Ecological implications of village bamboo as global climate change mitigation strategy: A case study in Barak Valley, Assam, North East India

Abstract

Purpose – The present study seeks to evaluate the role of village bamboo management in the rural landscape of North East India in global climate change mitigation.

Design/methodology/approach – A set of 100 home gardens and 40 bamboo groves were selected from Irongmara and Dargakona village, in Cachar district, Assam, North East India through random sampling. Sampling was done mostly for smallholders. Culm growth, carbon storage, carbon sequestration and carbon in litter floor mass and soil of bamboo growing areas in homegarden was explored from 2003-2007.

Findings – Culm growth extension revealed the brief periodicity of culm growth in a single growth period. Of the total carbon storage soil contributed 84.6 per cent of the total (50.1 Mg ha^-1) followed by carbon in above ground vegetation 15 per cent (9Mg ha^-1) and carbon in litter floor mass 0.4 per cent (0.2 Mg ha^-1).

Practical implications – Bamboo plantation development and its management in home gardens has social, ecological and economical benefits for the rural life in North East India and its promotion can become an effective choice for climate change mitigation strategy.

Originality/value – Bamboo forms an important component in the traditional home garden system of North East India where the practice of bamboo cultivation and management provides an important sink for CO₂. Village bamboos play an important role in local economics, societies and environments and, considering its potential to mitigate global climate change, the authors recommend the promotion of bamboo in agroforestry expanding practices and rehabilitation of degraded lands. Management of village bamboos in rural landscape is highlighted in context to environmental sustainability and as a sink measure under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of Kyoto Protocol.

Keywords Carbon storage, Carbon sequestration, Environmental sustainability, Village bamboos, Carbon, Climate change, Agriculture, India

Paper type Case study

Authors Arun Jyoti Nath and Ashesh Kumar Das

Journal Name and Issue: International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management 4 (2): 201-215

Year of Publication 2012

Impact of Culm Harvest on Seed Production in a Monocarpic Bamboo

Abstract

Successful regeneration of bamboos from seed is a key issue in the ecology of many tropical regions and the livelihoods of their inhabitants. The gregarious monocarpy of many bamboos may be driven by a need to satiate seed predators by seeding in abundance at infrequent intervals. In long-lived clonal monocarps, seed production is expected to be positively related to the success of the clone in generating more and larger ramets during its lifetime. Ramification may be constrained by harvesting of culms, but it is unclear whether the reduction in productivity is proportional to the loss of reproductive biomass. We counted the seed produced by 661 culms (ramet stems) sampled from 90 clumps of the gregariously monocarpic bamboo Schizostachyum dullooa that is intensively harvested by villagers in northeastern India. The smallest clumps had fewer culms and few or no culms more than one year old. Seed production was indeed positively related to culm size and the number of culms in a clump. First-year culms were markedly more productive than older culms after controlling for culm diameter and clump size. There was a negative effect of clump size on productivity per culm which may occur because clumps that had been harvested heavily were able to exploit resources retained in rhizomes from harvested culms. Nevertheless, small clumps produced much less seed than larger clumps, generating a risk of unknown magnitude that heavily harvested stands of monocarpic bamboos may be unable to satiate seed predators during their single opportunity for reproduction.

Key words: Bambuseae; clonal plant; clumping bamboo; gregarious semelparity; India; predator satiation; sustainable harvest.

Authors: Arun Jyoti Nath, Donald C. Franklin, Michael J. Lawes, Mukta Chandra Das, and Ashesh Kumar Das

Journal Name and Issue: Biotropica 44(5): 699–704. (IF: 2.29)

Year of Publication 2012

Carbon pool and sequestration potential of village bamboos in the agroforestry system of northeast India

Abstract

Bamboo forms an important component in the rural landscape of northeast India. Carbon (C) pool and sequestration potential of bamboos in the land managed by farmerswas studied in Cachar district, Assam, northeast India. Allometric equations were developed by harvest method relating leaf, branch and culm biomass with DBH as an independent variable to determine the stand biomass and productivity. C pool and C sequestration in different bamboo culm components was determined by multiplying the biomass with C concentration. C pool in the above ground biomass ranged from 21.69 Mg ha-1 during 2003 to 76.55 Mg ha-1 during 2006. Allocation of C was more in culm components (85 - 89 %) than in branch (8 - 10 %) and leaf (3 - 4 %).  Both current and one year old culm constituted 58 - 73 % (15.86 - 35.63 Mg ha-1) of the total above ground C pool. The rate of above ground C sequestration was 18.93 - 23.55 Mg ha-1 yr-1 with the mean of 21.36 Mg ha-1 yr-1. Of the total annual C sequestration, 82 - 89 % was contributed by new culms and through culm age increment and 14 - 18 % by annual total litter production. Management of village bamboos as a potential source of C sink by smallholder farmers is discussed.

Authors: Arun Jyoti Nath and Ashesh Kumar Das

 Journal Name and Issue: Tropical Ecology 53(3): 287-293 (IF: 0.76)

Year of Publication 2012

Litter fall dynamics in village bamboo grove of Barak Valley, Assam

Abstract

Leaf litters of bamboos are the potential source of nutrient input in the village land use systems. Bamboo grove is one such land use where bamboos are managed either in pure or in mixed patches with other plant species. Present study was carried out in a bamboo grove of Cachar district of Barak Valley, Assam to understand the flux of different fractions of litter fall, litter standing crop, turnover rate, turnover time for different litter components and nutrient use efficiency of the bamboo species. Litter fall was studied by laying permanent litter traps followed by collection of litter fractions at monthly interval over a period of three year. Mean litter fall of the stand was 7514.28 kg ha^-1yr^-1. The contribution of leaf, sheath and branch litter in total litter fall was in the order of 55-65%, 29-38% and 5-7% respectively. Linear relationship between Aridity Index and litter fall data exhibited the existence of negative relationship between leaf fall, sheath fall and total litter fall. Leaf litters had the higher turnover rate (0.56-0.58) and lower turnover time (1.72-1.75) than sheath and branch litter. In leaf litter turnover rate for k was higher (0.61-0.67) than P (0.53-0.56) and N (0.54-0.55). P exhibits higher nutrient use efficiency than N and K. Role of bamboo litter as potential nutrient source in village landscape is discussed.

Key Words: Bamboo grove, nutrient use efficiency, turnover rate, turn over time

Authors: Arun Jyoti Nath and Ashesh Kumar Das

Journal Name and Issue: International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 38(1):1-8.

Year of Publication 2012

Decomposition dynamics of three priority bamboo species of homegardens in Barak Valley, Northeast India

Abstract

We investigated litter chemistry, and patterns of mass loss and nutrient release from leaf and sheath litter of three priority cultivated bamboo species, Bambusa cacharensis, B. vulgaris and B. balcooa, to understand litter decomposition. The study was conducted in a homegarden of Dargakona village in district Cachar, Assam, in northeast India. Leaf litter had higher concentrations of N, P and K than sheath litter, whereas sheath litter had higher carbon, ash free mass and cellulose. Percent weight loss decreased exponentially with time. Sheath litter had slower rates of mass loss than leaf litter. The pattern of N release was biphasic, P concentration exhibited an initial accumulation phase, and release of K occurred at all the stages of decomposition. We discuss the ecological significance of decomposition dynamics of bamboo litter – compared with litter of other cultivated tree species – for nutrient retention in homegardens.

Authors: Arun Jyoti Nath and Ashesh Kumar Das

 Journal Name and Issue: Tropical Ecology 52(3): 325-330 (IF: 0.76)

Year of Publication 2011