Sacred Groves Of Central India: Diversity Status, Carbon Storage And Conservation Strategies

Sacred groves are biodiverse and carbon (C)-rich patches of ecological importance. They play an important role in conservation of local biodiversity and provide numerous ecosystem services. In the present study, fifty-nine sacred groves from Central India were inventoried for plant biodiversity and C sequestration. A total of 109 tree species from 83 genera belonging to 37 families were recorded. Shannon‚Äôs, dominance, evenness and Fisher’s alpha indices varied: 0.77-2.81, 0.07-0.64, 0.28-0.91 and 1.15-20.37 respectively. The dominant families in terms of species richness were Fabaceae (22) followed by Combretaceae (9), Rubiaceae & Malvaceae (6 each). Tree density ranged from 75-925 individuals ha-1 with an average of 398 ¬± 32 individuals ha-1 among all the sacred groves. Basal area ranged from 2.5-69.2 m2 ha-1 with an average of 24.2 ¬± 1.9 m2 ha-1. The total C stock {tree C + soil organic C (SOC; 0-30 cm)} varied from 44.7-432.4 Mg C ha-1 with a mean of 152.4 ¬± 9.2 Mg C ha-1. Tree C and SOC contributed 54.2% and 45.8% to the total C stock respectively. As the sacred groves of Central India are both biodiverse and C-dense, continued protection and conservation would further enhance C stocks.