Updated estimation of forest biomass carbon pools in China, 1977–2018
<p>China is one of the major forest countries in the world, and the accurate estimation of its forest biomass carbon (C) pool is critical for evaluating the country's C budget and ecosystem services of forests. Although several studies have estimated China's forest biomass using nati...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Biogeosciences |
| Online Access: | https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/19/2989/2022/bg-19-2989-2022.pdf |
| Summary: | <p>China is one of the major forest countries in the world,
and the accurate estimation of its forest biomass carbon (C) pool is
critical for evaluating the country's C budget and ecosystem services of
forests. Although several studies have estimated China's forest biomass
using national forest inventory data, most of them were limited to the
period of 2004–2008. In this study, we extended our estimation to the most
recent period of 2014–2018. Using datasets of eight inventory periods from
1977 to 2018 and the continuous biomass expansion factor method, we
estimated that the total biomass C pool and average biomass C density in
Chinese forests increased from 4717 Tg C (1 Tg <span class="inline-formula">=</span> 10<span class="inline-formula"><sup>12</sup></span> g) in the
period of 1977–1981 to 7975 Tg C in the period of 2014–2018 and 38.2 Mg C ha<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> to 45.8 Mg C ha<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> (1 Mg <span class="inline-formula">=</span> 10<span class="inline-formula"><sup>6</sup></span> g), respectively, with a
net increase of 3258 Tg C and an annual sink of 88.0 Tg C yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span>. Over
the most recent 10 years (2009–2018), the average national forest biomass C
density and C sink were 44.6 Mg C ha<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> and 154.8 Tg C yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span>,
respectively, much larger than those of 39.6 Mg C ha<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> and 63.3 Tg C yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> in the period 1977–2008. These pronounced increases were largely
attributed to afforestation practices, forest growth, and environmental
changes. Our results have documented the importance of ecological
restoration practices, provided an essential basis for assessing ecosystem
services, and helped to achieve China's C neutrality target.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 1726-4170 1726-4189 |