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

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264003, China

    Zhiqiang Gao

  2. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Xiaoming Cao

  3. USDA UV-B Monitoring and Research Program, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80521, USA

    Zhiqiang Gao & Wei Gao

Authors
  1. Zhiqiang Gao
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  2. Xiaoming Cao
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  3. Wei Gao
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Correspondence to Xiaoming Cao.

Additional information

Zhiqiang Gao received his Ph.D. from Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China in 1998. His major field of study is Cartography and Geographical Information System. He studied and worked in the Chinese Academy of Sciences for 19 years, the research field includes applications of remote sensing, geographical information systems, land use/land cover cartography, ecosystem modeling, impacts of UV-B on crops using an eco-model, and applications for coupling of field (in-situ). The scientific papers published are 102, owned the 8 software copyrights, 2 patents and 4 books.

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Gao, Z., Cao, X. & Gao, W. The spatio-temporal responses of the carbon cycle to climate and land use/land cover changes between 1981–2000 in China. Front. Earth Sci. 7, 92–102 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-012-0335-x

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