Quantifying tree carbon stock in historically conserved Seminary Hills urban forest of Nagpur, India

• Published in: Acta ecologica Sinica 2021-06, Vol.41 (3), p.193-203
• Main Authors: Dhyani, Shalini, Singh, Ajay, Gujre, Nihal, Joshi, Rajendra Kumar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon stock; Tree biomass; Urban forests; Urban planning; Vegetation assessment
• ISSN: 1872-2032; 1872-2032
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chnaes.2021.01.006

Urban forests help regulating flow of ecosystem services and are efficient to sequester atmospheric carbon. Tree carbon stock in urban forests and green spaces can help improving human well-being. Nagpur being one of the fastest growing urban agglomerate in India that has faced rapid loss of green spaces in last three decades. Present study assessed tree biomass carbon storage potential of a historically conserved large (67.41 ha) Seminary Hills Reserve forest of Nagpur. A total of 150 quadrats of 100 m2 were laid to understand the vegetation structure and tree biomass storage. Overall structure and composition of the forest was assessed while, non-destructive biomass estimation was carried out using tree volume eqs. A total of 27 tree species belonging to 12 plant families were observed from the forest with only 6 tree species being dominant and remaining 21 being rare in occurrence. The maximum tree carbon storage was observed in dominant tree species of Hardwickia binata (76.30 t C ha−1) followed by 17.04 t C ha−1 in Tectona grandis and 1.19 t C ha−1 in Boswellia serrata. Carbon stock in other co-dominant species was reported in Terminalia bellirica (76.57 kg C ha−1), Gardenia resinifera (1118.6 g C ha−1) and Terminalia arjuna (84.8 g C ha−1). Total carbon stock of dominant tree species present in Seminary Hills urban forest was 94.53 ± 39.6 t C ha−1. The study intends to bring focus ecosystem benefits from Urban Forests in growing urban sprawls of India and the need to include their vital role in urban planning. [Display omitted]