Abstract
Quantifying the amount of carbon pools in church forest ecosystems enables us to understand about the role of church forest for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Therefore, this study was conducted with the goal of estimate the amount of carbon stored for some commonly grown planted trees in the Abune Teklehyimanot Church, Welayita Sodo, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State, Welayita town, Ethiopia. In 2018, a total of 23 temporarily sample plots with an area of 110 to 578 m2 each were established, laid out on transects along altitudinal gradients with a distance of 100 m between plots. All trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 2 cm were identified and height (m) was measured using diamater tape, calliper and vertex (digital height measurement instrument). Aboveground and belowground biomass was calculated using Chave et al. (Global Change Biology 3177–3190, 2014) and IPCC (National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Program, IGES, Japan, 2006), respectively, and converted into carbon density using the default factor. Data analysis made using descriptive statistics. The aboveground biomass of the natural forest ranged from 241.41 ± 5.50 t ha−1 for Eucalyptus camaldulensis to 1.60 ± 0.00 for Jacaranda mimosifolia at Teknik na Muya mender forest 24 patch. The belowground biomass ranged from 27.23 ± 0.62 t ha−1 for Eucalyptus camaldulensis at Teknik na Muya mender forest patch to 0.01 ± 0.00 t ha−1 for Juniperus procera. The mean ecosystem carbon stock density of the sampled plots in the planted forest ranged from 140.70 ± 3.21 t C to 0.06 ± 0.005 ha−1 for Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Juniperus procera, respectively. In conclusion, fast growing introduced tree species accumulated more carbon stock than native tree species in the studied period of time. There was variation in carbon pools among a species and forest patches. We recommend forest carbon-related awareness creation for local people and promotion of the local knowledge as a possible option for sustainable forest management. This forest needs management intervention including enrichment planting of economically important native tree species and fencing to avoid free grazing by livestock. Better attention of development practitioners, policy makers and church communities may help to improve the woody species composition of this forest and conservation role of Ethiopian Orthodox church.
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Alebachew, M., Eshete, A., Teshome, M. (2022). Aboveground and Belowground Carbon Pools for Some Selected Native and Introduced Tree Species of Abune Teklehayimanot Church Forest, Welayita Sodo, Southern Ethiopia. In: Kindu, M., Schneider, T., Wassie, A., Lemenih, M., Teketay, D., Knoke, T. (eds) State of the Art in Ethiopian Church Forests and Restoration Options. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86626-6_7
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