The spatio-temporal responses of the carbon cycle to climate and land use/land cover changes between 1981–2000 in China

doi:10.1007/s11707-012-0335-x

Front Earth Sci

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Issue () : 92-102 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-012-0335-x

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The spatio-temporal responses of the carbon cycle to climate and land use/land cover changes between 1981–2000 in China

Zhiqiang GAO^1,3, Xiaoming CAO²(

), Wei GAO³

1. Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China; 2. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; 3. USDA UV-B Monitoring and Research Program, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO 80521, USA

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Abstract

This paper represents the first national effort of its kind to systematically investigate the impact of changes in climate and land use and land cover (LULC) on the carbon cycle with high-resolution dynamic LULC data at the decadal scale (1990s and 2000s). Based on simulations using well calibrated and validated Carbon Exchanges in the Vegetation-Soil-Atmosphere (CEVSA) model, temporal and spatial variations in carbon storage and fluxes in China may be generated empower us to relate these variations to climate variability and LULC with respect to net primary productivity (NPP), heterotrophic respiration (HR), net ecosystem productivity (NEP), storage and soil carbon (SOC), and vegetation carbon (VEGC) individually or collectively. Overall, the increases in NPP were greater than HR in most cases due to the effect of global warming with more precipitation in China from 1981 to 2000. With this trend, the NEP remained positive during that period, resulting in a net increase of total amount of carbon being stored by about 0.296 PgC within a 20-year time frame. Because the climate effect was much greater than that of changes of LULC, the total carbon storage in China actually increased by about 0.17 PgC within the 20-year time period. Such findings will contribute to the generation of carbon emissions control policies under global climate change impacts.

Keywords carbon cycle climate changes LULC remote sensing Earth system modeling

Corresponding Author(s): CAO Xiaoming,Email:caoxm@lreis.ac.cn

Issue Date: 05 March 2013

Cite this article:

Zhiqiang GAO,Xiaoming CAO,Wei GAO. The spatio-temporal responses of the carbon cycle to climate and land use/land cover changes between 1981–2000 in China[J]. Front Earth Sci, 0, (): 92-102.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-012-0335-x
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y0/V/I/92

Fig.1 A schematic representation of the model of CEVSA system (Cao and Woodward (,) used in this study). The solid lines are the carbon and nitrogen flows, and the dashed lines represent the effects of various factors or processes

Fig.2 The LULC maps (1990s) and dynamic changes (1980s-1990s) in China

Fig.3 The decadal changes of temperature and precipitation (Note: the temperature and precipitation are average values based on spatial interpolations over all grids covered total land area of China between 1981 and 2000)

Tab.1 The averaged changes of all parameters in relation to carbon cycle over four subperiods (unit: PgC)

Fig.4 Spatial variations of NPP, HR, NEP and VEGC changes under the influence of climate change (unit: gC/(m·year))

Tab.2 The LULC change matrix at the national scale during 1990-2000 (unit: km) ()

Fig.5 Comparison of the carbon densities against the literature estimated for the year 1990 and 2000

Tab.3 Changes in NPP, HR, NEP, VEGC and SOC occurring in the LULC change area (unit: PgC)

Fig.6 The impact of LULC change on NPP, HR, NEP, VEGC, and SOC (Legend: -1: decrease; 0: unchanged; 1: increase)

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