Wondimuneh, Aregu Balleh (2015) Forest Carbon Stock and its Variations along Environmental Gradients in Yerer Forest: Implications on Managing the Forest for Climate Change Mitigation. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.
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Abstract
While carbon sequestration has been a widely recognized means of mitigating climate change, forests are proven to play major roles in terrestrial carbon sequestration. Environmental gradients, namely, altitude, slope and aspect are the factors that determine the carbon capturing potential of a given forest. This study was conducted to estimate carbon stock of Yerer Mountain Forest and to determine the influence of slope, elevation and aspect in the forest’s carbon sequestration potential.Accordingly, the carbon stock in the different pools was estimated, and analysis was made on the influence of environmental gradients by collecting data from a 10 m x20 m quadrat laid along transect lines. Samples were taken both from plantation and natural forests and analysis of the influence of environmental gradients was made separately for both forest types. With minimum value of 17.01 Mg C ha-1 and maximum of 109.58 Mg C ha-1, the average AGC of the natural forest was 66.401 Mg C ha- 1. On the other hand, varying from 4.254 to 27.397 Mg C ha, BGC in natural forest was found to have mean of 16.6 Mg C ha. As BGC is proportional reflection of AGC, its mean value recorded in this study is lower than that reported by studies conducted in other natural forests in Ethiopia and other countries.The mean AGC and BGC of plantation forest of the study area was found to be 214.18 and 53.7 Mg ha, respectively, and hence, a total of 267.88 Mg C ha was found to be stored in the biomass of trees in plantation forest. Plantation forest of the study area is dominated by Eucalyptus species though few individuals of two other species (Pinus patula and Juniperus procera/ Cupressess lustinica) were encountered during the field survey. .For the natural forest, carbon stored in the above ground biomass, below ground biomass, litter biomass and in the soil is 66.401, 16.6, 4.14 and 63.25 Mg ha-1, respectively. With carbon content of 214.18 Mg ha-1 in the above ground biomass, 53.7 Mg ha-1 in the below ground biomass, 5.79 Mg ha-1 in the litter biomass and 93.4 Mg ha-1 in the soil, plantation forest was found to be relatively higher in the amount of carbon stock stored in all of the four carbon pools as compared to natural forest. The study has also found that environmental factors have profound effect on carbon stocks, but, the effect is not similar among the four carbon pools. Altitude influences the amount of carbon stored in above and below ground biomass of both forests, and carbon stored in the soil under natural forest. Both above and below ground carbon stock are higher in the upper altitude parts of the natural forest, and in the middle altitude of plantation forest. On the other hand, the soil carbon content of the natural forest is relatively higher in the lower altitude than the upper and middle one. In this study slope was found to have a significant effect on carbon stocks of three carbon pools: above and below ground biomass for both forests, and soil for natural forest. Higher carbon in the above and below ground biomass is found in moderate slope positions in both the natural and plantation forests. On the other hand, relatively higher soil organic carbon in natural forest is found in the upper slope position. The effect of aspect is significant only for above and below ground carbon stocks of the plantation forest, and for soil organic carbon stock of the natural forest. The southern and southwestern aspects of the plantation forest store relatively higher above and belowground carbon stocks. In the natural forest higher soil organic carbon is found on the western aspect.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Yerer Forest, carbon stock, biomass, sequestration, environmental gradient. |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences S Agriculture > SD Forestry T Technology > T Technology (General) |
| Divisions: | Africana |
| Depositing User: | Selom Ghislain |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Aug 2018 13:27 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Aug 2018 13:30 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/4843 |
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