Impacts of Land Use Change on the Vegetation Carbon Storage in Rapid Development Area: A Case Study of Wujiang City, China

Abstract

Based on the fourth Landsat TM image data of 1985, 1995, 2000 and 2005, this paper estimates the vegetation carbon storage of various types of land and analyzes the temporal-spatial impacts of land use change on vegetation carbon storage in Wujiang City, Jiangsu Province. The study reveals that from 1985 to 2005, great changes have taken place in land use in Wujiang City, and these changes are primarily characterized by a significant decrease in arable land due to the occupation by construction land and the adjustment of agricultural structure. The study also shows that there has been a continuous diminution of terrestrial ecosystem vegetation carbon sink capacity in Wujiang City in the past 20 years, demonstrating a non-equilibrium change in space. In addition, the study indicates that land use change is closely related to vegetation carbon storage, and that the vegetation carbon storage of arable land is mainly responsible for the decline in vegetation carbon storage in Wujiang City. The more violent land use change is in an area, the bigger the relative change rate of the vegetation carbon storage. Wujiang economic development zone, Hengshan Town, Songling Town, Fenhu Town and other areas play a decisive role in the change of vegetation carbon storage of the Wujiang City. As a consequence, it is necessary that we strengthen the protection of arable land and effectively curb great decrease in arable land area. In the meantime, we need to improve the vegetation carbon density of construction land and water area in areas where land use change is more intense. Only in this way can we maintain equilibrium in vegetation carbon storage in this region.