Abstract
Land use/cover change (LUCC) is one of the major factors influencing the storage of ecosystem carbon. The carbon storage in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the world’s highest plateau, is affected by a combination of many factors. Using MCD12Q1 land classification data, aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, soil carbon and humus carbon data, as well as field sampling data for parameters verification, we applied the InVEST model to simulate the ecosystem carbon storage and the impacts of driving factors. The field survey samples were used to test the regression accuracy, and the results confirmed that the model performance was reasonable and acceptable. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: From 2001 to 2010, carbon storage in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau increased by 10.39 billion t when assuming that the carbon density in each land cover type was constant. Changes of the land cover types caused carbon storage to increase by 116 million t, which contributed 13.82% of the dynamic carbon storage. Consequently, changes in carbon density accounted for 86.18% of the carbon storage change. In addition, we investigated the soil organic matter and aboveground biomass characteristics between 2012 and 2014 and found that the influences of fencing and dung on carbon storage were positive.
Highlights
Global climate warming is one of the most serious environmental conditions currently facing human society, and carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect are considered as important factors of climate change [1,2,3]
Land use/land cover data and corresponding carbon density data were input into InVEST to simulate the three phases of carbon storage and sequestration in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in 2000, 2005, and 2010
We analyzed the contribution of land use change to carbon sequestration, the contribution of carbon footprint change to carbon storage, and the relationship between carbon storage change and geographical factors, namely elevation and slope
Summary
Global climate warming is one of the most serious environmental conditions currently facing human society, and carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect are considered as important factors of climate change [1,2,3]. Changes in land use cause changes in the carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems, which in turn affect the regional carbon balance [4,5,6]. Land use/cover change (LUCC) impacts residual vegetation, the input and distribution of soil organic matter, and the soil respiration rate. Such changes can influence the soil organic carbon budget [10]. Changes in land use caused by altering the structure (species) and function of an ecosystem (e.g., biodiversity, energy balance, carbon, nitrogen, and water cycle) can affect the carbon cycle of an ecosystem [11,12,13]. Basic storage processes include photosynthesis and soil carbon sequestration, whereas basic emission processes include vegetation and soil respiration [15,16]
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