Assessment of mangrove stand biomass in relation to forest structural attributes in Bhitarkanika National Park, India

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Print ISSN : 0970-4078.
Online ISSN : 2229-4473.
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Doi: 10.1007/s42535-023-00630-4
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Keywords: Bhitarkanika, IVI, Mangrove biomass, CO2 equivalence, Conservation


Abstract


The mangrove forests are among the most carbon-rich ecosystems on earth and vital to climate change mitigation. Understanding the relationship of forest structural attributes with carbon stock is essential to achieve sustainable conservation of forest ecosystems and their carbon storage. However, little is known about their inter-relationship in the mangrove forest ecosystems. This study was aimed to quantify primary structural attributes such as density, abundance, frequency, basal area, height, and dbh (diameter at breast height); derived structural attributes such as Importance Value Index (IVI), complexity index (Ic), niche width, and diversity indices (i.e., species richness, β- diversity, Simpson’s index, Shannon-Weiner index, Pielou evenness index); and vegetation biomass, i.e., above ground biomass (AGB) and below ground biomass (BGB) using the allometric equations for mangroves of Bhitarkanika National Park (BNP), India. To achieve the result, twenty-five sample plots (20 m × 20 m) were laid down in BNP which were distributed in six conserve forest sites. The study recorded 27 species, with the highest IVI of 112.19 for Excoecaria agallocha. The Ic value ranged between 12.18 to 283.87 across sites. The diversity indices showed BNP as a mangrove rich ecosystem. The mean stand biomass was 436.89 ± 59.75 t ha−1 (AGB = 318.79 ± 44.42 and BGB = 118.10 ± 15.39). The total forest biomass, biomass carbon stock, and its CO2 equivalents of whole BNP were 6.3 Mt, 2.96 Mt, and 10.87 Mt, respectively. A positive correlation for biomass with the basal area (r = 0.96), stand density (r = 0.81), IVI (r = 0.80) and Ic (r = 0.91) were observed, whereas it showed a negative correlation with species richness (r = − 0.59) and Shannon-Weiner index (r = − 0.08). This study recommends necessity of site specific conservation approach to increase the structural complexity of degraded forest sites and the carbon storage potential of BNP as a large variation in forest attributes and stand biomass exists across sites.


Bhitarkanika, IVI, Mangrove biomass, CO2 equivalence, Conservation


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Acknowledgements


We acknowledge our gratitude to Head, Department of Botany, MSCB University, Takatpur, Baripada, Odisha-757003, for his support to carry out the work. We are thankful to PCCF, (Wildlife), Govt. of Odisha for providing permission to conduct the work. We appreciate and thank our esteemed reviewers for providing valuable suggestions to improve the context of the manuscript.


Author Information


Panda Muktipada
Department of Botany, Department of Higher Education, Banki College (Auto), Govt. of Odisha, Cuttack, India
muktipadapanda@gmail.com