Wildfires and carbon budget of certain seasonally dry forests in India

Bibliographic Data

ID21648636
AuthorsM K Jhariya (0000-0002-5661-4904, Department of Farm Forestry Sant Gahira Guru Vishwavidyalaya, Sarguja Ambikapur India, corresponding author), Lalji Singh (0009-0008-5455-5825, Department of Forestry College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Raipur India), Shalini Toppo (Department of Forestry College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Raipur India)
Year2024
Volume35
Issue12
Pages3771-3789
Publication date2024-07-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLand Degradation and Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1085-3278 • E-ISSN: 1099-145X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ldr.5166
OpenAlexW4397420087
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited68

Globally, the increasing fire events in addition to climate change due to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) as well as other greenhouse gases exerts huge pressure on natural resources and their management. This phenomenon is more severe in the tropical region due to increasing population, urbanization, industrialization, existing pressures, and limiting conditions. In the present study, carbon (C) stock, carbon sequestration (C seq ), CO 2 mitigation potential, C budget, and C flux of the seasonally dry forest ecosystem of Chhattisgarh under the influence of wildfire in the protected area and its proximity were evaluated. Four sites namely, high fire zone (HFZ), medium fire zone (MFZ), low fire zone (LFZ), and non‐fire zone (NFZ) were selected and marked based on fire return intervals (frequency) and extent of damage. The present work is a novel approach that assesses the impact of different fire frequencies on C dynamics of fire‐affected zones. The stratified sampling technique was used within a permanent plot of 1 hectare. Forest stands on each site were analyzed using 10 randomly placed quadrats (each 10 × 10 m in size) and data were collected from each site. Across the sites higher tree density was observed at NFZ and the lowest at HFZ.Total tree biomass ranged between 116.0 and 358.4 t ha −1 across the fire regimes. Total vegetation C stock ranged between 59.1 and 169.5 t ha −1 in different sites. The C mitigation and C seq potential ranged between 186.2 and 575.3 t ha −1 , and 7.1 and 15.9 t ha −1 , respectively being highest in NFZ and lowest in HFZ. The species such as Anogeissus latifolia, Buchanania lanzan, Shorea robusta, Lannea coromandelica, Lagerstroemia parviflora, Ougeinia oojeinensis, Terminalia chebula, Terminalia tomentosa are the major contributor in biomass, C stock, C mitigation, and C seq potential in different fire regimes. Thus, our findings would be highly useful in the restoration process of fire‐affected zones through the plantation of selective plant species. Therefore, the aforementioned species could be effectively utilized while going for an afforestation/reforestation program, and will be helpful in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies under different fire zones

Atmospheric sciences · Carbon dioxide · Carbon sequestration · Carbon sink · Ecosystem · Fire regime · Geography · Greenhouse gas · Population · Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems · Environmental Science · Fire effects on ecosystems · Forest ecology and management · Ecology · Forestry

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