Soil Carbon Storage in the Terrai Forest of South Kheri Division of Uttar Pradesh

Plant species have the potential to influence soil carbon pools and their dynamics through variation in carbon inputs and by influencing carbon loses including soil organic matters decomposition. In 1992, nearly all countries of the world signed the framework convention on the climate change, and more than 160 nations had subsequently ratified this agreement. Its long-term goal was to stabilise atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with a climate change. Tropical forest stored approximately 206 Pg C in the soil about twice as much as mid-latitude forest but less than half that of boreal forest. Wet and moist tropical forest tended to have greater soil carbon pools per unit area than tropical dry forest. Storage of soil carbon in a tropical forest also depended on many external factors like, forest fire, grazing, human interference with the forest ecosystem and others. The carbon content also varied according to the different depths of the soil. In the present study, the maximum carbon content had been found to be 50.972 MT in the compartment gola 1, whereas the minimum carbon content had been found to be 7.064 MT in the compartment west gola 13. This variation had been found to be on account of many external disturbances that altered the carbon content in the soil.