Spatial Variation in Carbon Stock of Fragmented Moist Temperate Forest of Buner District (Pakistan)

Abstract

Forest fragmentation is the breaking of forested areas into fragments/patches for different human purposes. The forests of Malakand division especially in district Buner, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had been extensively fragmented recently. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the vegetation as well as soil carbon in both interior and exterior fragmented forest on the basis of elevation. Stratified random sampling method was used for field inventory in which 20 plots of size 0.5 ha were laid out on elevation basis, according to the nature of study area. Sample plots were taken in forest interior and forest exterior. The plot-to-plot distance of interior and exterior plots were 100m. Moreover, three sub-plots in each plot were taken for soil sample collection at three depths i.e. (0-10 cm,10-20 cm,20-30 cm). The overall results showed that biomass carbon in interior of the forest fragment is greater than the exterior of the forest fragment. The total carbon in interior and exterior fragmented forest was recorded at 266.94±27 t/ha and 134.43±15 t/ha respectively. The results further showed that vegetation carbon as well as soil carbon increases with an altitude. This study elaborated that there is 50% decrease in carbon density from forest interior towards exterior which recommends that the carbon density in forest exterior required afforestation of Pinus roxburghii species based on silviculture requirements that will capture more carbon and combat with climate change.