Forest Carbon Stocks and Variations along Altitudinal Gradients in Egdu Forest: Implications of Managing Forests for Climate Change Mitigation

Abstract

The role of forests in mitigating the effect of climate change depends on the carbon sequestration potential and management. Although a number of studies have been done on carbon stock estimations, the influence of environmental factors on forest carbon stocks has not been properly addressed. This study was conducted to estimate the carbon stock and itsvariation along the altitudinal gradients in Egdu dry afromontane forest. The carbon stock in the different carbon pools and analysis of the influence of the environmental variables were studied by collecting data in quadrat plots of 10 X 20 m distributed along transect lines. The mean totalcarbon stock density of Egdu forest was found to be 614.72±35.79 t ha-1 (ranging from 182.6 to 1416 t ha-1), of which 278.08±25.72 (19 to 782.28 t ha-1) was contained in the above ground biomass, 55.62 t ha-1 (8.06 to 332.89 t ha-1) in below ground biomass, 3.47±0.2 (0.33 to 7.53 t ha-1) in litter carbon and 277.56±11.56 t ha-1 (148.74 to 551.30 t ha-1) was stored in soil organic carbon (0-30 cm depth). The carbon stocks in above ground biomass, below ground biomass, litter biomass and soil organic carbon exhibited distinct patterns along altitudinal gradients. The above ground, below ground and soil organic carbon stock showed an increasing trend with increasing altitude while the litter carbon stock showed irregular patterns along altitude though statistically there was no strong relationship between each of these carbon pools and altitudinal gradients. This study concluded that the carbon stock value of Egdu forest is large, and thecarbon storage in different carbon pools of the forest area varies with altitudinal gradient.