Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon in Arid Ecosystem Using Geospatial Tools: A Case Study of Protected Areas in Bahawalpur district, Punjab, Pakistan

Khalid, Muneeb; Khalil, Sangam; Abid, Muhammad; Hussain, Tanveer; Rafay, Muhammad; Madnee, Muhammad

doi:10.21608/ejss.2025.380697.2149

Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon in Arid Ecosystem Using Geospatial Tools: A Case Study of Protected Areas in Bahawalpur district, Punjab, Pakistan

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Institute of Forest Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan

10.21608/ejss.2025.380697.2149

Abstract

Spatial interpolation with mapping is crucial for estimating the soil carbon pool under changing land use pattern. Different land uses have effect differentially on carbon pool in in different ecosystems. The soil organic carbon (SOC) was predicted by using Inverse distance weighting (IDW) and ordinary kriging (OK). For this Circular 200 plot samples were taken (0.1 ha or 17.84 m radius). Study area was stratified on the basis of Land use i.e Forests, Range Lands, Barren Lands, sand dunes and water bodies. Landsat 8,9 images were downloaded from USGS Earth Explorer website. The pre-processing of the Landsat images for making maps of biomass was done in ENVI 5.3/SNAP 3.0. The processed images were analyzed and vegetation indices were computed. Statistical relationship was established with computed indices and departmental data. Total carbon of LSNP was calculated 21.51 m3/m2 while the total carbon stock from Cholistan wildlife sanctuary was 39.9gm/m2. Spatial distribution of biomass of LSNP indicated, the biomass is influenced by tree age, as young trees tend to have lower biomass, whereas old trees have higher biomass due to their age-related growth patterns. The spatial distribution of the IDW interpolation appears to align with the SLR model. MLR model illustrates elevated SOC levels (1.0 to 1.20) in the southern regions, whereas a decline in SOC content (0.56 to 0.77) was noticeable in the northern parts of the study area. However, SOC levels near water bodies exhibited higher values, likely attributable to the presence of sparse vegetation. Conclusively this study provides basic information for establishment of carbon sink centers to combat adverse impacts of global warming, and climate change.

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