CARBON STORAGE POTENTIAL OF DOMINANT MANGROVES IN WESTERN INDIAN SUNDARBANS

Abstract

The Indian Sundarbans are noted for luxuriant mangrove diversity that is known to scrub carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Precise estimation of the biomass of these species is necessary for evaluating the carbon storage pattern in the mangroves of the lower Gangetic belt. The plant biomass estimation was carried out for an average of 25 trees in 15 (10 m × 10 m) plots from the intertidal mudflats of Chemaguri (southeast portion of Sagar Island) in low tide conditions from 10th to 15th September 2022. The estimated biomass was of the order Sonneratia apetala > Avicennia alba > Avicennia marina > Excoecaria agallocha > Avicennia officinalis. The stem, branch, and leaf biomass of each species were converted into carbon by multiplying with a factor of 0.45 as per the standard procedure. The deviations observed in the results obtained from both studies call for the standardization of the process.