Effects of Land Cover Change on Vegetation Carbon Source/Sink in Arid Terrestrial Ecosystems of Northwest China, 2001–2018
The arid terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle is one of the most important parts of the global carbon cycle, but it is vulnerable to external disturbances. As the most direct factor affecting the carbon cycle, how land cover change affects vegetation carbon sources/sinks in arid terrestrial ecosystems...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/9/2471 |
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| author | Haiyang Tu Guli Jiapaer Tao Yu Liancheng Zhang Bojian Chen Kaixiong Lin Xu Li |
| author_facet | Haiyang Tu Guli Jiapaer Tao Yu Liancheng Zhang Bojian Chen Kaixiong Lin Xu Li |
| author_sort | Haiyang Tu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The arid terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle is one of the most important parts of the global carbon cycle, but it is vulnerable to external disturbances. As the most direct factor affecting the carbon cycle, how land cover change affects vegetation carbon sources/sinks in arid terrestrial ecosystems remains unclear. In this study, we chose the arid region of northwest China (ARNWC) as the study area and used net ecosystem productivity (NEP) as an indicator of vegetation carbon source/sink. Subsequently, we described the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of vegetation carbon sources/sinks in the ARNWC from 2001–2018 by combining the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) and a soil microbial heterotrophic respiration (R<sub>H</sub>) model and assessed the effects of land cover change on them through modeling scenario design. We found that land cover change had an obvious positive impact on vegetation carbon sinks. Among them, the effect of land cover type conversion contributed to an increase in total NEP of approximately 1.77 Tg C (reaching 15.55% of the original value), and after simultaneously considering the effect of vegetation growth enhancement, it contributed to an increase in total NEP of approximately 14.75 Tg C (reaching 129.61% of the original value). For different land cover types, cropland consistently contributed the most to the increment of NEP, and the regeneration of young and middle-aged forests also led to a significant increase in forest carbon sinks. Thus, our findings provide a reference for assessing the effects of land cover change on vegetation carbon sinks, and they indicated that cropland expansion and anthropogenic management dominated the growth of vegetation carbon sequestration in the ARNWC, that afforestation also benefits the carbon sink capacity of terrestrial ecosystems, and that attention should be paid to restoring and protecting native vegetation in forestland and grassland regions in the future. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T04:08:36Z |
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| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T04:08:36Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
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| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-fd15f1fde1b44280979b28a1bf09e7c12023-11-17T23:40:38ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922023-05-01159247110.3390/rs15092471Effects of Land Cover Change on Vegetation Carbon Source/Sink in Arid Terrestrial Ecosystems of Northwest China, 2001–2018Haiyang Tu0Guli Jiapaer1Tao Yu2Liancheng Zhang3Bojian Chen4Kaixiong Lin5Xu Li6State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, ChinaThe arid terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle is one of the most important parts of the global carbon cycle, but it is vulnerable to external disturbances. As the most direct factor affecting the carbon cycle, how land cover change affects vegetation carbon sources/sinks in arid terrestrial ecosystems remains unclear. In this study, we chose the arid region of northwest China (ARNWC) as the study area and used net ecosystem productivity (NEP) as an indicator of vegetation carbon source/sink. Subsequently, we described the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of vegetation carbon sources/sinks in the ARNWC from 2001–2018 by combining the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) and a soil microbial heterotrophic respiration (R<sub>H</sub>) model and assessed the effects of land cover change on them through modeling scenario design. We found that land cover change had an obvious positive impact on vegetation carbon sinks. Among them, the effect of land cover type conversion contributed to an increase in total NEP of approximately 1.77 Tg C (reaching 15.55% of the original value), and after simultaneously considering the effect of vegetation growth enhancement, it contributed to an increase in total NEP of approximately 14.75 Tg C (reaching 129.61% of the original value). For different land cover types, cropland consistently contributed the most to the increment of NEP, and the regeneration of young and middle-aged forests also led to a significant increase in forest carbon sinks. Thus, our findings provide a reference for assessing the effects of land cover change on vegetation carbon sinks, and they indicated that cropland expansion and anthropogenic management dominated the growth of vegetation carbon sequestration in the ARNWC, that afforestation also benefits the carbon sink capacity of terrestrial ecosystems, and that attention should be paid to restoring and protecting native vegetation in forestland and grassland regions in the future.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/9/2471net ecosystem productivityCarnegie–Ames–Stanford approachscenario designcropland expansionafforestation |
| spellingShingle | Haiyang Tu Guli Jiapaer Tao Yu Liancheng Zhang Bojian Chen Kaixiong Lin Xu Li Effects of Land Cover Change on Vegetation Carbon Source/Sink in Arid Terrestrial Ecosystems of Northwest China, 2001–2018 Remote Sensing net ecosystem productivity Carnegie–Ames–Stanford approach scenario design cropland expansion afforestation |
| title | Effects of Land Cover Change on Vegetation Carbon Source/Sink in Arid Terrestrial Ecosystems of Northwest China, 2001–2018 |
| title_full | Effects of Land Cover Change on Vegetation Carbon Source/Sink in Arid Terrestrial Ecosystems of Northwest China, 2001–2018 |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Land Cover Change on Vegetation Carbon Source/Sink in Arid Terrestrial Ecosystems of Northwest China, 2001–2018 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Land Cover Change on Vegetation Carbon Source/Sink in Arid Terrestrial Ecosystems of Northwest China, 2001–2018 |
| title_short | Effects of Land Cover Change on Vegetation Carbon Source/Sink in Arid Terrestrial Ecosystems of Northwest China, 2001–2018 |
| title_sort | effects of land cover change on vegetation carbon source sink in arid terrestrial ecosystems of northwest china 2001 2018 |
| topic | net ecosystem productivity Carnegie–Ames–Stanford approach scenario design cropland expansion afforestation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/9/2471 |
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