study concluded that a total carbon stock of Pinus gerardiana in the study area was 239082 tC with an average density of 9.19 tC/ha. In the study area, higher percentage of the trees were in sub-mature and young stages thus having a high potential for REDD+ as generally the growth rate in these stages is fast and they can sequester a large quantity of carbon dioxide. The findings of the study will be helpful in preparation of forest management plans and in developing REDD+ projects.
AGB = 0.0253D2.6077 (1)
Where AGB is above-ground dry biomass in Kilogram (Kg) and D is DBH in cm. to obtain per hectare value the plot level AGB was multiplied by 10. While, below-ground biomass (BGB) default values of root-shoot ratio were used (IPCC, 2006). To obtain mean total dry biomass per ha, mean value for AGB and BGB per hectare were added. While mean total dry biomass in Kg per ha was multiplied by 26000 to obtained total dry biomass for the whole study area.
Carbon stock (C) in Kg was calculated by the following equation (IPCC, 2006):
C = 0.47M (2)
Where, M is dry biomass.
In both Biomass and Carbon Kg were converted to Tonne (t) by dividing it by 1000.
The study concluded that a total carbon stock of Pinus gerardiana in the study area was 239082 tC with an average density of 9.19 tC/ha. In the study area, higher percentage of the trees were in sub-mature and young stages thus having a high potential for REDD+ as generally the growth rate in these stages is fast and they can sequester a large quantity of carbon dioxide. The findings of the study will be helpful in preparation of forest management plans and in developing REDD+ projects.
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March 2020
Vol. 70, Iss. 1
