Effects of soil conservation on the spatial heterogeneity of vegetation carbon sequestration in the Yellow River Basin, China

Abstract

AbstractAn improved understanding of the potential controls on vegetation carbon sequestration (VCS) is essential for the prediction of VCS in response to global change. Ecosystem restoration can provide remarkable contributions to VCS. However, attention to the impact of soil conservation (SC) on VCS is lacking. Therefore, the Yellow River Basin, a typical area of soil erosion in the world, was chosen as the study area. The VCS and SC trends from 2000 to 2020 were analyzed and the potential response of VCS to SC was explored by adopting correlation analysis, elastic coefficient method, geographically weighted regression model, and geographical detector model. The influence of SC drivers on the spatial heterogeneity of VCS was also revealed. Results showed the following: (1) VCS and SC had a significant upward trend, especially in the eastern monsoonal ecoregion. (2) The area with a significant positive correlation between VCS and SC accounted for 31.74% of the total, mainly concentrated in the key areas of SC, wherein a 100% increase in SC would lead to a 25%–100% increase in VCS. (3) Among the SC drivers, vegetation cover and management (C) factor and rainfall erosion force (R) factor mainly influenced spatial heterogeneity in VCS, and their interaction considerably enhances this effect. Therefore, the interaction between precipitation and vegetation should be considered when evaluating the impact of water erosion management on VCS. The results of the study have important implications for the enhancement of VCS capacity of degraded land in the ecological restoration process.