An assessment of the aboveground phytomass and carbon levels of the forests of northern Telangana, India, using a geospatial technique

An assessment of aboveground phytomass and carbon levels was conducted in the South-Central region of India, in the Telangana State, situated on the high Deccan Plateau. The study is based on field observations at 30 sites using cluster sampling. The sites were selected on homogeneity maps prepared...

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Published inBiodiversity (Nepean) Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 227 - 237
Main Authors Suthari, Sateesh, Singh, Sarnam, Raju, Vatsavaya S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Nepean Taylor & Francis 01.10.2020
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Biomass
Carbon
Carbon content
clustering sampling
Density
dry deciduous forest
Forest management
Forest resources
Forests
geospatial modeling
Homogeneity
Kyoto Protocol
Landscape
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
Policies
Resource management
Sustainable development
teak belt
India
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Summary:An assessment of aboveground phytomass and carbon levels was conducted in the South-Central region of India, in the Telangana State, situated on the high Deccan Plateau. The study is based on field observations at 30 sites using cluster sampling. The sites were selected on homogeneity maps prepared using satellite data of forest cover type maps, forest cover density maps, normalized difference vegetation indices and maps of administrative boundaries. Field observations such as forest types, canopy cover, species, girth and plant height were made for assessing basal area, bole volume, biomass and carbon, first for each tree, then for each plot and then for the entire region. The basal area varied from 0.09 to 40.94 m 2 /ha, and the phytomass ranged from 0.07 to 174.69 t/ha. The total phytomass in the study area was about 6709.623 t, with a mean value of 859.10 t/ha per site (i.e. 250 × 250 m). The predicted carbon was 5.02 million tons (Mt) (standard deviation [SD] 9.542) against the total phytomass of 10.46 Mt (SD 19.878) for the study area. These data can provide essential information for helping to establish forest policies that support a more sustainable development of local forest resources, as well as for structuring forest management working plans. Key policy insights
ISSN:1488-8386
2160-0651
DOI:10.1080/14888386.2020.1843541