Carbon storage, structure and composition of miombo woodlands in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
We determine the aboveground biomass and carbon storage (ABGC) of trees and the herbaceous layer in miombo woodland in the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) of Tanzania. In four 1-ha sample plots in Nyanganje and Kitonga Forests, we measured all trees =10 cm diameter alongside height and wood mass density. The plots contained an average of 20 tree species ha-1 (range 11–29) and 344 stems ha-1 (range 281–382) with Shannon diversity values of 1.05 and 1.25, respectively. We weighted nine previously published woody savannah allometric models based on whether: (i) the model was derived from the same geographical region; (ii) the model included tree height/wood mass density in addition to stem diameter; and (iii) sample size was used to fit the model. The weighted mean ABGC storage from the nine models range from 13.5 ± 2 to 29.8 ± 5 Mg ha-1. Measured ABGC storage in the herbaceous layer, using the wet combustion method, adds 0.55 ± 0.02 Mg C ha-1. Estimates suggest that EAM miombo woodlands store a range of 13–30 Mg ha-1 of carbon. Although the estimates suggest that miombo woodlands store significant quantities of carbon, caution is required as this is the first estimate based on in situ data.
Original language | English |
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Journal | African Journal of Ecology |
Volume | 49 |
Issue number | 3 |
Pages (from-to) | 332–342 |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISSN | 0141-6707 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
ID: 40361229