Journal ArticleDOI
Ecosystem carbon stocks and their changes in China’s grasslands
TLDR
Spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of grassland biomass were closely correlated with precipitation, while changes in soil C stocks exhibited close associations with soil moisture and soil texture, indicating that grassland ecosystems are C neutral.Abstract:
The knowledge of carbon (C) stock and its dynamics is crucial for understanding the role of grassland ecosystems in China’s terrestrial C cycle. To date, a comprehensive assessment on C balance in China’s grasslands is still lacking. By reviewing pub-lished literature, this study aims to evaluate ecosystem C stocks (both vegetation biomass and soil organic C) and their changes in China’s grasslands. Our results are summarized as follows: (1) biomass C density (C stock per area) of China’s grasslands differed greatly among previous studies, ranging from 215.8 to 348.1 g C m −2 with an average of 300.2 g C m −2 . Likewise, soil C density also varied greatly between 8.5 and 15.1 kg C m −2 . In total, ecosystem C stock in China’s grasslands was estimated at 29.1 Pg C. (2) Both the magnitude and direction of ecosystem C changes in China’s grasslands differed greatly among previous studies. According to recent reports, neither biomass nor soil C stock in China’s grasslands showed a significant change during the past 20 years, indicating that grassland ecosystems are C neutral. (3) Spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of grassland biomass were closely correlated with precipitation, while changes in soil C stocks exhibited close associations with soil moisture and soil texture. Human activities, such as livestock grazing and fencing could also affect ecosystem C dynamics in China’s grasslands.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Improvements in ecosystem services from investments in natural capital
Zhiyun Ouyang,Hua Zheng,Yi Xiao,Stephen Polasky,Jianguo Liu,Weihua Xu,Qiao Wang,Lu Zhang,Yang Xiao,Enming Rao,Ling Jiang,Fei Lu,Xiaoke Wang,Guangbin Yang,Shihan Gong,Bingfang Wu,Yuan Zeng,Wu Yang,Gretchen C. Daily +18 more
TL;DR: Overall, ecosystem services improved from 2000 to 2010, apart from habitat provision, and China’s national conservation policies contributed significantly to the increases in those ecosystem services.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of national ecological restoration projects on carbon sequestration in China from 2001 to 2010.
Fei Lu,Huifeng Hu,Wenjuan Sun,Jiaojun Zhu,Guobin Liu,Wangming Zhou,Quanfa Zhang,Peili Shi,Xiuping Liu,Xing Wu,Lu Zhang,Xiaohua Wei,Limin Dai,Kerong Zhang,Yirong Sun,Sha Xue,Wanjun Zhang,Dingpeng Xiong,Lei Deng,Bojie Liu,Li Zhou,Chao Zhang,Xiao Zheng,Jiansheng Cao,Yao Huang,Nianpeng He,Guoyi Zhou,Yongfei Bai,Zongqiang Xie,Zhiyao Tang,Bingfang Wu,Jingyun Fang,Jingyun Fang,Guohua Liu,Guirui Yu +34 more
TL;DR: This finding indicates that the implementation of the ecological restoration projects in China has significantly increased ecosystem C sequestration across the country and demonstrates that these restoration projects have substantially contributed to CO2 mitigation in China.
Journal ArticleDOI
Vegetation and soil responses to livestock grazing in Central Asian grasslands: a review of Chinese literature
Yun Wang,Karsten Wesche +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a comprehensive, internationally accessible review on the impact of livestock grazing on vegetation and soils in northern China and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biomass carbon stocks and their changes in northern China’s grasslands during 1982–2006
TL;DR: The results suggest that different grassland ecosystems in China may show diverse responses to future climate changes, as the responses of grassland biomass to climate variables differed among various grassland types.
Journal ArticleDOI
Carbon management in dryland agricultural systems. A review
Daniel Plaza-Bonilla,J.L. Arrúe,Carlos Cantero-Martínez,Rosario Fanlo,Ana Iglesias,Jorge Álvaro-Fuentes +5 more
TL;DR: In dryland agriculture, any removal of crop residues implies a loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) as discussed by the authors, which in many of them entailed several land degradation processes such as soil erosion, reduction in crop productivity, lower soil water holding capacity, a decline in soil biodiversity, and, ultimately, desertification, hunger and poverty in developing countries.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Above- and belowground biomass in relation to environmental factors in temperate grasslands, Inner Mongolia.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated regional distribution patterns of AGB, BGB, vertical distribution of roots, and their relationships with environmental factors in temperate grassland of Inner Mongolia.
Soil carbon stock and its changes in northern China's grasslands from 1980s to 2000s
TL;DR: In this article, the magnitude of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock in northern China's grasslands using 981 soil profiles surveyed from 327 sites across the northern part of the country during 2001-2005, and examined the changes of SOC stock by comparing current measurements with historical records of 275 soil profiles derived from China's National Soil Inventory during the 1980s
Journal ArticleDOI
Climate change alters interannual variation of grassland aboveground productivity: evidence from a 22-year measurement series in the Inner Mongolian grassland
Wenhong Ma,Wenhong Ma,Zhongling Liu,Zhiheng Wang,Wei Wang,Cunzhu Liang,Yanhong Tang,Jin-Sheng He,Jingyun Fang +8 more
TL;DR: The findings suggest that the effects of climate change on grassland production vary throughout the growing season, with warmer and wetter springs resulting in increased biomass early in thegrowing season, and drier falls causing a decrease in biomass late in theGrowing season.
Analysis on Spatial Distribution Characteristics of Soil Organic Carbon Reservoir in China
TL;DR: In this article, the authors adopted physiochemical properties of every soil stratum from 2 473 soil profiles of the second soil survey and estimated the corresponding carbon content of soil by utilizing conversion coefficient 0 58.
Journal ArticleDOI
Characterizing the dynamics of soil organic carbon in grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
TL;DR: In this paper, the CENTURY model was used to examine temporal and spatial variations of soil organic carbon (SOC) in grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau for the period from 1960 to 2002.