Carbon storage and its changes in Chinese terrestrial ecosystem in recent decades

Lixia Wang,Changxin Zou,Yan Wang,Naifeng Lin,C.-H Weng,R Weerasinghe

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/20185304027

Abstract

This paper made a comprehensive assessment on carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystem in China by reviewing published literatures. Much more detailed carbon storages in vegetation, soil and ecosystem were summarized for forest, grassland, shrub, cropland and wetland in recent decades. It was discovered that total terrestrial carbon storage in China was 67.9 ~191.8 Pg C in recent decades, 6.1 ~ 57.57 Pg C was stored in vegetation, and 161.7 ~ 185.7 Pg C was stored in topsoil at a depth of 100 cm. Vegetation carbon storage has increased obviously in recent years; soil carbon storage declined in some areas owing to intensive land use, while it increased in other areas because of fertilizer application and reforestation. Total terrestrial carbon storage over China has increased in recent decades, and it is expected to continue to increase.

Highlights

Carbon in terrestrial ecosystems exists mainly in vegetation and soil in the form of organic or inorganic carbon[1]
Chinese vegetation carbon storage was estimated of 6.1~57.9 Pg C according to different estimates methods in the published literature (Table 1)
There were disagreement about total vegetation carbon storage, lots of studies confirmed that vegetation carbon storage increased in recent years, since vegetation carbon storage increased in forest, shrub and

Summary

Introduction

Carbon in terrestrial ecosystems exists mainly in vegetation and soil in the form of organic or inorganic carbon[1]. Terrestrial carbon storage dynamics has attracted attention in recent years because it contributes to essential information about carbon budgets, which is important in predicting climate change. Several previous studies provided various estimates of terrestrial carbon storage across China[2,3]. There exists uncertainty of the estimated terrestrial carbon storage because of climate change and anthropogenic activities altered biogeochemical cycles[8,9]. To obtain a comprehensive insight for terrestrial carbon storage in China, this paper will assess Chinese terrestrial carbon storage (including vegetation carbon and soil carbon) and its change trend. Much more detailed vegetation and soil carbon storage will be summarized for forest, grassland, cropland and wetland ecosystems by published literature. Uncertain estimates from data sources, methodology and unstable environments were discussed

Methods

Results

Conclusion