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Changes in vegetation carbon stocks between 1978 and 2007 in central Loess Plateau, China

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Abstract

To control soil and water loss and environmental degradation, shelter/protective forests were established in the Loess Plateau as a component of the Three-North Shelter Forest Program (TNSFP). With the development of the TNSFP in this region, the effects of shelter forests in the Loess Plateau on carbon (C) stock have been investigated. To assess the effects of shelter forests in the Loess Plateau on the C stock, we utilized the data obtained from field investigations and Landsat ETM+ images to assess the C stocks (aboveground and belowground carbon) of shelter forests in the central Loess Plateau in China (11.94 × 106 ha) during the TNSFP construction period (from 1978 to 2007). We also performed an uncertainty analysis up-scaling from field plots to the study area. The total vegetation C stocks increased significantly from 144 Tg in 1978, to 269 Tg in 2007, and shelter forests accounted for 80 % of total C stocks. The annual mean C sink was 4.28 Tg year−1 for the vegetation. Shelter forests were estimated to have sequestered 2.55 Tg year−1 biomass C and conserved 3.35 Tg year−1 soil C. These results suggest that the shelter forests in the central Loess Plateau have acted as a C sink since the initiation of the TNSFP in 1978. Furthermore, afforestation and reforestation have a significant effect on C sequestration.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Knowledge Innovation Program of The Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05060400, KZCX1-YW-08-02). We wish to acknowledge Dr. XD Song in Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University for field investigations and L Bian in Liaoning Technical University for Landsat MSS/TM/ETM+ images preprocessing. Sincere thanks are also conveyed to the research group members of Secondary Forest Ecology and Management for facilitating the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Qingyuan Forest CERN, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Yirong Sun, Jiaojun Zhu, Qiaoling Yan & Xiao Zheng

  2. State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110064, China

    Jiaojun Zhu, Qiaoling Yan, Zhibin Hu & Xiao Zheng

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yirong Sun

  4. Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 72, Wenhua Road, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Yirong Sun, Jiaojun Zhu, Qiaoling Yan, Zhibin Hu & Xiao Zheng

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  1. Yirong Sun
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Correspondence to Jiaojun Zhu.

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Sun, Y., Zhu, J., Yan, Q. et al. Changes in vegetation carbon stocks between 1978 and 2007 in central Loess Plateau, China. Environ Earth Sci 75, 312 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-5199-4

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