Changes in tree size, not species diversity, underlie the low above‐ground biomass in natural forest edges

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateus Cardoso Silva ◽  
Felipe Pimentel Lopes Melo ◽  
Eduardo Berg
1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Pokharel ◽  
Madhu Chhetri ◽  
Chiranjibi P Upadhyaya

Limited information is available on the species composition, above ground biomass and its relations to grazing in a trans-Himalayan rangeland. Its assessment is essential for long term conservation and management. In the present study, we compared species composition, phenology, diversity index and biomass between controlled (without grazing) and open (free grazing) plots to assess the effects of grazing in the selected experimental sites of Upper Mustang during July and November 2005. Species encountered were classified as high, medium, low and non palatable and in three life form categories-grasses, shrubs and forbs. The experimental sites are dominated by forbs (80%) followed by grasses (15%) and shrubs (5%). Disturbance caused by grazing affects the phenological characteristics of the plant community. Result also reveals that species diversity, maximum possible diversity, evenness and species richness was higher in the grazed plots during July and November. A comparison of the aboveground biomass in July showed that mean percentage biomass of high, medium and low palatable species is higher in ungrazed plots. In November, the percentage biomass of only medium palatable species was higher in ungrazed plots and rest of the category is higher in grazed plots. Significant difference in July, a peak growing seasons for most of the plant species in the region reveals that the pasture has impact of livestock grazing. Keywords: Biomass, diversity, grazing effect, rangeland, species Banko Janakari: A journal of forestry information for Nepal Vol.17(1) 2007 pp.25-31


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuzhe Li ◽  
Jiangwen Fan ◽  
Hailing Yu

Grasslands in northern China form an important ecological barrier that prevents and controls desertification. The Beijing–Tianjin Sand Source Control (BTSSC) Project has been implemented to restore grassland in order to control sand sourced pollution. This study aimed to understand the impacts of four applied restoration practices on the productivity, composition, and species diversity of vegetation communities in the BTSSC Project. The results indicated the following: (1) All the restoration practices tended to increase the height and cover of communities, and the effect was most obvious where grazing was excluded; (2) total biomass (87%), above-ground biomass (164%) and below-ground biomass (58%) only increased consistently when grazing was excluded from the steppe; (3) fenced and grazing exclusion practice significantly increased the abundance of species in communities, but all the practices tended to decrease the evenness of species; and, (4) the correlation analysis revealed that the Shannon–Wiener diversity index, and Pielou evenness index, showed significant negative correlations with the above-ground biomass of grassland communities after restoration, while no significant relationships were shown in reference plots. Our comparison of applied practices in the BTSSC project revealed that grazing exclusion might be a high priority for more successful restoration in this region.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 1325-1335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Naveen Ja Dissanayake ◽  
De‐Li Zhai ◽  
Gbadamassi Gouvide Olawole Dossa ◽  
Jipu Shi ◽  
Qinghui Luo ◽  
...  

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 209
Author(s):  
Frederick Gyasi Damptey ◽  
Klaus Birkhofer ◽  
Paul Kofi Nsiah ◽  
Enrique G. de la Riva

The ongoing global deforestation resulting from anthropogenic activities such as unsustainable agriculture and surface mining threatens biodiversity and decreases both soil carbon and above-ground biomass stocks. In this study, we assessed soil properties and below- and above-ground biomass attributes in a restored former gravel mine area in Ghana two decades after active restoration with potted plants and fresh topsoil. We compared conditions to four alternative land-use types (unrestored abandoned gravel mine, arable land, semi-natural forest, and natural forest) representing pre- and post-disturbance as well as natural reference states. We hypothesized that soil properties and related levels of below- and above-ground biomass in the restored area share similarities with the natural reference systems and thereby are indicative of a trajectory towards successful restoration. Eight replicated subareas in each land-use type were assessed for a set of soil parameters as well as below- and above-ground biomass attributes. The soil properties characteristic for the restored area differed significantly from pre-restoration stages, such as the abandoned gravel site, but did not differ significantly from properties in the natural forest (except for bulk density and base saturation). Above-ground biomass was lower in the restored area in comparison to the reference natural forests, while differences were not significant for below-ground biomass. Silt and effective cation exchange capacity were closely related to above-ground biomass, while below-ground biomass was related to soil organic carbon, bulk density, and potassium concentration in soils. Our results suggest that major steps towards successful restoration can be accomplished within a relatively short period, without the wholesale application of topsoil. Improving soil conditions is a vital tool for the successful development of extensive vegetation cover after surface mining, which also affects carbon sequestration by both above- and below-ground biomass. We emphasize that the use of reference systems provides critical information for the monitoring of ecosystem development towards an expected future state of the restored area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramandeep Kaur M. Malhi ◽  
Akash Anand ◽  
Ashwini N. Mudaliar ◽  
Prem C. Pandey ◽  
Prashant K. Srivastava ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (No. 11) ◽  
pp. 505-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Liu ◽  
W. Zhang ◽  
Z. Liu ◽  
F. Qu ◽  
X. Tang

In order to restore the impaired forest ecosystem in China, great efforts including the banning of the animal grazing and cutting woods for fuel, and implementation of the ‘Grain for Green’ program have been made by the central and local government of China. The objective of this research was to investigate the changes in above-ground biomass and species diversity after 22 years of vegetation recovery efforts in the lower Taihang Mountain of China. The results indicated that over the natural restoration process shrubs became the dominant species in 2008, while herbs were the dominant species back in 1986. Community coverage, height and above-ground biomass showed significant increases in 2008 compared to 1986. Shrubs showed significant increases in coverage, height, and above-ground biomass, whereas herbs significantly increased in height, but decreased in above-ground biomass. Over the 22-year natural restoration process, the species richness index and the Shannon-Wiener’s index had been significantly decreased, whereas the Simpson’s predominance index and the Pielou’s evenness index had been significantly increased. Long-term vegetation recovery efforts improved the impaired forest ecosystem in lower Taihang Mountain to some extent: significant increases in both community coverage and above-ground biomass. The significant increase in community coverage can reduce the soil loss by wind and water erosion, and increase in the above-ground biomass will improve the soil chemical properties and physical structure. A comprehensive assessment of the success of vegetation recovery should include the evaluation of the changes in ecological process such as soil biological activities in the future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Shiva Pokhrel ◽  
Chungla Sherpa

Forests provide numerous ecosystem goods and services. Their roles are considered as important for both climate mitigation and adaptation program. In Nepal, there are significant forest resources which are distributed in different regions; however, the studies on the spatial tree species distribution and the above-ground biomass and their relationship at the landscape level have not been well studied. This study aims to analyze the relationship, distribution of tree species diversity, and above-ground biomass at a landscape level. The data used for this study were obtained from the Forest Research and Training Center of Nepal, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and Worldwide Wildlife Fund (WWF-Nepal). The landscape has a mean of 191.89 tons ha−1 of the above-ground biomass. The highest amount of the above-ground biomass measured was 650 tons ha−1 with 96 individual trees, and the least was 3.428 tons ha−1. The measured mean height of the tree was 11.77 m, and diameter at breast height (DBH) was 18.59 cm. In the case of the spatial distribution of the above-ground biomass, plots distributed at the middle altitude range greater than 900 meters above sea level (m. a. s. l) to 3000 meters above sea level taking more amount of the above-ground biomass (AGB). Similarly, the highest plot-level Shannon diversity index (H’) was 2.75 with an average of 0.96 at the middle altitude region followed by the lower region with an average of 0.89 and least 0.87 at a higher elevation. Above-ground biomass (R2 = 0.48) and tree height (R2 = 0.506) significantly increased with increasing elevation up to a certain level increased of elevation. Diameter at breast height (DBH) showed significance (R2 = 0.364) but small increase with increasing elevation, while the relationship among tree species diversity index, above-ground biomass, and elevation showed a weak and very weak positive relationship with R2 = 0.018 and R2 = 0.002, respectively. Based on the overall results, it is concluded that elevation has some level of influence on the forest tree diversity and above-ground biomass. The finding of this study could be useful for landscape-level resource management and planning under various changes.


Author(s):  
Subhajit KARMAKAR ◽  
Bhabani Sankar PRADHAN ◽  
Ankit BHARDWAJ ◽  
B. K. PAVAN ◽  
Rishabh CHATURVEDI ◽  
...  

This study estimated 18.35 Mg C/ha in standing biomass of natural forest and 15 Mg C/ha in Hardwickia binata Roxb. plantation in a tropical dry deciduous forest located in the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. The study area of Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, resembled a degraded dry scrubland in 1988 and for over about three decades, the degraded forest recovered remarkably, and ecological processes evolved favorably with canopy cover reaching over 60% in some patches and about 50% in general at most part of the campus. The study was conducted in 18 randomly laid plots in natural forest and over one-acre (0.405-ha) plantation area of Hardwickia binata for assessing the above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass and subsequent carbon content. The lower-diameter classes accounted for the maximum above-ground biomass, basal area and tree density. The forest is predominantly occupied by Leucaena leucocephala, an exotic tree species which showed higher standing biomass carbon storage of 3.79 Mg C/ha followed by Holoptelea integrifolia (2.11 Mg C/ha), Azadirachta indica (1.29 Mg C/ha), Gardenia latifolia (1.26 Mg C/ha) and Lannea coromandelica (1.24 Mg C/ha) besides Hardwickia binata plantation (15 Mg C/ha). It is recommended to plant and promote local native tree species in the urban forests of tropical dry deciduous nature as a means to mitigate climate change effects.


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