Impact of Land Use Conversion on Carbon Stocks and Selected Peat Physico-chemical Properties in the Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland, Philippines

Peatlands are unique wetland ecosystems that provide various ecosystem services such as carbon storage and biogeochemical cycling, however being threatened by anthropogenic activities. The present study was conducted to explore the impact of land use conversion on stocks peat properties in a tropical peatland Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland (LSBP) Northeastern Leyte, Philippines. (aboveground belowground) physico-chemical soil were compared among swamp forest, grassland with cultivation. Land resulted significant reduction total aboveground stock. forest had highest (38.56 ± 4.58 Mg ha−1), when converted cultivation, it has loss much 86.59 90.45%, respectively. belowground root stock (5.05 0.64 also while (1 m depth) observed cultivation areas (45.28 2.25 – 61.27 3.07 ha−1). However, forests very deep deposits potentially store amount than characterized shallower compressed peats. In addition, altered water content, organic matter, porosity, bulk density which all indicated degradation. Finally, overall result this highlights importance develop implement management conservation plans for LSBP.