Floral diversity assessment of urban forests in the municipalities of Carasi and Dingras, Ilocos Norte / Mary Frances Janine R. Ibacarra

UTHESIS (Bachelor of Science In Forestry)

Bibliography: leaves 113 to 123

The study assessed the floral diversity and carbon content of the selected urban forests in the municipalities of Carasi and Dingras, Ilocos Norte from March to April 2023. Specifically, it determined the plant species composition, relative density, frequency, dominance, and importance value as well as the species richness, species diversity and evenness; tree population, tree size classification and conservation status; and the biomass and carbon contents. In addition, geographic coordinates of individual trees and palms species found in the study area were gathered and mapped through Geographic Information System (GIS). The field survey focused on the assessment of the individual trees and palms within the vicinities of parks, police station and other government buildings, public market and school campuses in Carasi while only three school campuses were assessed in Dingras. A total of 51 plant species belonging to 24 families were documented in the two municipalities. The urban green spaces of Carasi was composed of 177 individuals (156 trees and 21 palms) belonging to 27 species and 14 families while the xix municipality of Dingras recorded 1,127 individuals (1,074 trees and 53 palms) belonging to 46 species amd 24 families. Fabaceae exhibited the highest number of species (7) in both municipalities. Moreover, Big leaf mahogany was the most abundant species in both municipalities and had the highest relative density, relative dominance, relatively frequency and importance value. The urban green spaces in Carasi are dominated by exotic species (67%), while equal number of exotic and indigenous species are documented in Dingras. Moreover, a few indigenous species are classified as vulnerable (Manila palm and Kamagong) and endangered (Narra). Two exotic species are also classified by IUCN as vulnerable: (Big leaf mahogany and Santol) and Teak is classified as endangered. The urban forests in Carasi and Dingras had species evenness value of 1.46 and 1.14, respectively, while the Shannon Diversity Index (SDI) in both municipalities is categorized as low (2.35 - Carasi and 2.12 – Dingras). Meanwhile, the diameter classifications revealed that the urban forests of Carasi and Dingras, Ilocos Norte were dominated by small-sized trees. Thr urban forests in Carasi and Dingras had low soil organic matter and nitrogen contents, with slightly acidic soil in Carasi and moderately acidic to neutral soil pH in Dingras. Soil P in Carasi and Dingras are moderately high to high with sufficient potassium levels. xx The biomass and carbon contents of trees and palms in Barangay Barbaqueso, Carasi was 287,259.66 kg and 132,139.44 kg, respectively, while the urban forests in Dingras had 2,159,789.32 kg biomass and 993,503.09 kg C. Geo-tagging of trees and palms was done using a mobile phone with GPS status application while their location maps were prepared and exported using the Google Earth pro as base image. Location of trees and palms were mapped using QGIS application.