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ABSTRACT
The relationship between stand attributes and biomass accumulation pattern in a mangrove forest has been intensively studied in this study. We assessed above (AGM) and belowground mass (BGM) and examined the relationship between forest attributes and aboveground mass in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh. The study was conducted with 18 plots having total area of 1.08 ha. The mean AGM and BGM of the study sites were 234.08 and 132.85 Mg ha−1 respectively. H. fomes contributed the highest amount (82.9% of total AGM and 80.53% of total BGM) of above (193.56 Mg ha−1) and belowground mass (107.09 Mg ha−1) at the study site. Our study revealed structural attributes (tree diameter, height, and basal area) positively correlated with AGM. In contrast, species richness and species diversity negatively correlated with AGM. Our study indicated that lack of positive relationship between species diversity and AGM which may be attributable to high AGM of the dominant species (H. fomes) and may have a considerable consequence in AGM of the study area. Thus, maintaining large trees (DBH and height) rather than species diversity in the Sundarbans mangrove forest might be an effective approach for increasing aboveground mass.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank to JSPS RONPAKU (Dissertation Ph.D.) Program FY2018 for the grant to Akira Osawa and Md. Salim Azad (ID No. R11810). The authors are grateful to Bangladesh Forest Department for their valuable support during the field work. Lastly, we would like to thank all the staff and field personnel for assistance with logistics and data collection.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.