The study involves a detailed ecological and taxonomic enumeration
of tree vegetation in and around the thermal power station (ITPS) at
Banharpali, Jharsuguda district of Orissa. Information on phyto-sociological
characters were used to calculate species frequency, density, girth size,
canopy coverage and Importance Value Index (IVI), dominance and evenness
indices. Presence of 37 native and 17 ornamental tree species besides planted
trees were recorded. Species richness varied from 1 to 22, expected maximum
diversity (H̄
$_{max}$
) from 1.099 to 3.091, observed diversity from 0.877 to
2.708, gap in diversity from 3% to 44%, The dominance index (Cd) from 0.082 to
0.516 and evenness index (E') from 0.7 to 0.8. The canopy density of different
sites varied from 5% to 252% with a total canopy area from 1,838,472 to
2,639,010 m
$^2$
. From the coal combustion data, it was estimated that the ITPS
annually releases 2.22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO
$_2$
) into atmosphere
and vegetation in ITPS complex was able to sequester 4.6%–6.7% of the
emitted CO
$_2$
. Annual dust emission by ITPS power plant was estimated to be 3318
tonnes. Vegetation inside ITPS complex was able to collect only 6.13%–8.8%
(203–291 tonnes/year) of the emitted dust. However, if vegetational leaf
area of surrounding forest around ITPS campus is taken into consideration,
total annual dust collection figure amounts to 2413 (71%) to 4711 tonnes
(>100%).
