Comparison of leaf area index, above-ground biomass and carbon sequestration of forest ecosystems by forest inventory and remote sensing at Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand
Abstract:
Carbon sequestration potential in aboveground biomass of dry dipterocarp forest, mixed deciduous forest, dry evergreen forest and moist evergreen forest at Kaeng Krachan National Park was estimated from aboveground biomass by forest inventory, tree diameter at breast height (DBH) more than 4.5 cm. The relationships between tree diameter and tree height (H-H relation) were used to evaluate tree height. Above-ground biomass of the forests was estimated by allometric equations. Above-ground carbon sequestration was calculated by multiplying conversion factor as 0.5 of biomass. The results from nine, sixteen, fifty and and ten of 30x30 sq.m. sampling plots in dry dipterocarp forest, mixed deciduous forest, dry evergreen forest and moist evergreen forest respectively reveal that the highest above-ground carbon sequestration was accounted in moist evergreen forest as 168.04+-107.88 tonne C/ha. While above-ground carbon sequestration in dry evergreen forest, are mixed deciduous forest 103.85+-61.32 tonne C/ha, 34.26+-24.18 tonne C/ha. and dry dipterocarp forest and 29.31+-9.17, respectively. The objective of this study is to apply remote sensing to estimate the leaf area index (LAI) above-ground biomass (AGB) and carbon sequestration (CS) of various forest type at Kaeng Krachan National Park. To position the sampling plots, global positioning system (GPS) was used. The pixel coordinated of Landsat TM image that corresponded to the plot location were identified to determine the brightness values. Regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between the observed data from field and digital data from the satellite image. A number of fitted regression equation were derived. Based on the best equations, the LAI and above-ground biomass of each forest type were estimated and described. The LAI of moist evergreen forest (7.68) was the highest value compared to the other forest types. The LAI of dry evergreen forest, dry dipterocarp forest and mixed deciduous forest were 5.81, 3.38 and 3.27, respectively. In addition to the LAI, the estimation of above-ground biomass of moist evergreen forest, dry evergreen forest, mixed deciduous forest and dry dipterocarp forest were 336.12, 207.70, 68.53 and 58.63 ton/ha, respectively. Moreover the results of comparison of LAI, above-ground biomass and above-ground carbon sequeatration indicate equally which would be highly benefit to estimate all values of Western forest of Thailand in the future.