Assessment of the Effects of Urban Expansion on Terrestrial Carbon Storage: A Case Study in Xuzhou City, China

Abstract

Carbon storage is closely connected to the productivities and climate regulation capacities of ecosystems. Assessing the effects of urban expansion on carbon storage has become increasingly important for achieving urban sustainability. This study analyzed the effects of urban expansion on terrestrial carbon storage in Xuzhou City, China during 2000-2025. The cellular automata (CA) model was developed to simulate future urban expansion under three scenarios, namely, the business as usual (BAU), ecological protection (ECO), and planning strengthened (PLS) scenarios. The Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model was further applied to explore the consequences of urban expansion on carbon storage. The results show that urban expansion resulted in 6.099 Tg of carbon storage loss from 2000-2015. Moreover, significant differences in the effects of the urban expansion scenarios on carbon storage were identified in terms of both magnitude and spatial pattern from 2015-2025. Compared with the other scenarios, the PLS scenario could be considered as a good option that would allow future development to achieve the objectives of the lowest carbon storage losses. The findings improve the understanding of the effects of urban expansion on carbon storage and may be used to support urban planning and management.

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Carbon Storage in Response to Urbanization: A Case Study in the Su-Xi-Chang Region, China

“…In this study, we found that the maximum carbon stock losses occurred in the developing urban areas ( Figures 5-7). This result is consistent with the results of [41,55]. In locations characterized by rapid urbanization, the increase in the built-up area occurs at the cost of occupying other land use types, such as cultivated land, water, and forest [59,60].…”

“…Urbanization brings population and economic growth, but it also leads to ecological problems [43][44][45]. Many studies have shown that urbanization has an impact on carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems [36][37][38][39][40][41]. In contrast to previous studies, this study comprehensively analyzes the "spatial" and "temporal" changes in carbon stocks from the urbanization process.…”

“…In contrast, the InVEST model is able to assess carbon stocks based only on the land use types map and carbon densities for the four-carbon pools, which is a much simpler and more convenient approach. Many recent studies have shown that the InVEST model offers advantages for studying the relationship between land use and carbon stocks and can produce reliable results [8,14,23,40,41].…”

Rapid urbanisation threatens fertile agricultural land and soil carbon in the Nile delta

“…In the US, Lavy et al (2016) studied impacts of urban sprawl, showing mixed impacts on soil carbon. In China, Li et al (2018) and He et al (2016) both showed large scale carbon loss due to urban expansion of Xuzhou City and Beijing respectively. However, in Moscow a modelling study estimated potential increases in urban soil carbon resulting from high carbon storage in areas of urban greenspace (Vasenev et al 2018).…”

Exploring Spatiotemporal Variation of Carbon Storage Driven by Land Use Policy in the Yangtze River Delta Region

“…The world is experiencing significant urban expansion, which is likely to continue in the future [1,2], that had caused global land landscape alteration resulting from land use/land cover (LULC) change. Rapidly urbanizing regions with deforestation largely reduce the provision of ecosystem service, especially service related to carbon that LULC change is one of the most important source of CO 2 emissions [1,3,4]. Regional carbon storage was greatly affected due to the increase of built-up land and the loss of natural vegetation, which seriously threatens the provision of regional ecosystem services and sustainability.…”