University of Twente Student Theses
Impact of Forest Degradation on Carbon Density in Soil and Vegetation of Shorea robusta (Sal) Forests in the part of Siwalik hills of Dehradun, India, using Geospatial Techniques
Singh, Santosh Pal (2010) Impact of Forest Degradation on Carbon Density in Soil and Vegetation of Shorea robusta (Sal) Forests in the part of Siwalik hills of Dehradun, India, using Geospatial Techniques.
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| Abstract: | Forest canopy density is one of the indicators of the status of forests and good measure of the level of forest degradation. The study was carried out with objectives to determine the variability of carbon density in soil and vegetation, relationships among soil organic carbon, biomass carbon and forest degradation as well as the potential of carbon sequestration in Sal forests of Thano Forest Range, East Dehradun forest Division, Dehradun, Uttarakhand , India. The study was carried out by using IRS- LISS III satellite data and ground data collected from stratified random sampling based on homogeneity map of forest strata. The best correlation of aboveground biomass with NDVI has been used for mapping aboveground biomass and carbon from plot level to the area of Sal forests. The validation indicated good prediction of the model. The study overall revealed decrease in soil and vegetation carbon with decreased forest density classes. Comparison analysis indicates deceasing trend of vegetation carbon is more pronounced in Pure_Sal as compared to other categories of Sal forests. The highest vegetation carbon density was found in Pure_Sal with >80% density (291.04 ± SE 13.57 t/ha) and minimum in Sal forests on hills with 10-40% density (57.50 ± SE 16.23 t/ha). As expected, the contribution of tree layer in aboveground vegetation carbon was found highest among all layers which varied from 97- 99% of the total aboveground vegetation carbon among different forest strata. Further analysis indicated variable trends of carbon in different component layers of aboveground biomass, indicating complex interaction of forest degradation with other factors such as terrain, forest composition, anthropogenic pressures etc. Soil organic carbon density in each soil depth classes has shown decreasing trend with decrease of forest density class in all categories of Sal forests. The maximum soil organic carbon density in top 30 cm soil depth class (61.16 ± SE 3.96 t/ha) was found in Pure_Sal with >80% density and minimum in Sal mixed Teak forest with40-60% density (25.64 t/ha) and Hill_Sal with 10-40% density (27.30 ± SE 2.86). Similarly, the total SOC density in a meter soil depth was estimated maximum in Pure_Sal with >80% density (179.05 ± SE 11.20 t/ha) and minimum in Hill_ Sal with 10- 40% (68.98± SE 11.38). This confirms that forest degradation adversely impact carbon sequestration also in all soil depth classes. The open to moderately degraded Pure_Sal forests have been to be the most potential area for C- sequestration. Thus, this study proves that forest degradations decrease soil and vegetation carbon density however, its impacts are variable in different components of biomass as well as in soil depth classes, depending upon complex interactions with other factors as well. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | ITC: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation |
| Programme: | Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation MSc (75014) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92544 |
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