Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Potential for forest vegetation carbon storage in Fujian Province, China, determined from forest inventories

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Carbon storage in forest vegetation of Fujian Province plays a significant role in the terrestrial carbon budget in China. The purposes of this study are: (1) to evaluate how the afforestation and reforestation programs established in Fujian Province influence carbon storage in forest ecosystems; (2) to assess the influence of tree species, forest age and ownership changes on vegetation carbon storage; and (3) to explore strategies for increasing vegetation carbon potentials. Data from seven Chinese Forest Resource Inventories and 5,059 separate sample plots collected between 1978 and 2008 were used to estimate vegetation carbon storage in the whole province. In addition, uncertainty analysis was conducted to provide the range of our estimations. Total forest vegetation carbon storage increased from 136.51 in 1978 to 229.31 Tg C in 2008, and the forest area increased from 855.27 × 104 to 1,148.66 × 104 ha, showing that the Fujian forests have a net vegetation carbon increase of 96.72 Tg C with an annual increase of 4.84 Tg C over the study period. Carbon storage varied with dominant forest species, forest age and forest ownership, suggesting that increases in vegetation carbon potentials can be achieved through selection of forest species and management of age structures. Implementation of afforestation and reforestation programs in Fujian Province over the past three decades has made a significant contribution to forest carbon storage. Vegetation carbon storage can be further increased by increasing the proportion of mature, broadleaved and state-owned forests.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ajewole OI (2008) Prospects and challenges for incorporating trees into urban infrastructural developments in Nigeria. Int J Sustain Dev World Ecol 15:419–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benitez P, Mccallum I, Obersteiner M, Yamagata Y (2007) Global potential for carbon sequestration: geographical distribution, country risk and policy implications. Ecol Econ 60:572–583

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodansky D (2010) The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: a post-mortem. Am J Int Law 104:230–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Böttcher H, Freibauer A, Obersteiner M, Schulze ED (2008) Uncertainty analysis of climate change mitigation options in the forestry sector using a generic carbon budget model. Ecol Model 213:45–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castello JD, Leopold DJ, Smallidge PL (1995) Pathogens, patterns, and processes in forest ecosystems. Bioscience 45:16–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Desai AR, Noormets A, Bolstad PV (2008) Influence of vegetation and seasonal forcing on carbon dioxide fluxes across the Upper Midwest, USA: implications for regional scaling. Agric For Meteorol 148:288–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon RK, Brown S, Houghton RA (1994) Carbon pools and flux of global forest ecosystems. Science 263:185–190

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fang JY, Chen AP, Peng CH, Zhao S, Ci L (2001) Changes in forest biomass carbon storage in China between 1949 and 1998. Science 292:2320–2322

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Helmer EH, Brandeis TJ, Lugo AE, Kennaway T (2008) Factors influencing spatial pattern in tropical forest clearance and stand age: implications for carbon storage and species diversity. J Geophys Res 113:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton RA (2003) Why are estimates of the terrestrial carbon balance so different? Glob Chang Biol 9:500–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton RA, Skole DL, Nobre CA (2000) Annual fluxes of carbon from deforestation and regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon. Nature 403:301–304

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang JL, Tu ZS, Lin J (2009) Land-use dynamics and landscape pattern change in a coastal gulf region, Southeast China. Int J Sustain Dev World Ecol 16:61–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiao Y, Hu HQ (2005) Carbon storage and its dynamics of forest vegetations in Heilongjiang Province. Chin J Appl Ecol 16:2248–2252

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jong BHJ, Tipper R, Montoya-Gomez G (2000) An economic analysis of the potential for carbon sequestration by forests: evidence from southern Mexico. Ecol Econ 33:313–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karjalainen T (1996) The carbon sequestration potential of unmanaged forest stands in Finland under changing climatic conditions. Biomass Bioenergy 10:313–329

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmins JP, Blanco JA, Seely B, Welham C, Scoullar K (2010) Forecasting forest futures: a hybrid modelling approach to the assessment of sustainability of forest ecosystems and their values. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Larocque GR, Bhatti JS, Boutin R, Chertov O (2008) Uncertainty analysis in carbon cycle models of forest ecosystems: research needs and development of a theoretical framework to estimate error propagation. Ecol Model 219:400–412

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee HC, McCar BA, Gillig D (2005) The dynamic competitiveness of U.S. agricultural and forest carbon sequestration. Can J Agric Econ 53:343–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Liu S, Loveland TR (2006) Temporal evolution of carbon budgets of the Appalachian forests in the U.S. from 1972 to 2000. For Ecol Manage 222:191–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luyssaert S, Schulze ED, Borner A, Knohl A, Hessenmoller D, Law EB, Ciais P, Grace J (2008) Old-growth forests as global carbon sinks. Nature 455:213–215

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lv JW, Yue Q, Wang Z, Zhang GJ (2010) Carbon sequestration potential in Fujian’s forest ecosystems. Acta Ecol Sin 30:2188–2196 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Masera OR, Garza-Caligarisa JF, Kanninenb M, Karjalaineng T, Liski J, Nabuursd GJ, Pussinenc A, Jonge BHJ, Mohrenf GMJ (2003) Modeling carbon sequestration in afforestation agroforestry and forest management projects: the CO2FIX V. 2 approach. Ecol Model 164:177–199

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McKenney DW, Yemshanov D, Fox G, Ramlal E (2004) Cost estimates for carbon sequestration from fast growing poplar plantations in Canada. Forest Pol Econ 6:345–358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miguel AB, Roque RS, Augstin M, Juan GA (2006) Temporal variations and distribution of carbon stocks in aboveground biomass of radiata pine and maritime pine pure stands under different silvicultural alternatives. For Ecol Manage 237:29–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moncrieff JB, Leuning YMR (1996) The propagation of errors in long-term measurements of land-atmosphere fluxes of carbon and water. Glob Chang Biol 2:231–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niu X, Duiker SW (2006) Carbon sequestration potential by afforestation of marginal agricultural land in the Midwestern U.S. For Ecol Manage 223:415–427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noble LR, Dirzo R (1997) Forests as human-dominated ecosystems. Science 277:522–525

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paul KL, Polglase PJ, Nyakuengama JG, Khanna PK (2002) Change in soil carbon following afforestation. For Ecol Manage 168:241–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfaff ASP, Kerr S, Hughes RF, Liu SG, Azofeifa GAS, Schimel D, Tosi J, Watson V (2000) The Kyoto protocol and payments for tropical forest: an interdisciplinary method for estimating carbon-offset supply and increasing the feasibility of a carbon market under the CDM. Ecol Econ 35:203–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potter C, Gross P, Klooster S, Fladeland M, Genovese V (2008) Storage of carbon in U.S. forests predicted from satellite data, ecosystem modeling, and inventory summaries. Clim Change 90:269–282

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pregitzer K, Euskirchen E (2004) Carbon cycling and storage in world forests: biome patterns related to forest age. Glob Chang Biol 10:1–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raupach MR, Rayner PJ, Barrett DJ, Defriess RS, Heimann M, Ojima DS, Quegan S, Schmullius CC (2005) Model–data synthesis in terrestrial carbon observation: methods, data requirements and data uncertainty specifications. Glob Chang Biol 11:378–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ren H, Chen H, Li ZA, Han WD (2010) Biomass sequestration and carbon storage of four different aged Sonneratia apetala plantations in Southern China. Plant Soil 327:279–291

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ren Y, Wei X, Wei XH, Pan JZ, Xie PP, Song XD, Peng D, Zhao JZ (2011) Relationship between vegetation carbon storage and urbanization: a case study of Xiamen, China. For Ecol Manage 261:1214–1223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shin MY, Miah MD, Lee KH (2007) Potential contribution of the forestry sector in Bangladesh to carbon sequestration. J Environ Manage 82:260–276

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Song CH, Woodcock CE (2003) A regional forest ecosystem carbon budget model: impacts of forest age structure and landuse history. Ecol Model 164:33–47

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Torres AB, Marchant R, Lovett JC, Smart JCR, Tipper R (2009) Analysis of the carbon sequestration costs of afforestation and reforestation agroforestry practices and the use of cost curves to evaluate their potential for implementation of climate change mitigation. Ecol Econ 69:469–477

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Umeki K, Lim EM, Honjo T (2008) A GIS-based simulation program to predict multi-species size-structure dynamics for natural forests in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Ecol Inform 3:218–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viorel B, David NB, Carmenza R (2010) Consistency and comparability of estimation and accounting of removal by sinks in afforestation/reforestation activities. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 15:1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang H, Shao GF, Dai LM (2009) Changes of forest landscape based on historical management in northeastern China. Environ Sci Inf Application Technol 73–78. doi:10.1109/ESIAT.2009.271

  • Wang J, Chen JM, Ju WM, Li M (2010) IA-SDSS: a GIS-based land use decision support system with consideration of carbon sequestration. Environ Modell Softw 25:539–553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward KT, Johnson GR (2007) Geospatial methods provide timely and comprehensive urban forest information. Urban For. Urban Green. 6:15–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu D (1995) The potential for reducing atmospheric carbon by large-scale afforestation in China and related cost/benefit analysis. Biomass Bioenergy 5:337–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang MZ, Wang GX (2008) The forest biomass dynamics of Zhejiang Province. Ecologica 28:5666–5672 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang GB, Liu SR, Zhang YD, Liao N, Wang H (2008) Dynamics of above ground biomass of sub-alpine old-growth forest in the upper Minjiang River. Ecologica 28:3177–3184 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao M, Kong ZH, Escobedo FJ, Gao J (2010) Impacts of urban forests on offsetting carbon emissions from industrial energy use in Hangzhou, China. J Environ Manage 91:807–813

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was jointly supported by the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams (KZCX2-YW-T08), Fujian Provincial Department of Science & Technology (2009J01189), Xiamen Municipal Department of Science & Technology (3502Z20092005&3502Z20101015) and 973 Program (National Basic Research Program of China) (2010CB950702). We are grateful to Professors Zhu Yongguan, Liu Lingli and Shao Guofan for their helpful suggestions on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Yin Ren, Shenghui Cui & Feng Chen

  2. Xiamen Key Lab of Urban Metabolism, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Yin Ren, Shenghui Cui & Feng Chen

  3. College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agriculture University, Nanchang, 330045, China

    Xiaohua Wei

  4. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus), Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, V1V 1V7

    Xiaohua Wei

  5. Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Li Zhang

  6. Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Liming Vocational University, Quanzhou, 362000, China

    Pingping Xie

  7. School of Geography and Tourism, Jiaying University, Meizhou, 514015, China

    Yongzhu Xiong

Authors
  1. Yin Ren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiaohua Wei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Li Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shenghui Cui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Feng Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yongzhu Xiong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Pingping Xie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shenghui Cui.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Zucong Cai.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ren, Y., Wei, X., Zhang, L. et al. Potential for forest vegetation carbon storage in Fujian Province, China, determined from forest inventories. Plant Soil 345, 125–140 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-011-0766-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-011-0766-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation