Exploring the variations and potential of carbon stock in the tropical dry deciduous forests of West Bengal, India

Each pool of the forest ecosystem plays a significant role, as they are interconnected and store atmospheric carbon. Therefore, this study was designed to estimate the carbon stock in various carbon pools and evaluate the variation and potential of carbon stock in tropical dry deciduous forests. The random sampling method with nested square plots was designed for the field survey. The carbon stock in various pools was analysed across different canopy cover densities, as well as among tree species and tree diameter classes. The result shows that the total carbon stock was 143.900 +/- 13.842 Mg ha(-)(1), and the maximum amount of carbon was stored in living biomass (77.490%), followed by SOC (21.144%), and dead organic matter (1.366%). The carbon stock in all pools decreased from dense forests to medium forests, and then to open forests. This is due to the positive effects of forest cover densities on the carbon stock of other pools. About 60% of the trees had a DBH between 5 and 10 cm and contained only 10% of the tree carbon stock. These findings indicate the potential to increase carbon stock in several pools in low-density forest cover areas without expanding forest cover, simply by transitioning open and medium forests to dense and mature forests. Even the high presence of young trees indicates the potential to increase carbon stock in the future through better management practices. However, the present study results can be helpful in determining the carbon stock and sequestration in other tropical deciduous forests.