Tree Species Richness,Carbon Stock and Regeneration Status of Maltol Community Forest and Dhanushdham Protected Forest in Dhanusha, Nepal
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Department of Botany
Abstract
Tree species are the dominant component of forest ecosystems which influence most
structural and functional attributes of these ecosystems. This study aims to assess and
compare tree diversity and carbon stocks in two different management regimes
namely Maltol Community forest (MCF) and Dhanushadham Protected forest (DPF).
The studied MCF and DPF lied in tropical region at an altitude 80 to 230 masl in
Dhanusha District of Nepal. Altogether 120 plot of 25 × 25 m2 each was established
by following the stratified random sampling technique for assessing tree diversity and
carbon stock in both forests. Species enrooted and encountered inside the plot were
recorded. All tree species (≥6cm DBH) were tagged and their both DBH and height
were measured. The allometric equation biomass-diameter regression (Model II)
developed by Chave et al., (2005) was used for estimation of carbon stock of tree
species and tree species diversity by Simpsons and Shannon-Wiener indices.
Descriptive statistics with Pearson correlation and one way ANOVA from SPSS-
Software and Microsoft Excel were used to perform the statistical analysis. The
carbon stock value was found to be 1.2305t/ha in MCF and 5.592t/ha in DPF.
Community forest found to have lower value of tree carbon stock than the carbon
stock of protected forest. But in case of tree diversity it was recorded high in MCF
(34) than in DPF (29). Shorea robusta was found to be the single dominant species in
both DPF and MCF with higher basal area (26.802m²/ha and 6.65m²/ha) and
contributed 87.93% and 61.99% of the carbon stock respectively. The contribution of
carbon stock of two co-dominant tree species in MCF are 8.98% of Terminalia
chebula and 5.18% Lannea coromandelica. Lower value of basal area in both forest
types in the present study suggests that both the forests are in an immature
developmental phase. The size class distribution diagram of all trees showed reverse J
shaped pattern indicating a good regenerating capability of the forest. But the
regeneration of Shorea robusta of both forests in the present study followed the trend
as trees density/ha > saplings density/ha > seedlins density/ha indicated the poor
regeneration of Shorea robusta. There was significant (P<0.05) difference between
the carbon stock in both forest types.