STUDIES ON ABOVE GROUND BIOMASS (AGB) FOR ASSESSING VEGETATION CARBON POOL IN TROPICAL FOREST ECOSYTEM OF CENTRAL INDIA

For estimation of carbon stocks in tropical forest types belonging to southern part of Madhya Pradesh, 30 adopted representative sites comprising eight districts viz, Jabalpur, Seoni, Balaghat, Narsinghpur, Mandla, Dindori, Shahdol and Umaria were selected for study and studies were carried out during 2009 to 2011. The study covered three types of vegetation i.e. teak mixed forest, sal mixed forest and mixed forest. In the study modern tools like Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS were used for quick and reliable assessment of above ground biomass (AGI) and vegetation carbon pools in the region. Nested two stage sampling design was adopted to select sample plots in all forest and density classes. One super plot of 250 m x 250 m in size equivalent to MODIS pixel size was laid out in each super plot. The total sample size consisted o 30 super plots and 120 sample plots within super plots. The tree density and basal area in study sites was ranged between 105 (UMA-8) to 1508 (DIN-7) stems/ha and 22.2 L (JBP-7) to 325.65 (DIN-1) m2/ha. The AG was ranging between 6.39 (UMA-8) in mixed forest to 215.5 t/ha (DIN-1) in sal forest type vegetation. The carbon density range was distributed in the order of sal forest (36.10 to 102.39 t/ha) > teak forest (5.17 to 67.78 t/ha) > mixed forest (3.0 to 33.2 t/ha). The overall vegetation ground percentage in the study area ranged between 47.5% (JBP-3) to 97.30% (UMA-9).