EVALUATION OF THE FOREST STRUCTURE, DIVERSITY AND BIOMASS CARBON POTENTIAL IN THE SOUTHWEST REGION OF GUANGXI, CHINA

Evaluation and monitoring of forest structure, diversity, and biomass carbon dynamics are essential for effective forest biodiversity and carbon conservation. Using inventory data of 174 field plots with a size of 400 m(2), this study estimated the forest structure, species diversity, growing stock characteristics and biomass carbon of the South West Region of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China Our results showed that a total of 198 species belonging to 51 families, and 128 genera were found. The results of different diversity indices showed a greater species variation across the forest. Furthermore, different tree attributes were recorded for forest structure. In this regard, the mean tree height was 10.3 m, while the mean basal area was 5.94 m(2) ha(-1). The mean growing stock volume was 104.14 m(3) ha(-1), and the average biomass carbon was 110.36 Mg ha(-1). Among the dominant species, the maximum importance value index (14.81%) and basal area (17.3 +/- 3.03 m(2) ha(-1)) were recorded for Pinus massoniana. While the maximum growing stock volume (116.4 +/- 20.2 m(3 )ha(-1)) and biomass carbon (114 +/- 18.3 Mg ha(-1)) were found in the Styrax subniveus. Our results also highlighted that the basal area is a strong predictor of growing stock volume and biomass carbon compared to diameter and height Moreover, the correlation between biomass carbon and diversity indices indicated a weak positive correlation, which provided the insight that high-value carbon- diversity forest can be achieved.