Carbon storage in grasslands of China

Estimation and uncertainty analyses of grassland biomass in Northern China: Comparison of multiple remote sensing data sources and modeling approaches

“…There are various studies focused on grassland biomass estimation on regional to global scale with different data and methods (Fan et al, 2007;Hsu et al, 2012;Jiang et al, 2014;Luo et al, 2002;Ni, 2002;Ruppert et al, 2015;Scurlock et al, 2002). Compared with field measurement, which is the most basic, direct and authentic method, remote sensing provides an efficient and nondestructive way for grassland biomass estimation especially for regional scale research (i.e.…”

“…options for spatial upscaling) (Fan et al, 2007). However, Scurlock and Hall (1998) and Ni (2002Ni ( , 2004 both concluded that a majority of previous studies probably gave inaccurate grassland biomass estimates because of limited data and approaches. Due to the large spatial heterogeneity and temporal dynamics of grassland across complex regions, the regional model simulations of grassland biomass inevitably suffered from deficiencies and uncertainties.…”

“…Due to the large spatial heterogeneity and temporal dynamics of grassland across complex regions, the regional model simulations of grassland biomass inevitably suffered from deficiencies and uncertainties. Previous grassland biomass estimations were usually with large difference and short of quantitative uncertainty analysis (Fan et al, 2007;Fang et al, 2010;Ni, 2002;Piao et al, 2007). Hence, a more comprehensive grassland biomass assessment, including its magnitude and uncertainty is needed.…”

More than a century of Grain for Green Program is expected to restore soil carbon stock on alpine grassland revealed by field 13 C pulse labeling

“…Soil C losses caused by land use/cover changes including cultivation of grasslands are the second greatest source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC, 2013), with C losses ranging from 36% to 85% depending on the nature of the original grassland, soil depth, management, age after conversion, and climate (Conant et al, 2001;Guo and Gifford, 2002;Machmuller et al, 2015;Post and Kwon, 2000;Wang et al, 2011). The alpine grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) are the largest high altitude grasslands in the world (Sheehy et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2005), with considerable and vulnerable C stocks of 33.52 Pg (Ni, 2002;Wang et al, 2002). The grasslands on the QTP have a long history of ill-planned cultivation of crops, artificial grasslands, and medicinal herbs (Li et al, 2009;Sheehy et al, 2006;Xin, 2008;Zhang et al, 2012).…”

Clipping alters the response of biomass production to experimental warming: A case study in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau, China

“…Alpine ecosystems generally accumulate large amounts of carbon (C) under their low temperature conditions (Ni 2002;Moriyama et al 2013), making them highly sensitive to climate change (Fu et al 2012b;Zhao et al 2012). The Tibetan Plateau, sometimes known as "the Third Pole of the Earth", covers ~2.5 million km 2 and about one-third of this area is alpine meadows, which are vital pasturelands (Cao et al 2004;Fu et al 2012c;Shen et al 2014).…”