Case Study of Cost vs. Accuracy When Measuring Carbon Stock in a Terrestrial Ecosystem

Abstract Background Forest ecosystem plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle; as such, mitigating high atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by naturally taking carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. Verification and accounting of carbon stock in forest ecosystem have been renowned as a potential strategy to reduce and stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas. Forest sequesters and store more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem and it is an important natural break on climate change. It acts as a carbon reservoir by storing large amount of carbon in trees, undergrowth vegetation, forest floor and soil. Result The mean carbon stock of each carbon pool was changed along altitudinal class of the study area. The largest mean above and below ground carbon stock was found in the second altitudinal class(1560.01-1643m) followed by first altitudinal class(1435-1560m) and the third altitudinal class (1643.01-1704m) of the study area. The largest mean dead tree and dead wood carbon stock was also stored in the first altitudinal class followed by the third and the second altitudinal class of the study area. The largest mean litter carbon stock was found in the first altitudinal class followed by the second and the third altitudinal class of the study area. The largest mean soil organic carbon was found in the third altitudinal class followed by the second and the first altitudinal class of the study area. Conclusions The carbon stock variation along altitudinal gradients indicated that, altitude had no a statistically significant effect on any of the carbon pools except litter carbon of the study area at 95% of confidence interval.

Download Full-text

Biomass and Carbon Stock Estimation of Udawattakele Forest Reserve in Kandy District of Sri Lanka

Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment ◽

10.31357/jtfe.v8i2.3760 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

Author(s):

A.M.S.K. Abeysekara ◽

S.K. Yatigammana ◽

K.T. Premakantha

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Sri Lanka ◽

Carbon Stock ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽

Total Carbon ◽

Total Biomass ◽

Moderate Amount ◽

Forest Reserve ◽

Rate Of Increase

Carbon dioxide has gained lot of attention in recent past as a greenhouse gas, and therefore it has a potential to affect the climate pattern of the world. Several anthropogenic activities are known to be responsible for the increased level of carbon in the atmosphere and disruption of the global carbon cycle. However, nature has its own mechanism of sequestering and storing the carbon in its “reservoirs”. Forest has the ability to sequester carbon in their biomass and reduce the rate of increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The carbon sequestered in the forest trees are mostly referred to as the biomass of a tree or a forest. It has been identified five carbon pools of the terrestrial ecosystem, involving biomass. The study was designed to estimate biomass stock and then the carbon stock of the Udawattakele Forest Reserve (7°17'58 "N, 80°38'20’’E) in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Allometric equations were used to calculate biomass of trees. The total biomass stock was estimated to be 9475.56 t ha-1 (Mega gram-Mg) and the total carbon stock was estimated to be 4,453.55 t ha-1 (Mg) in the Udawattakele Forest Reserve (UFR). This amount is equivalent to 16,344.52 Mg of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. UFR holds a moderate amount of biomass/carbon stock and the total carbon density of natural forest and plantations was found to be 36.55 Mg ha-1 and 44.89 Mg ha-1 respectively.

Download Full-text

Effects of vegetations degradation on carbon stock, morphological, physical and chemical characteristics of soils within the mangrove forest of the Rio del Rey Estuary: Case study Bamusso (South-West Cameroon)

African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology ◽

10.5897/ajest2015.1956 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 58-66 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

NSOMBO Eugene NDEMA ◽

BENGONO Fr eacute d eacute ric AKO ◽

Jacques ETAME ◽

DIN NDONGO ◽

Gordon AJONINA ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mangrove Forest ◽

Carbon Stock ◽

Chemical Characteristics ◽

Physical And Chemical Characteristics ◽

South West ◽

Physical And Chemical

Download Full-text

Soil and plant communities development and ecological effectiveness of reclamation on a sand mine cast

Journal of Forest Science ◽

10.17221/38/2008-jfs ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 54 (No. 12) ◽

pp. 554-565 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

M. Pietrzykowski

Keyword(s):

Plant Biomass ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽

Soil Characteristics ◽

Carbon Accumulation ◽

Nitrogen Accumulation ◽

Ecosystem Development ◽

Spontaneous Succession ◽

Forest Reclamation ◽

Set Up

The aim of the study was to assess terrestrial ecosystem development (mainly vegetation and soil characteristics) in the area of a sand mine cast (located in southern Poland) that has been either reclaimed or left for natural succession. A total of 20 sites in a chronosequence of 5, 17, 20 and 25 years were set up in two site categories: reclaimed and non-reclaimed sites. Selected properties of initial soils and features of vegetation were measured and they included carbon accumulation in soil; biomass and diversity of communities were also estimated. Next, based on carbon accumulation, the energy trapped in ecosystem components was estimated. Although the results of plant community investigation did not show the same distinct differences between site categories, the case study suggests that reclamation significantly accelerates ecosystem development. In comparison with spontaneous succession, the complete forest reclamation was found to increase the amount of carbon accumulation, thickness of humus horizon, and energy trapped in soil organic carbon and plant biomass in the developing ecosystem 2–3 times and nitrogen accumulation 5 times.

Download Full-text