Assessment of Tree Carbon Stock in the Kalrayan Hills of the Eastern Ghats, India

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the tree carbon stock in the tropical forests of the Kalrayan hills in the Eastern Ghats, India. The total area of the Kalrayan hills (1,055 km2) was divided into 34 grids of 6.25 × 6.25 km2. A transect of 0.5 ha was established in each grid and all trees ≥ 30 cm girth at breast height were inventoried. Carbon stock of each tree species was determined through a non-destructive method based on an allometric equation using the inventory data. A sum of 8,951 trees representing 169 species were recorded from 34 transects. The total tree carbon stock estimated for the 17 ha of the Kalrayan hills was 38.88 t/ha. The average carbon stock per transect was 19.44±3.39 t/0.5 ha (±SE) and the minimum and maximum value was 3.65 t/0.5 ha and 83.09 t/0.5 ha respectively. One way ANOVA revealed a significant variation in carbon stock between the 11 tree girth classes recognized (F(10, 363) = 11.376, p < 0.0001). The average carbon stock of a single tree was 0.064 t/tree. Among the 169 species, Albizia amara shared a maximum of 7 per cent of the total carbon stock followed by Gyrocarpus asiaticus, Nothopegia heyneana, Hardwickia binata and Anogeissus latifolia. The tree carbon stock (t/ha) of the Kalrayan hills is very low when compared to other regions.

Keywords

• Carbon stock
• Kalrayan hills
• Eastern Ghats
• tropical forest
• India