Determination of Biomass and Carbon for Pinus caribaea in Sri Lanka

Determination of Biomass and Carbon for Pinus caribaea in Sri Lanka
by
Upul Subasinghe and Gayani Muinasinghe

Forests in Sri Lanka contribute to the mitigation of global climate change through sequestrating a net amount of CO2 and also maintaining C stocks as forest biomass. Therefore a research was carried out to study the biomass and C storage by the forest plantations in Sri Lanka. 27 year old Pinus caribaea plantation from Low Country Wet Zone of Sri Lanka was selected for this study and the required measurements were taken using 0.05 ha sample plots. Core samples were obtained to calculate the stem biomass and C withoug felling the trees. In order to determine the branch and leaf mass and C values, those were representatively sampled. C was analysed using Walkley-Black method.

It was found that the above ground tree mass of a 27 year old Pinus caribaea tree was 368.9 kg and the C amount was 215.9 (58.5%) respectively. The C% of the canopy was 64.5% from the dry mass. The C% of the primary, secondary and tertiary branches and leaves were 61.7%, 59.1%, 79.6% respectively.