Assessment of Aboveground Phytomass in Temperate Forests of Kashmir Valley, J&K, India

Abstract

The above ground phytomass (AGP) has been assessed for plants 3 cm dia. based on the clustered samples in temperate forests of the Kashmir Valley. Land use/land cover, with emphasis on forest cover type and density, were mapped using high resolution merged data within MODIS SR pixel of 250 × 250 m for an area weighted phytomass assessment. AGP varied from 5.89 Mg ha^-1 to 242.53 Mg ha^-1, 37.68 Mg ha^-1 to 499.53 Mg ha^-1, 42.82 to 402.42 and 94.14 to 229.68 Mg ha^-1 in mixed temperate broad leaved, Abies pindrow Royle (Fir), Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jack (Blue Pine) and Cedrus deodara (D. Don) G. Don (Deodar) forests, respectively. The best regression model (r²=0.853) of temperate broad leaved AGP was with IR band of November month data with linear function. The best correlation (r²=0.628) in Abies pindrow Royle forest AGP was with NDVI of October month with power function. In Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jack forest the best regression model (r²=0.5837) was with IR band of May month data with exponential function, and for Cedrus deodara forest the best regression model (r²=0.4221) was with February month red band with exponential function. The best regression models were used for satellite data-based extrapolation for phytomass mapping in Kashmir valley part. The coefficient of determination (r²) between observed phytomass and predicted phytomass was 0.8534 in Broad Leaved Forest and in Abies pindrow Royle and Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jack forest, it was fairly good with r²= 0.5238 and r²=0.4938, respectively; whereas in the case of Cedrus deodara (D. Don) G. Don, it was low (r²= 0.4055). The estimated AGP varied from 19.4304 to 503.932 Mg ha^-1 in 250 × 250 m (MODIS SR Pixel), whereas the predicted AGP based on MODIS data modeling varied from 6.028 to 491.09 Mg ha^-1. The total AGP was 6.24 Tg and total carbon was 2.99 Tg C in an area of ~9500 km² of Kashmir valley part. For regional level AGP representation, mean AGP was assessed within the grids of 5 × 5 km and it varied from 31.96 to 357.39 Mg and the mean forest phytomass was 210.48 Mg.