THE BELA FOREST ECOSYSTEM OF DISTRICT JHELUM, A POTENTIAL CARBON SINK

摘要

The present study was carried out in the Bela forest of District Jhelum (Punjab). The study was aimed to estimate thegrowing stock, biomass and carbon stock of the Bela plantation. Carbon stock in the Bela plantation was assessed in theUpperstory vegetation, understorey vegetation and in soil. The major tree species in the Bela plantation of the study sitewere Eucalyptus camaldulensis (EC), Dalbergia sissoo (DS), Broussonetia papyrifera (BP), Morus alba (MA) and Acaciamodesta (AM). The results of the present study reveled that specie wise stem density ranges from 8±1 to 274±3 trees ha-1while the mean stem density was 691±13 trees ha-1. The mean height of the trees were in the ranged of 9.51±0.98 m (Morusalba) to 18.97±2.48m (Eucalyptus camaldulensis). The value of basal area ranges from 0.22±0.01 m2 ha-1 to 18.17±0.28 m2ha-1. The average recorded stem volume was 278.92±7.41 m3 ha-1. The total tree biomass varied between 0.71±0.05 t ha-1 to176.31±3.19 t ha-1. The total calculated biomass in the shrubs and grasses was 4.93±2.7 t ha-1 while the recorded totalcarbon stock in the shrubs and grasses was 2.45±1.35 t ha-1. Average soil carbon stock was determined as 30.19 ±12.10 t ha- 1 in the study area. Over all the Bela forest of the study site stored about 198.18±18 t ha-1 of carbon. Among the differentcarbon pools the maximum carbon was stored by the Upper storey vegetation biomass (83.53%) fallowed by soil (15.23%)while the minimum carbon stock was stored in Understory vegetation biomass (1.23%).