IJSRP, Volume 5, Issue 1, January 2015 Edition [ISSN 2250-3153]
Mohd Salim, Pramod Kumar, M.K. Gupta and Saurabh Kumar
Abstract:
Jhilmil Jheel is a saucer shape wetland and is one of the most important wetland of Haridwar district (Uttrakhand, India) and also happens to be a conservation reserve for swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli duvauceli) declared in 2005. Consequently highly fragmented sections of swamp deer habitat remain few and far between, and Jhilmil Jheel happens to be the last refugee for this magnificent and highly endangered species. Wetlands are considered one of the highly productive ecosystems in the world and provide a potential sink for the atmospheric carbon. Therefore, a study was conducted to estimate the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool in Jhilmil Jheel wetland under different land uses i.e., grassland, plantation and natural forest in different seasons i.e., autumn, winter, spring and summer. The results revealed that in autumn season, SOC pool in grassland was maximum (81.38 t ha-1) followed by natural forest (76.85 t ha-1) and the least was in plantation (55.95 t ha-1), in winter season, the SOC pool in natural forest was maximum (131.31 t ha-1) followed by plantation (123.78 t ha-1) and the least was in grassland (72.92 t ha-1), in spring season, the SOC pool in natural forest was maximum (170.46 t ha-1) followed by plantation (155.133 t ha-1) and the least was in grassland (73.17 t ha-1) and in summer season, the SOC pool in natural forest was maximum (123.89 t ha-1) followed by plantation (114.61 t ha-1) and the least was in grassland (64.73 t ha-1) respectively.