Estimation of above ground bole biomass and carbon stock of trees in Urhonigbe Forest Reserve, Edo State, Nigeria

Carbon storage in forest biomass is an important factor of a stable forest and a recentlink in the global carbon cycle. The objective of this study was to determine the above ground bole biomass and carbon stocks of trees in Urhonigbe forest, Edo State, Nigeria. The sampling technique adopted for this study was the cluster sampling. 15 plots of size 25m by 25m were randomly laid and 128 trees encountered and measured. The variables measured for each species of trees were diameter at breast height (cm), diameter at the top (cm), diameter at the middle (cm), diameter at the base (cm) and tree height (m). The above ground bole biomass was obtained with the product of wood density (kg/ha) and tree volume (m³/ha), while the carbon stock of trees was calculated by multiplying the biomass by the biomass expansion factor which is a constant (0.45). The results showed that tree species have a great influence on the amount of carbon stored in a tree. Entandrophragma cyclindrium had the highest amount of above ground bole biomass and carbon stock content, which were 751.8099kg/ha and 338.3145t/ha respectively while Irvingia gabonesis had the least amount of biomass and carbon stock of 17.5770kg/ha and 7.9097t/ha respectively. This study has shown that the Urhonigbe forest area is a regenerating forest filled with young stand of trees and they have a great potential to sequester and store carbon at a high rate.

published by the International Journal of Bi…