| Abstrakt: |
Six elevation zones viz., MHF 1 to MHF 6 (Mahendragiri Hill Forest) starting from 229 to > 1505 m asl were assessed to estimate the biomass and carbon stock in tropical dry deciduous forests of Mahendragiri Hills, Eastern Ghats. It aims at establishing a relationship among stem density, biomass, and carbon stock along the elevation gradient and disturbance regime. Each zone considered twenty plots for the investigation (0.05 ha; 50 × 10 m). All the trees ≥ 1 cm girth at breast height were enumerated, and the non-harvest method was used to assess the biomass. The tree biomass ranged from 129.05 Mg/ha in MHF 1 to 255.87 Mg/ha in MHF 2; with the total carbon stock also followed the same trend. The Soil Organic Carbon percentage ranged from 0.70 ± 0.24 to 1.43 ± 0.15 and 0.55 ± 0.22 to 1.13 ± 0.42 in the top and bottom layers, respectively. The results suggest the insufficiency of significant influence on tree biomass by elevation, species richness, diversity, and stem density. The disturbance score generated from the quantification of the frequency of occurrence of different disturbances showed high values in MHF 3 and MHF 1 among the six elevation zones. The disturbance has a more significant impact on the biomass. The highest carbon stock accumulation in MHF 2 could be due to the presence of abundant, large-diameter trees. The total SOC estimated in different elevation zones showed a strong significant positive correlation with elevation. The present research would give an insight for proper management of the declining tropical dry deciduous forests. |
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