Estimasi Stok Karbon pada Berbagai Jenis Pohon di Arboretum Universitas Sumatera Utara Kampus Kwala Bekala-Deli Serdang

Abstract

One of the environmental issues that is being widely discussed at the moment is climate change due to global warming. Forests have an indirect advantage, namely they function as carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbers. As photosynthesis takes place, plants suck in CO2 to produce carbohydrates which are then dispersed throughout the plant's body and stored in the form of biomass. Therefore, biomass and carbon measurements need to be carried out to determine the ability of plants to store biomass and carbon. This study aims to determine the composition of plant types, biomass potential and carbon storage in plant stands. This research was conducted at the Arboretum of campus, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Kwala Bekala Village, Pancur Batu District, Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatra in August 2024-February 2025. The method used is the vegetation analysis method with data collection in the field using the census method. Vegetation analysis is carried out at the level of undergrowth, seedling, sapling, pole and tree. The data collected included the type of plant, the number of individuals, the diameter of the tree, and the height of the tree. The calculation of the carbon content of trees is carried out without damaging but by estimating (without harvesting). The results of the study showed that the composition of plant types at the Arboretum of the Universitas Sumatera Utara consisted of 133 species with a total of 81,953 individuals at the entire undergrowth, seedling, sapling, pole and tree. The biomass potential at the Arboretum, campus 2 Kwala Bekala, Universitas Sumatera Utara, was 62.34 tons/ha with an average of 1.94 tons/ha. Carbon storage at the Arboretum campus, Kwala Bekala, Universitas Sumatera Utara, amounted to 29.28 tons C/ha with an average of 0.91 tons C/ha.