Understanding the effect of storm as a sign of climate change on the Juniper forest of Ziarat, Balochistan, Pakistan
Paper Details
Understanding the effect of storm as a sign of climate change on the Juniper forest of Ziarat, Balochistan, Pakistan
Abstract
This investigation was carried out on Juniperus excelsa. Juniperus excels is the dominant species in Juniper forest of Balochistan, Pakistan. Juniper trees are known to be the living fossils because of its long rotation age. The average forest age is between 1500 to 2500 years. The study aim is to highlight the threats of climate change to the Juniper forest. The studies were conducted at four ranges of Ziarat forest which is having sparse vegetation with open canopy. A strong wind was blown on 23-24of February 2015 which had severely damaged the Juniper forest of Ziarat. The area was traversed and the damaged areas coordinates were taken through GPS. The damaged (Full or partial) trees volume was calculated through Huber’s formula of volume. The results showed that prior to open canopy vegetation nearly 132 trees were damaged in the four ranges of Juniper forest at Ziarat district. Out of these 132 trees nearly 32 trees were completely uprooted. Along with trees damage four houses roofs were damaged and blown away by the storm. Through Buford scale of wind it was found that the wind velocity is around 89-102 kph; which has damaged the Juniper trees from north to south aspect. It is concluded that such high velocity wind has never been witnessed within the area of Juniper forest in the past. High intensity wind was observed throughout but foremost damage was caused to Juniper forest at main Ziarat city and Manna areas.
Ahmed M, Shaukat SS, Khan D. 2010.Status of vegetation analysis in Pakistan. International Journal of Biology and Biotechnology 7, 147-158.
Araujo TM, Higuchi N, Carvalho JA. 1999. Comparison of formula for biomass content determination in a tropical rain forest site in the state of Par. Brazil. Forest Ecology and Management 117, 43-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-1127(98)00470-8
Blennow K, Andersson M, Sallnäs O, Olofsson E. 2010. Climate change and the probability of wind damage in two Swedish Forests. Forest Ecology and Management 259, 818–830. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2009.07.004
Blennow K, Olofsson E. 2007. The probability of wind damage in forestry under a changed wind climate. Climatic Change 87, 347–360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-007-9290-z
Christensen JH, Hewitson B, Busuioc A, Chen A, Gao X, Held I, Jones R, Kolli RK, Kwon WT, Laprise R, Magan V, Rueda A, Mearns L,Menendez CG, Raisanen J, Rinke A, Sarr A, Whetton P. 2007. Regional climate projections. In: Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.B., Tignor, M., Miller, H.L. (Eds.), Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
Cullen S. 2002. Trees and wind: a bibliography for tree care professionals. Journal of Arboriculture 28, 1.
Dunn CP, Guntenspergen GR, Dorney JR. 1983.Catastrophic wind disturbance in an old-growth hemlock-hardwood forest, Wisconsin. Canadian Journal of Botany 61, 211-217. https://doi.org/10.1139/b83-023
Duryea ML, Kampf E, Littell RC, Rodriguez-Pedraza CD. 2007. Hurricanes and the urban forest: II effects on tropical and subtropical tree species. Arboriculture &Urban Forestry 2, 98-112.
Everham EM, Brokaw NVL. 1996. Forest damage and recovery from catastrophic wind. The Botanical Review 62, 113-185. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02857920
Fischer A, Marshall P, Camp A. 2013. Disturbances in deciduous temperate forest ecosystems of the northern hemisphere: their effects on both recent and future forest development. Biodiversity and Conservation 22, 1863–1893. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-013-0525-1
Freemeteo. 2015. Weather of Ziarat. (Retrieved on 05/05/2016
Gardiner B, Berry P, Moulia B.2016. Review: Wind impacts on plant growth, mechanics and damage. Plant Science 245, 94-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2016.01.006
Husch B, Miller CI, Beers TW. 1972.Forest Mensuration. Ronald Press Co. New York.
James KR, Haritos N, Ades PK. 2006. Mechanical stability of trees under dynamic loads. American Journal of Botany 93, 1522-1530. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.93.10.1522
Niklas KJ, Spatz HC. 2012. Plant Physics, University of Chicago Press.
Khattak GM. 1963. Working plane for Juniper forest of civil division. Government Printing Press, West Pakistan.
Mather JR. 2005. Beaufort Wind Scale. In Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_28
Nolet P, Doyon F, Bouffard D. 2012. Predicting stem wind throw probability in a northern hardwood forest using a wind intensity bio-indicator approach. Open Journal of Forestry 2, 77–87. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojf.2012.22011
Olofsson E, Blennow K. 2005. Decision support for identifying spruce forest stand edges with high probability of wind damage. Forest Ecology and Management 207, 87-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2004.10.019
Peltola H, Ikonen VP, Gregow H, Strandman H, Kilpeläinen A, Venäläinen A, Kellomäki S. (2010). Impacts of climate change on timber production and regional risks of wind-induced damage to forests in Finland. Forest Ecology and Management 260, 833-845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2010.06.001
Peterson CJ. 2000. Catastrophic wind damage to North American forests and the potential impact of climate change. The Science of the Total Environment 262, 287-311. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0048-9697(00)00529-5
Rafi M. 1965. Vegetation types of Baluchistan province (Pakistan). Government Printing Press, Punjab.
Roberts TJ. 1986. Critical ecosystem in Pakistan. Report to World Resources Institute Washington D.C.
Sarangzai AM, Ahmed M, Ahmed A, Tareen L,Jan SU. 2012. The Ecology and Dynamics of J. excelsa forest in Baluchistan, Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Botany 44, 1617-1625.
Schelhaas MJ, Nabuurs GJ, Schuck A. 2003. Natural disturbances in the European forests in the 19th and 20th centuries. Global Change Biology 9, 1620–1633. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2486.2003.00684.x
Seidl R, Schelhaas M, Rammer W, Verkerk P. 2014. Increasing forest disturbances in Europe and their impact on carbon storage. Nature Climate Change 4, 806–810. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2318
Shakoor U, Saboor A, Ali I, Mohsin AQ. 2011. Impact of climate change on agriculture: empirical evidence from arid region. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences 48, 327-333.
Siry PJ. 2005. Sustainable forest management: global trends and opportunities. Forest Policy and Economics 7, 551-561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2003.09.003
Tainter FH, Baker FA. 1996. Principles of Forest Pathology. John Wiley and Sons. New York. unesco.org.pk/ns/documents/2013/juniper/pc_TheNation.pdf
Velázquez-Martí B, Estornell J, López-Cortés I, Martí-Gavilá J. 2012. Calculation of biomass volume of citrus trees from an adapted dendrometry. Biosystems Engineering 112, 285-292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2012.04.011
Webb SL. 1999.Disturbance by wind in temperate-zone forests. In: Walker, L.R. (Editor), Ecosystems of the World 16: Ecosystems of disturbed ground. Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands 1, 187-222.
Muhammad Imran, Mohammad Anwar, Mujahid Ali Shah, Imran Ali, Lia Qian, Naseem Samo (2017), Understanding the effect of storm as a sign of climate change on the Juniper forest of Ziarat, Balochistan, Pakistan; JBES, V10, N6, June, P133-140
https://innspub.net/understanding-the-effect-of-storm-as-a-sign-of-climate-change-on-the-juniper-forest-of-ziarat-balochistan-pakistan/
Copyright © 2017
By Authors and International
Network for Natural Sciences
(INNSPUB) https://innspub.net
This article is published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0