Research at India Regional Climate Centre
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Site description
The India Regional Climate Centre (IRCC) is located in the Western Ghats of India, a mountain range stretching 1600 km down the western side of India. The Western Ghats are recognised as a biodiversity hotspot, with nearly 5,000 species of flowering plants and over 1000 species of vertebrates. The site is in Sirsi Forest Division of Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka State. The landscape is a combination of evergreen and deciduous forest with a range of rainfall regimes. Some of the forest is protected as Forest Department reserves, some is community forest land where local communities have full access to forest resources, and some areas are privately managed as plantations. The area is densely populated, with heavy reliance on forest products.
Forest in the Western Ghats
Research partner institution and principal investigator
Earthwatch works with the Indian Institute of Science at this site, which has been conducting research ecological and socio-economic at the reserve for 25 years.
Volunteers from HSBC, termed 'Climate Champions', assist with data collection in the field and data entry, overseen by scientists from the Indian Institute of Science.
The principal investigator is Professor N H Ravindranath, of the Centre for Sustainable Technologies at the Indian Institute of Science. Major interests lie in ecological and socio-economic aspects of forests with recent research focussing on climate change at a regional and global level including carbon dioxide emissions from forests and climate change mitigation options. He was an author for all the IPCC assessment reports dealing with climate change and forests.
Sampling design
Data collection methods are as described in the Research Introduction. Work started here in 2008 and will continue to December 2011. A total of 15 permanent 1 ha plots have been established: six are in evergreen forests, six in deciduous forests and three in teak plantations.
In addition to the standard data collection, canopy cover was measured using a Densiometer at 100 points within each plot. After tree census data have been collected, mortality and recruitment are measured the following year. This involves noting trees within the plot that have died, and trees that have grown large enough in the previous year to be counted, i.e. have a stem diameter of 10 cm. Soil samples have been collected and analysed to estimate soil organic carbon. Data collection will also be carried out in agro-forestry systems, as agro-forestry is an important component of the landscape in this region.
Data quality
Using volunteers means that data are collected by a large number of people, all learning new techniques. Assessing data quality is therefore essential. For example, to test the accuracy of the data collected, 20% of trees were re-measured by experts from Indian Institute of Science; the work is complete.