Forest Carbon Stock and Variations along Environmental Gradients

Forest plays an important role in global carbon cycle. With increasing concern for rising CO2 concentrations, the role of forests as long term carbon pool for assimilation of atmospheric CO2 is being increasingly realized. In this context, the current study aims to estimate the biomass production and carbon sequestration potential of Yeka Forest in the North of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The carbon stock in the different carbon pools and analysis of the influence of the environmental variables were studied by collecting the data using quadrat size of 10m X 20 m distributed along transect lines. The result showed that 2072 stand woody plant that had > 5 cm.The carbon stocks in above and below ground biomass were small as compared to the previous studies. This was because of the lower DBH class value of value of woody plant species of the study site. Therefore, the results of the study confirmed that Yeka Forest have positive role in reduction of green house gases and in contributing to climate change mitigation.