Journal of BIOLOGICAL RESEARCHES

ISSN: 08526834 | E-ISSN:2337-389X

Volume 22| No. 2| June | 2017

http://dx.doi.org/10.23869/bphjbr.22.2.20177

Published by © PBI East Java. Open Access  www.berkalahayati.org 74

 Corresponding Author:

Ridesti Rindyastuti

Purwodadi Botanic Garden, Indonesian Institute of Sciences.

Jl. Raya Surabaya-Malang Km. 65, Purwodadi, Pasuruan, Jawa Timur Phone: 0343-615033 Fax: 0341-426046

e-mail: ride17@gmail.com

Original Article

Carbon storage of medium-sized tree: a case study on Dillenia collection in Purwodadi Botanic Garden

Ridesti Rindyastuti

Purwodadi Botanic Garden, Indonesian Institute of Sciences Abstract

Abstract

Dillenia is a medium-sized tree which has high species diversity in tropical regions especially in Southeast Asia. Dillenia in Purwodadi Botanic Garden are collected from native habitats in Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua which planted on the area of 17 x 55 m2. The purpose of this re-search is to study the above ground carbon storage in Dillenia collection in Purwodadi Botanic Garden. Carbon storage estimation was established by measuring stem carbon stocks from plant collections with plant age ranging between 12-30 years. Twelve years old collection contributed carbon storage of 7.35 tonnes/ha for D. sumatrana. Twenty years old species had the lowest carbon storage of 2.17 kg/plant for D. serrata and the highest of 51.9 kg/plant for D. auriculata with a range of carbon storage of 3.47 to 41.072 tonnes/Ha. Thirty years old plant contributed 39.465 kg/plant and carbon storages of 63.14 tonnes/ha for D. serrata and 135.59 kg/plant and 216.94 tonnes/ha for D. philipinensis. Overall, Dillenia collections in Pur-wodadi Botanic Garden contributed 793.94 kg carbon storages, store carbon on average of 30.54 kg/plant and 46.46 tonnes/ha. The increase of carbon storage in the second 10 years was higher than in the first 10 years. It indicated that Dillenia had growth strategy in the early growth then alocated more mass after 10 years. Carbon storage of Dillenia was high and different in age. D. serrata, D. papuana and D. auriculata are recommended species as a priority in planting trees based on carbon sink.

Keywords: Dillenia, carbon storage, medium-sized, tree, Purwodadi 

Received: 09 March 2017 Revised: 28 April 2017 Accepted: 08 June 2017

Introduction

According to Hairiah et al. (2011), carbon sequestra-tion is the ability of a system to store carbon from the atmosphere during a certain period. Plants through the process of photosynthesis have a function as an absorber of carbon emissions in the atmosphere and store it in the form of biomass. Generally, there are two kinds of carbon sequestration, which is below ground such as by soil microbes and roots, and above ground plant biomass mainly by tree stems (De Jong dkk., 1995; Cannell, 2003; IPCC, 2006). Climate change mitigation innitiatives recommend the reforestation programs and diversification of plant species for improving the ecosystems quality of degraded areas and for greening urban areas (IPCC, 2006; UN-FCCC, 2007). Selection of plant species in agroforestry programs based on carbon sink is important because plants could run various ecological functions and increase plants diversity as well (Diaz, 2009). Native species was proved of running more diverse environmental services compared to non-native species. In addition to its function as a carbon sink, native species are able to maintain the hydrology of an area, restore the food chain and native vegetation by associating with other local species.

Researches on carbon stocks of diverse plant species or groups, both native and non-native species in their nat-ural habitat have been carried out. Siregar and Darmawan (2011) examined the carbon sequestration of Dipterocar-paceae in Central Kalimantan, and argued that the dipter ocarp forests can store carbon 928.86 tonnes C/ha or 20.64 tonnes/plant. In the dipterocarp family, the varia-tions of their carbon storages are quite high. This can be caused by different species constituent, genetic factors that influence the allocation of nutrient storages and allocations, plant age and environmental factors (Diaz, 2009). Imiliyana et al. (2012) reported that mangrove is capable of storing 232.59 tonnes C/ha while according to Pramudji (2011) Acacia is capable of storing 56.05 tonnes C/ha.

Dillenia is one of medium-sized tree which has high species diversity in the tropics. This plant group has about 60 species distributed from Madagascar to Australia and is one of a vegetation component of tropical forest in low land areas. The leaves are oval to elliptical with promi-nent leaf midrib. The flowers are large with five petals and many stamens (Lemmens and Wong, 1995). Dillenia is utilized for many economic purposes such as wood products (most of Dillenia species), craft, and medicine such as Dillenia suffruticosa for anti-inflamatory (Shah et al., 2015), D. philiphinensis and D. indica for antimicrobial (Ragasa, 2009; Apu et al., 2010). Many previous studies on tree carbon storage did not use the growth size as a diagnostic characters to distinguish carbon stored in plants. Growth size of trees is controlled by gene and it influences common maximum tall and large of tree stem in which carbon stored. A group of trees which have a characteristic as medium-sized tree commonly grow to around 10-40 m tall, while group of large trees can grow up to 50 m tall even hundred m tall (Lemmens and Wong, 1995). The study on carbon storages of local plant species based on its growth size can increase the understanding of biology of trees and reveal the significant contributions of diverse plant species to carbon sequestration in reducing global carbon rising in the atmosphere.

Heng and Onichandran (2014), reported that Dille-nia suffruticosa in degraded area in Sarawak, Malaysia has slightly low biomass and carbon storage in the early forest formation (5.2 tonnes/ha). However, the highest proportion of biomass on this species was on the stem, and it increased with tree size and age. Dillenia can be a good recommendation for afforestation for both conserva-tion and tree planting in urban areas, but its carbon storage have not been studied well. Therefore, the aim of this research is to study 1) carbon storage of a medium-sized tree in a case of Dillenia collection in Purwodadi Botanic Garden and 2) the effect of different age on the carbon storage of Dillenia collection in a garden system, especially in Purwodadi Botanic Garden.

Method

Plant Materials

Dillenia collection examined in this study comprised of 10 species. The collections were planted on an area approximately of 17 x 55 m2. List of plant species studied together with the origin of the collection and distribution of the species are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Species list, origin of plant collection and plant distribution of Dillenia collection in Purwodadi Botanic Garden.

(Source : Catalog of plant collection in Purwodadi Botanic Garden-LIPI, 2012; Lemmens and Wong, 1995)

Biomass measurement

Biomass was measured using allometrics method which can be estimated from stem diameter at breast height of adult trees so called DBH and trees height of each Dillenia collection in Purwodadi Botanic Garden-LIPI. Three replications were used in the measurement for each species. Biomass was obtained by calculating using the formula of biomass for plants in dry climates habitat and allometric equation for Dillenia as follows:

(Hairiah et al., 2010)

Biomass (kg) = 0,122 (rD2H)0.916

Where r = wood density (Zanne et al., 2009)

D = diameter (cm)

H = plant height (m)

Carbon stock values were obtained by multiplying the values of biomass with allometric values for carbon stock i.e. 0.46 (Hairiah et al., 2010). Carbon storage per hectare was converted using the total of area and plant spacing of collection in Purwodadi Botanic Garden i.e. 2.5 x 2.5 m.

Data Analyses

Biomass and carbon stocks of 10 Dillenia species were analyzed using the variance test (ANOVA) at the 95% confidence level to determine the variation of bio-mass and carbon stocks among species in Dillenia collec-tions. The data analyses were also conducted on the bio-mass and carbon stocks among species in different age level (12, 20 and 30 years).

Results

Carbon Storage in Dillenia

Table 2 showed the carbon storage of Dillenia collection in Purwodadi Botanic Garden estimated from their DBH and biomass. The statistical analyses are also conducted to show the differences of carbon stocks among Dillenia species. Based on the ANOVA test on a 95% confidence level, DBH of 10 species of Dillenia were significantly different amongs species with a P value of 0.004 (P <0.05). The statistical tests were conducted on the DBH of individuals in various age ranges (12-30 years). The data of biomass and carbon stocks were ab-normal based on the normality test on a confidence level of 95%. Therefore, the data only can be read descriptive-ly. The 30 years old D. philipinensis have the highest DBH while the twelve years old D. sumatrana has the lowest DBH. The species which are 20 years old have a range of DBH between 18.15 cm for D. ovalivolia to 54 cm for D. papuana. It showed that in the same age, plant species within genus may have different DBH and carbon storage.

Table 2. The value of DBH, biomass, per plant and per ha carbon stocks of 10 species of Dillenia in Purwodadi Botanic Garden.

*) Statictical analyses using ANOVA in the confidence level of 95%. Same letters in one column showed no significant  ifference among species 

**) These data are not normal and not random based on the normality and randomity test, thus the variance analysis can not be performed.

D. philipinensis has the highest biomass (29.47 kg) and contribute the total carbon storage of 135.58 kg C/plants or 216.94 tonnes C/ha. Twelve years old D. su-matrana has DBH 21.93 cm with 0.99 kg of biomass and carbon stocks of 4.59 kg/plant or 7.35 ton C/ha. This size is quite large compared to other 20 years old species (Fig 1 and Table 2). Figure 3 showed the carbon stored per hectare of Dillenia collection in Purwodadi Botanic Garden. Carbon storage of D. ovalifolia is the lowest among other species studied especially compared to other species at the same age (20 years old). At 20 years old, D. papuana has the highest carbon storage of 51.9 kg C/plant.