Relationship Between Basal Area, Biomass and Carbon Stock in Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghat, Maharashtra.

Present investigation was undertaken to find out the relationship between basal area, biomass and Carbon stock estimation at Nigdale-2 region of Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS), Western Ghat, India, wherein plant's basal area was considered as a key predictor of carbon storage. This study supports non-destructive estimation of carbon in forest. For this purpose nine plant species were evaluated for basal area, total above ground biomass and carbon stock in a single quadrat from studied area. Descriptive quantitative measures were used to summarise forest structure. For this purpose, correlation coefficient ( r ) and regression equations were calculated. Basal area showed strong and positive correlation with biomass (r = 0.982) and carbon (r=0.998). Olea dioica was found to be the most dominant species with up to 41.801 % carbon storage, while Xantolis tomentosa resulted into up to 29.963 % carbon storage Present study thus provides biomass and Carbon stock estimates for the Nigdale-2 region of BWS.