Carbon Stock Sequestered by tree plantations in University campus at Coimbatore, India

Tree plantations in university campus play a major role in carbon sink. We estimated the potential of carbon stock sequestered by two different tree plantation types, Eucalyptus plantation (EP) and mixed species plantation (MP) in Bharathiar University campus at Coimbatore, India. Total carbon stock (TCS) of all live trees (≥ 9.5 cm diameter at breast height) was determined by non destructive method. Tree density and total biomass were 320 & 468 stems ha⁻¹ and 48.05 & 39.64 tonne ha⁻¹ at sites EP and MP, respectively. Total carbon stock sequestered by the two plantations was 27.72 and 22.25 t/ha respectively. There was a positive correlation (p > 0.05) between TCS with tree density as well as total biomass at both sites. This reveals that TCS increases with increase in tree density and biomass. Our results show that the carbon sequestration potential of the fast growing Eucalyptus plantation is 11% higher than the mixed species plantation in Bharathiar University. Hence, we recommend government to include Eucalyptus trees in planting programmes for effective trapping of atmospheric carbon to mitigate global warming and thereby climate change.