Abstract
The ever-rising concentration of atmospheric carbon is viewed as the primary cause for global warming. To discontinue this trend, it is of urgent importance to either cut down human carbon emissions or remove more carbon from the atmosphere. Grassland ecosystems occupy the largest part of the global land area but maintain a relatively low carbon sequestration flux. While numerous studies have confirmed the impacts on grassland vegetation growth from climate changes and human activities, little work has been done to understand the driving forces for a reduced carbon uptake (RCU)—a loss in vegetation carbon sequestration because of inappropriate grassland management. This work focused on assessing RCU in the grassland of Inner Mongolia and understanding the influential patterns of the selected variables (including grazing intensity, road network, population, and vegetation productivity) related to RCU. Neighborhood analysis was proposed to locate optimized grassland management practices from historical data and to map RCU. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models were applied to explore the driving forces for RCU. The results indicated that the human-related factors, including stock grazing intensity, population density, and road network were likely to present a spatially varied impact on RCU, which accounted for more than 1/4 of the total carbon sequestration.
Highlights
Increased greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions from human activities have caused significant concerns around the world [1]
A high reduced carbon uptake (RCU) means that there was more carbon loss, which could have been sequestered from vegetation if given optimal grassland management practices (OGMPs); in other words, the areas with high RCU should be given more attention because they presented high potential in the carbon sequestration enhancement
This study found that the grassland vegetation responded differently to the impact from roads at various locations, suggesting that the grassland management policy should reflect the location-dependent impact from the road network
Summary
Increased greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions from human activities have caused significant concerns around the world [1]. Sci. 2020, 10, 7787 balance and led to increased atmospheric CO2 concentration, which is believed to be the main cause for global warming [5]. Facing such a challenge, international cooperation has been called for to cut down carbon consumption and reduce carbon release into the atmosphere [6]. The increasing trend of the atmospheric CO2 concentration did not stop Along this track, it is forecasted that the global temperature would rise more than 3 ◦ C by the end of the 21st century [6], which imposes a global catastrophic risk to human living environments. Improving carbon sequestration from vegetation may provide a prominent way to this goal
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