COMPARISON OF CARBON STOCK ESTIMATION METHODS AND CARBON STORAGE IN A NIGERIAN STRICT NATURE RESERVE AND ENRICHMENT PLANTING FOREST

Abstract

Forest ecosystem is a major biological scrubber of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforestation and forest degradation could lead to the depletion of the ozone layer by greenhouse gasses. Unfortunately, research efforts to estimate carbon stock potential in natural forest and forest regenerated through enrichment planting in Nigeria have not been intensified. More so, researches on the evaluation of non-destructive carbon stock estimation methods are scarce. In this study, systematic line transect was employed in the laying of the plots. A total of 8 sample plots under each of the selected forest types were used. For above-ground biomass estimation, two non-destructive methods were used. The amount of carbon stock obtained using model and densisty method was significantly higher in strict nature reserve (21,112.50 ton/ha, 161.93 ton/ha) than the forest established through enrichment planting (3,018.07 ton/ha, 88.96 ton/ha). Findings from this study revealed that the total above-ground life carbon stock obtained using model was significantly higher in the strict nature reserve and enrichment planted Forest than the total above-ground life carbon stock obtained using density method. Since the estimated carbon stock using density method is closer to the average aboveground biomass carbon estimated around 248 tC ha^-1 for tropical rainforest, it was considered more appropriate for non-destructive carbon stock estimation and therefore recommended.