ESTIMATION OF TREE DIVERSITY AND CARBON STOCK AT THAKURGAON SADAR OF THAKURGAON DISTRICT MD. HARUN OR RASHID

Abstract

The study was conducted in Thakurgaon sadar upazila of Thakurgaon district. Five villages namely Paharbhanga, Bhelajan, Palli-Bidyut Bazar, Jamalpur and Akhanagar were selected. Among randomly selected 60 homesteads, tree diversity per homestead ranged from 0 to 2.37 using Shannon Wiener index. Twenty-one (21) different tree species under 15 families were identified, among them Betel nut (Areca catechu) was the most dominating species and the least dominating species was Tetul (Tamarindus indica). Among small, medium and large home garden categories, the highest mean tree density ha 1 (355.76) was observed from large home garden which showed the maximum mean basal area (161.82 m 2 ha -1 ), mean tree carbon (100.61 Mg ha -1 ), SOC (28.02 Mg ha ) and tree C + soil C stock (181.13 Mg ha -1 ) compared to medium and small homesteads. Among the selected areas, the large farmers had the highest daily income from homesteads (Tk. 79.37) followed by medium and small homesteads. Therefore, the results of the study confirmed that the selected areas can serve as a valuable ecological means in terms of carbon stock.