Review of the Role of Plant in Carbondioxide Sequestration Globally using Chlorophy II or Leaf Index

Abstract

The terrestrial biosphere plays a prominent role in the global carbon cycle. Although a net source of Carbon, some terrestrial ecosystems are currently accumulating Carbon and it appears feasible to manage existing terrestrial (forest, agronomic, desert) ecosystems to maintain or increase Carbon storage.Forest ecosystems can be managed to sequester and store globally significant amounts of Carbon. Agro-ecosystems and arid lands could be managed to conserve existing terrestrial Carbon but Carbon dioxide sequestration rates by vegetation in these systems is relatively low. Biomass from forest agro-ecosystems has the potential to be used as an energy source and trees could be used to conserve energy in urban environments. Some ecosystem management practices that result in Carbon sequestration and conservation provide ancillary benefits.We also reviewed studied soil carbon sequestration as affected by three land use types in Nigeria Area. Random soil sampling was used in field studies. Routine soil analyses were conducted on soil properties after soil sample preparations. Soil data were analyzed statistically using analysis of variance (ANOVA) to estimate variability while relationships between soil carbon sequestration and soil properties were obtained by simple correlation. All these were tested at 5% level of significance.Results showed significant (P=0.05) differences in soil moisture and soil temperature. There were significant (P=0.05) differences between soil carbon sequestration among cassava-dominated, pineapple and fallow soils. Fallow soils sequestered (1468 to 1688 mM) of total soil organic carbon, followed by pineapple orchard (1178 to 1526 mM) and cassava-dominated (1065 to 1373 mM) in the study. Soil temperature, soil moisture and soil clay had strong correlation with r-values of -0.96, 0.90 and 0.70, respectively with soil carbon sequestration.

Keywords: Soil Carbon, Land use, Sequestration, Tropical soils, Photosynthesis, Bio-reactor, Plant.